[ExI] Breakthrough Starshot - To The Stars!

[Giulio Prisco]

My thoughts on Breakthrough Starshot: The first steps to the stars,
with transhumanist value added. Breakthrough Starshot is an awesome
project that could boost our mental health as a society by re-igniting
our enthusiasm for space with big visions of our cosmic future among
the stars. Perhaps we could send AIs and uploads to the stars,
combining interstellar expansion with post-biological evolution.

http://turingchurch.com/2016/04/14/breakthrough-starshot-the-first-steps-to-the-stars/

On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 10:11 AM, Giulio Prisco <giulio at gmail.com> wrote:
> On on the 55th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering space flight,
> Breakthrough Starshot is launching preparations for the next great
> leap: to the stars.
>
> Internet investor and science philanthropist Yuri Milner and physicist
> Stephen Hawking announced the Breakthrough Starshot initiative, a $100
> million research and engineering program to seek proof of concept for
> using light beams to propel gram-scale "nanocraft" to 20 percent of
> light speed. A possible fly-by mission could reach Alpha Centauri
> within about 20 years of its launch.
>
> The program will be led by Pete Worden, the former director of NASA
> AMES Research Center, and advised by a committee of world-class
> scientists and engineers. The board will consist of Stephen Hawking,
> Yuri Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg. A mission to Alpha Centauri mission
> could be feasible in a few decades.
>
> Watch the recorded webcast of the launch event. Read about
> Breakthrough Starshot at The Atlantic and Centauri Dreams.
>
> http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/News/4
>
> http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3
>
> http://livestream.com/accounts/18650072/events/5143435
>
> http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/04/yuri-milner-zuckerberg-starshot-interstellar-centauri/477669/
>
> http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=35402