GRANT REQUEST FOR USAGE OF BIOLOGICAL ORGANISMS TO FACILITATE EFFICIENT TERRAFORMING AND SPECIES RESTORATION
PROBLEM
The human population of planet Earth is steadily increasing. As of 6/15/1980, there were approximately 4.43 billion humans on the planet1. At the current rate of population growth, there will be almost 7 billion humans alive by 2010. This increasing population puts a strain on the resources of the planet, which are exacerbated by economic, political, social, and religious conflicts.
At the same time, human expansion is rapidly causing climate and ecological shifts in the planet. At least 600 species have been recorded to go extinct as a result of climate change, and likely the extinction of hundreds more has gone unnoticed234. It is clear that the only way to both preserve the ecology and biological diversity and health of the planet while still allowing for human growth is to populate other planets.
However, very few Earthlike planets have been discovered, all of which are thousands of lightyears away5. The teleportation technology currently in use relies on theories of quantum mechanics that are still limited to the speed of light, rendering these planets off-limits.
There are numerous planets and asteroids in our solar system that are mere light-minutes away, but are inhospitable to all forms of life. If they were to be terraformed, it would be possible for humans to relocate to these planets and asteroids. However, there are no ways currently within our technological grasp to economically terraform these astronomical bodies.
SOLUTION
We propose creating biological organisms, custom-designed to exist in hostile environments, to gradually terraform them into environments suitable for human habitation. These organisms would subsist off the raw materials found in the environment, consuming them and reproducing while simultaneously converting the planet and atmosphere into an Earthlike planet.
Celine and Franklin's theories on cold nuclear fusion6 can be easily applied to a terraforming organism. Such an organism would be able to perform cold fusion to create elements that are more conducive to terrestrial biology. These organisms would also use those elements to propagate themselves asexually, so that the conversion process proceeds exponentially quicker. Asexual reproduction would also ensure that mutations are few and far between.
As a contingency in the event that it becomes impossible for humans to travel to these planets, say a nuclear winter scenario preventing humans from developing advanced space travel, or that the chosen planet cannot be fully terraformed, the terraforming organisms could spawn humans and other creatures that are already adapted to the new planet, so that they would have no trouble fitting in and recreating an Earthlike ecosystem or an ecology that is adapted to the planet. Gordon and Hannay7, Serizawa8, and Gorbovsky9 independently proved that retroviruses could be used in organisms to force them to produce non related offspring.
On Earth, it is widely accepted that pioneer species such as lichen and moss, perform small-scale terraforming to make their immediate environment more suitable for them and other organisms. Scaling this process upwards would allow for much-larger scale terraforming.
Dr. Wondertainment has recently released a product called "Dr. Wondertainment's Custom-PetsTM", which can be reverse-engineered in order to design a progenitor organism that can swiftly and easily adapt to a foreign environment. The biological printing techniques used by Prometheus Labs for products such as Life-Sized ThrombocytesTM could be used to mass-produce terraforming organisms designed for a wide range of environments. In this manner, using the aforementioned techniques and research, it should be economically feasible to mass-produce organisms that can terraform and seed an inhospitable environment in order to preserve humans and Earth ecology.
BUSINESS CASE
The primary use of this technology is to save humanity from extinction. The terraforming organisms would be able to completely restart any and all environments, the organisms that inhabit them, and humanity in the event of a mass extinction, while also enabling the new humans to easily adapt to a foreign environment in the event that terraforming is not fully successful. At the same time, this technology can be used to establish beachheads for further astronomical colonization, provide areas for Prometheus Labs to work offplanet, or design massive ecological experiments.
The terraforming organisms could be used on Earth to alter the environment in beneficial ways. For example, only major routes along Sahara Desert could be partially recreated into forest, partially offsetting global warming and making travel easier, while still preserving the arid conditions that fertilize the Amazon rainforest and prevent locust infestation. There are also applications in the sterilization of hazardous waste sites, such as Prometheus Labs Hazard Zones 4 (Kyshtym), 49 (Worcester), 67 (St. Louis), and 141 (Allahabad).
In less stressful environments, this technology could be marketed to land developers. They would be able to terraform a planet or an environment into such a way that they can attract tourists to an area designed specifically for their needs. This method could also be used to create nature and shooting preserves, or even prisons in extremely isolated areas.
Prometheus Labs could also use the technology to create organisms used for medicinal tests or tests where living beings are necessary. The physiological and mental state of these organisms could be fine tuned to optimize testing environments. For example, a human at peak physical condition but with severe schizophrenia could be spawned to test antipsychotic medications. This method would also allow Prometheus Labs to engineer children for infertile or nontraditional couples.
Because of the extreme standardization of the spawning process, Prometheus Labs would be able to sell high-quality, low-cost homogenous vegetables and meats to the frozen and fast food industries. Eventually, all traditional forms of agriculture could be supplanted, allowing Prometheus Labs to monopolize the food industry. These meats could also be genetically altered to increase beneficial vitamins or stimulate chemical production, such as fluoride to protect teeth.
USE OF FUNDING
Wondertainment Industries has indicated that it is willing to sell the Custom-PetsTM license and associated patents to Prometheus Labs in exchange for the now-defunct Project Roddenberry. It would take roughly forty to sixty weeks to reverse-engineer the process used to create the Custom-PetsTM and scale the process for larger organisms, which would cost approximately $500,000 assuming standard Class-V reverse-engineering protocols.
Design and implementation of the cold-fusion conversion processes would necessitate approximately thirty weeks and is assumed to cost $50,000. A further twenty weeks would ensure that the terraforming organisms and their offspring are stable, tractable, and not prone to mutation during the spawning process. Following this, design of a high-level progenitor organism that can produce other terraforming organisms, will require fifteen weeks and $200,000 to repurpose the printer used in Project Golem and integrate a similar mechanic into a biological structure.
Testing and redesign would take, at minimum, five weeks. It would also be prudent to have Prometheus Beijing construct a multi-environmental, sealed biosphere similar to the Project Cappuccino biosphere in which preliminary tests could be performed. Assuming the same techniques and materials are used, the dome could be constructed in under six weeks for $250,000.
The biosphere construction could occur concurrently with all steps of the project prior to organism printing, as these steps could occur in preexisting Prometheus facilities. For a full list of materials, contractors, and price ranges, see Attachment 1.
KNOWN ISSUES
The primary trouble with widespread adoption of this technology is public perception. Due to failures such as Project Cappuccino and Project Golem, the public is currently extremely distrustful of technological advances from Prometheus Labs, especially those that rely on engineered organisms. We advise an aggressive public relations campaign to regain public support. Simultaneously, Prometheus Labs should provide judicious donations of funds to lawmakers that are debating the ethics of engineered organisms and communities affected by Project Cappuccino. This should provide sufficient public goodwill to allow Prometheus Labs to promote terraforming technology.
We also suggest small-scale public tests of the technology as it advances. Allowing the public to see the usefulness of the technology, albeit in a heavily controlled environment, would also provide public support while testing the technology.
The technology that this concept is based around relies on highly theoretical work. The cold-fusion substance conversion process has only been used once before, during Project Leviathan. Although a success, it led to the demise of all subjects in the project. However, the data regarding the cold-fusion methodology (see Attachment 3) provided several insights into increasing the survival rate up to 1/50.
Biological programming to imbue organisms with inborn knowledge is a purely theoretical concept. Although strides in this field were made during Project Leviathan, the act of being able to "program" directives and goals into organisms is still being researched. Allocating further computational resources into this research, such as the use of the Temporal Dilation Computational Device, should enable its implementation within less than two years.
As illustrated with the failure of Project Golem and the quarantine of its host country, there is a danger of uncontrolled reproduction. In the event that a terraforming organism goes rogue, it could potentially cause a runaway terraforming effect that would render the Earth uninhabitable. The organisms it spawns could additionally usurp the ecological balance of the planet, completely altering the ecosystem and causing, at minimum, a Permian-level extinction event. The addition of gene ACP-405 into the terraforming organisms would ensure that the gene is passed on to all its offspring. A pathogen could be engineered to target this gene, killing all creatures that possess it, thus averting any such incident.
