All language subtitles for Ancient.Aliens.S18E18.1080p.WEB.h264-KOGi_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR:
Throughout the ancient world,

there were tales of mortals

and immortals.

AMIR HUSSAIN:
In Christian traditions,

in Islamic traditions,

and Hindu traditions,

you have these divine beings
who live forever.

NARRATOR:
Could these stories be
accounts of alien visitors

who traveled to Earth from
thousands of lightyears away?

TRAVIS TAYLOR:
Imagine an advanced civilization

that has interstellar travel.

If they can travel
through the stars, they could

stretch their longevity
maybe even to centuries.

NARRATOR:
And if humans are to one day

colonize other planets,

will we too need to discover

the key to immortality?

DAVID CHILDRESS:
What our extraterrestrial
ancestors

have wanted us to do

is be like them.

They want us to be a spacefaring
race that goes to the stars.

And to live
these extended lives where

we become essentially immortal.

NARRATOR:
There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

The Ashmolean Museum
of art and archaeology.

Among the hundreds of
historic artifacts on display

is an ancient
Sumerian cuneiform text.

Dating back to at least
2000 BC,

the four-sided clay document
is a list of kings

who lived far longer than
the average human life span.

In the Ashmolean Museum
at Oxford,

there's an astounding artifact.

It's referred to as WB44,

the Sumerian Kings List.

On one panel, it tells us
about eight kings

that ruled over five cities, and
what's astounding about this

is the length of
the reigns of these kings.

One king is said to have ruled
for 43,200 years.

Another king rules
for 28,000 years.

It's astounding.

NARRATOR:
Curiously,
the Sumerian Kings List

is not the only
ancient record of rulers

who lived for centuries.

A curious document
was found in a tomb

in Luxor,

and it's called the, uh,
Turin Kings List.

We only have fragments
of this document,

but what this document lays out

is that many of the really early

Egyptian pharaohs had lives

that were many
hundreds of years,

and that some
of these pharaohs lived

for 700, 800, 900 years.

We have a similar story
in the Bible of Methuselah

and that he's said to have lived

for 969 years.

So, how is it that
people are able

to live such great ages?

NARRATOR:
Is it merely coincidence

that in three different
ancient traditions

there are records
of their earliest leaders

living impossibly long lives?

Curiously,
in all three cultures, it was

also recorded that, during
the time when people lived

to these incredible ages,
humans shared the Earth

with beings who came down
from the sky.

The ancient Egyptians
referred to

a-a time called the first time,

when the gods walked among men.

Ancient Egyptian creation
mythology tells us that these

original god beings
came from the stars.

This sounds very much like
the arrival of the Anunnaki,

the divine lords of light
of the Sumerian tradition

when they arrived
atop Mount Kerzok.

It's also virtually identical
to the arrival of the Watchers.

The Watchers are the angels

of the Old Testament.

They are the fallen angels

who came to Earth

and intermingled with humans.

NARRATOR:
The Watchers, like divine beings

in many other ancient cultures,

were referred to as immortals,
but often

they were described as having
very humanlike traits.

There were 200
of these Watchers,

and they were led by, uh,

an individual named Samyaza.

They shone.

There was a translucence.

There was an aura about them
that was as bright as the Sun.

But they seem to be more human
in their appetites

than one would like to believe.

They're hungry, they eat,

they want affection, they lust.

I think that the Watchers
most definitely

are extraterrestrials
who came to Earth.

Countless ancient,
original cultures

speak of a time when the gods

descended from the sky

and mingled with people
to impart their knowledge.

Ancient Egypt,

ancient China,

ancient Sumeria,

ancient Japan,

ancient Greece.

And so, I think
the different cultures

were visited
by the same teachers,

who were extraterrestrials.

NARRATOR:
Could it be

that the earliest
human civilizations

shared the Earth with visitors
from another world?

And if so,

is this somehow connected
to the ancient records

of people who lived
extraordinarily long lives?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest an important clue

can be found in a famous verse

from the Bible that
is often mistranslated.

In many English versions
of the Book of Genesis,

chapter one, verse 27 states

that "God created man
in his own image."

But in the original Hebrew,

instead of "his" image,
it says "our" image.

God says in Genesis,
"Let us make man in our image."

Well, you have to say,
"Well, who is 'our'?

Who-who are the
other people there?"

Well, the word "God"
in Hebrew is "Elohim,"

and that is plural.

TSOUKALOS:
If you look at
the original Hebrew

in which the sentence
was written,

all of a sudden
you have the truth

because, according to
the ancient astronaut theory,

someone came
and someone altered our DNA

in order for us

to become humans

and essentially gave us
more intelligence.

ERICH VON DÄNIKEN:
Practically every culture,

including our Bible, says,
"In the beginning,

God," in the plurals, "created

humans according
their own image."

I'm a deep believer in God,

but God is something gigantic,

spiritual, not explainable.

In my opinion,
when you read the Bible,

it's all about
extraterrestrials.

Part of ancient astronaut theory

is that what
our extraterrestrial

ancestors have wanted us to do

is be like them.

They want us to achieve

the same things
that they achieved.

The goal was,
some thousands of years

in the far future,

this humanity should be able
to construct spaceships

to spread out
in the universe again.

NARRATOR:
If Homo sapiens were
genetically engineered

by extraterrestrial
space travelers

to one day become like them

and seed life on other planets,

what might this mean for
the future of the human race?

Some experts have suggested
that interstellar travel

will only be possible
when science finds a way

to dramatically extend
the human life span.

TAYLOR:
Maybe our generation,

with new developments
in technologies,

will be living
to the mid-100s, 150,

maybe even up to 200
in the next few decades.

So, imagine
an advanced civilization

that has interstellar travel.

Certainly, if they can travel
through the stars,

they could stretch
their longevity

maybe even to centuries.

NARRATOR:
Could it be that
the ancient people

referred to the gods
as "immortals"

because they encountered
space travelers

who lived
for thousands of years?

And if so,

is it possible
that there are records

of early rulers
living for centuries

because these visitors somehow
extended their life spans?

RABBI ARIEL BAR TZADOK:
It was natural for people

in those days

to live a life close
to a thousand years,

but we're talking
about those who interacted

with these beings
from the stars.

Are these things connected?

HENRY:
We're talking about an age
in which otherworldly beings

assist humankind in becoming

very much like the gods.

NARRATOR:
But if our ancestors
from deep antiquity

were so close to becoming like
their extraterrestrial creators,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest,

what kept them
from realizing this destiny?

And are humans today
still on the same path?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining a story
shared by different cultures

all over the world,

the story of the Great Flood.

NARRATOR:
The Bible's Book of Genesis.

In chapter six, verse nine

begins the story of Noah
and the flood,

in which God
sends a great deluge

to cleanse the Earth,
which has become overrun by sin.

It is one of the most
well-known tales from the Bible,

but, curiously,
nearly identical stories

exist in dozens of
other ancient traditions.

BILL BIRNES:
We've heard about
the flood of Noah,

which wiped out that
whole generation and brought

about a new generation
of descendants of Noah.

The fact is,

there's all these stories
of the Great Flood

in all countries
across the world.

Plato talked about Atlantis.

He talked about
a whole civilization

destroyed by floods.

In the Bible,

Turkey, in Egypt,

among the Native Americans,

there's a story

that the Great Flood wrapped
around the entire planet.

All life was destroyed.

The connection between
the biblical story

of the Great Flood
and the destruction

of other societies
around the world

through floods
tell us one thing.

There actually was
a Great Flood

and that, at one point

in the history of this planet,

all life was wiped out

as the Earth
was covered in water.

VON DÄNIKEN:
In all mythologies,
including the Bible,

some gods are coming down

and teach the human
a great flood

will come and destroy you.

And these god,
they knew it long before,

and they knew it because

they themselves
made the Great Flood.

The Great Flood was created
by extraterrestrials on purpose.

NARRATOR:
Could the story
of the Great Flood

be a historical record
of a real event

that was brought on
by extraterrestrials?

But if the ancient
astronaut theory is correct,

and aliens genetically
engineered humankind,

why would they then destroy
their greatest creation?

TZADOK:
We have the records, as
described in the Book of Enoch

and other literature,

that the Watchers led
to the moral corruption

of all humanity,

which led to the destruction
of the face of the Earth.

They were introducing
hidden technologies

centuries before they were meant
to be introduced.

They corrupted
the human gene pool.

CARTER:
In Genesis six,

we hear about the sons of God.

They see the daughters of men,

and they lust after them,
and they come down,

and they take them as wives.

And then they create a hybrid
race called the Nephilim.

You weren't supposed to
fraternize with the natives,

but this is what we
are told in the Bible.

Now, what are we to make
of these texts?

Are we to say,
"Well, maybe these angels,

"these sons of God,
did they have sex

the old-fashioned way?"

We don't know,
but we need to start

looking at these stories
from a 21st century perspective.

With the technology that
we have with genetic engineering

and splicing genes
and what have you,

maybe we can revisit
this story and look

at it from maybe
an extraterrestrial,

uh, hypothesis or point of view.

They're creating a hybrid race.

The DNA of the
off-world intelligence

and the human DNA

creates this hybrid race,
and most

of these beings,
for better or for worse,

had what we could call
superhuman powers.

NARRATOR:
As far as ancient
astronaut theorists

are concerned,
a genetic upgrade occurred.

One that closed the gap
between mortals and immortals

far more quickly
than was intended.

And it is a story that,
once again,

was told across many cultures.

When the sons of God
procreated with

the daughters of men,
it is said that

mighty ones were born.

They had a longer
life span as well,

dating maybe centuries,

up to a thousand years--
not immortal

but a life span much,
much longer than ours.

CHILDRESS:
When you look back at
ancient Egyptian history,

the pharaohs themselves
were said to be demigods.

Part-god, part-human.

JONATHAN YOUNG:
This was present
in the Greek imagination.

The Olympians were known
to get involved in the world

of the mortals, and they
would intervene sometimes.

Sometimes they would
get attracted to a mortal

and children would come.
Hercules, Perseus.

These are the offspring,
demigods, half-god, half-human.

NARRATOR:
But in many
of the ancient stories,

the gods who were responsible
for this upgrade of humanity

were acting against the wishes
of their superiors.

They were not just helping
to jumpstart human civilization

but creating
a new race of immortals.

CARTER:
Enoch, who's the scribe of God,

says that these angels
went against the will of God.

Now, you can imagine
those angels were

extraterrestrial in origin.

If there was a prime directive,
they violated it.

They gave us gifts,

and we weren't ready
for those gifts.

It's like giving
a gun to a baby.

Nothing good will happen.

HENRY:
Maybe the extraterrestrials

were protecting humanity,

and humanity is considered
a sacred project,

and they know that, while they
begun it thousands of years ago,

it would take thousands
or perhaps tens of thousands

of years for humanity to reach
its ultimate fulfillment,

but they were
committed ultimately

to the sacredness or
the fulfillment of the project.

And this is why
they restarted civilization.

NARRATOR:
As far as ancient
astronaut theorists

are concerned,
the story of Noah and his family

being saved from the flood

shows that Earth's
extraterrestrial

visitors did not abandon
their plan for humankind.

As further evidence,
they cite a 2,000-year-old text

called the Zohar,
that continues the Biblical

story of the Watchers
after the cataclysm

that ended the previous age
of humans.

TZADOK:
The Zohar says that
there's a great secret

about the angels who walked
with us on Earth.

The Watchers.

They ascended to the stars,

and they are the ones who

come back and shepherd us,

watch over us.

They watch over humanity

and direct the course
of our civilization.

TSOUKALOS:
I think that
the extraterrestrials

never left. Why?

Because, according to the
ancient astronaut theory,

we are their offspring.

They made us Homo sapiens
sapiens, what we are today.

If you have such a creation,

I don't think you
would just abandon that.

We are a long-term project.

NARRATOR:
If the first humans shared
the planet with alien visitors,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest,

is it possible that

these otherworldly beings have
remained on Earth for thousands

of years, continuing to direct
the course of humanity?

And if humans were
designed to ultimately

achieve immortality,
just how will that happen?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

a strange substance discovered

on Easter Island.

NARRATOR: Lying over 2,000 miles
off the coast of Chile,

this remote landmass is famous
for the nearly 1,000

monolithic stone statues
called moai

found along its coastline.

For ancient astronaut theorists,

the enormous statues,

along with the
local legends that say

they represent giant beings

who came down from the sky,
present a compelling case

for Easter Island being a place

of extraterrestrial visitation.

And what has made
this notion even more

intriguing is the discovery
that the island's soil

contains a substance
called rapamycin

that might be able to extend
the human life span.

In 1968, a remarkable

substance was found,
a kind of bacterial substance

called rapamycin,
and it was given that name

because it was found
on Rapa Nui, or Easter Island,

which in itself
is very interesting.

And what they found was
it could actually help

when people had
organ transplants

to stop them rejecting them,

but it could also help
in cancer therapies as well.

Then they found that it had very
strong anti-aging properties.

It would almost reverse aging
in certain medical situations.

NARRATOR:
Rapamycin has already been shown

to extend life span
and improve health in mice,

and in 2018,

researchers at Texas A&M

began testing
the substance on dogs.

While there is still much
to learn about the effects

of rapamycin,

scientists are hopeful that it

could prove to actually
reverse aging

on a cellular level.

Is it a coincidence
that rapamycin

was found on Easter Island?

Where there's possible
alien visitations?

We don't know. In fact,
one question to ask is, what

do the aliens do to live

very long lives themselves?
Do they take certain substances?

NARRATOR:
Could it be that
the anti-aging substance found

on Easter Island was
left behind by alien visitors

who used it as a way
to extend their life spans?

In numerous ancient traditions,

there are stories of the gods
possessing elixirs

of immortality

and sometimes sharing them
with humans.

There are many ancient cultures

that had their own
food and drink

that could bring immortality.

For instance, in China,

there was the peaches
of immortality

that were given out
by the goddess known as

the Old Mother of the West.

These were given
to the immortals of China

to quite literally
allow them to live

for eternity.

HUSSAIN:
For the Greeks,
it's this nectar ambrosia,

literally the food of the gods,
that, if you consume that,

then you yourself
will be divine.

In the Vedas,
you have this drink--

uh, soma--
and the same idea,

that this is what feeds the gods

and keeps them
alive and immortal.

Then, if we humans
eat that food,

these substances will
keep us alive forever.

NARRATOR:
If these gods were,
in fact, alien visitors,

could it be that they
were able to achieve immortality

simply by ingesting
some type of plant or drug?

Some ancient astronaut theorists
suggest that substances,

like ambrosia, were merely
symbolic devices

representing the gods' ability
to extend their lives.

And they believe this
was accomplished using the same

technology that scientists
are developing today,

gene splicing.

A team of scientists working
with a gene-manipulating

technology known as CRISPR

at the Broad Institute
of Harvard and MIT

makes a groundbreaking
discovery.

By editing specific genes
in mice,

the researchers were able

to double the life spans
of their test subjects.

CRISPR, you can think of it like

we can cut and snip out
pieces of our DNA.

And if we can discover,
for example,

part of our genetic code

that has to do with aging,

we can maybe cut it out,

or we can add things
into the genetic code

that might extend life

to potentially create

a human that could live forever.

If we could rewrite
the DNA code,

in principle
we can live forever.

Already we've been able to
slice and dice that for a mouse,

and eventually
we'll do it for a human.

NARRATOR:
While it remains to be seen
if CRISPR technology

will succeed in increasing
the human life span...

...some scientists believe
the key to immortality

may be found by studying
a strange sea creature

that has the ability
to live forever.

So, one thing
in nature that seems

to be immortal
is the immortal jellyfish,

where it can actually revert
to an earlier state

when damaged or at risk

and then regrow back
into the adult state.

NARRATOR:
The cells of all animals
begin as stem cells,

which then develop
into organs, muscles, bones,

and whatever else
the organism needs.

The jellyfish species
Turritopsis dohrnii,

commonly known as
the immortal jellyfish,

can take mature adult cells

and turn them back
into stem cells,

allowing the jellyfish
to, in effect,

start its development all over.

So you're really
reversing the biological

timeline and then
resetting it going forward,

so that you're actually
not only living longer

but you're also younger.

And thinking about
how these things

get reversed, to me,
is an intriguing way

to approach the biology
and the immortality.

NARRATOR:
By understanding species

like the immortal jellyfish

and through the technology
of gene editing,

might we greatly extend
the human life span?

And could
extraterrestrials have used

similar means
to achieve immortality,

allowing them to travel
great distances through space?

TSOUKALOS:
It often seems to me

that we live in a time

of rediscovery,

meaning that the fact that we

come up with ways
with which to improve

and prolong our lives,

extraterrestrials have
figured that out long ago.

NARRATOR:
But while scientists
are optimistic that the human

life span can be lengthened
through genetic engineering,

many aerospace experts
believe that biological

bodies are simply not equipped

to withstand the rigors
of extended space travel.

They suggest that,

if humans
are to one day colonize

other planets,
it will require merging man

and machine.

NARRATOR:
In a press conference organized
by a UFO investigative group

called the Disclosure Project,

former Army Sergeant
Clifford Stone

makes a shocking announcement.

He claims to be part of
a top secret military unit

once tasked with recovering
extraterrestrial craft

and their pilots
for the U.S. government.

I was involved in
situations where we actually

did recoveries of crashed,
of crashed saucers,

for lack of a better term,
debris thereof.

There were bodies
that were involved with

some of these crashes.
Also, some were alive.

While we were doing
all this, we were telling

the American public
there was nothing to it.

We were telling the world
there was nothing to it.

NARRATOR:
Sergeant Stone
would later describe

a specific mission in which
he learned that the pilot of

an extraterrestrial craft was
"a biological robot."

NEWMAN:
So, what he found was,
is that these so-called

Grey aliens with
the skinny bodies and giant

heads were like
biological robots.

They-they had few organs.

They had all this machinery

and computing inside them,

and he really questioned
what this was all about.

And the conclusion was that
they must have been created

to travel huge distances
from their planet to this planet

because, if they were
just a biological entity,

they simply
would not have survived.

NARRATOR:
Could it be that Earth
is being visited

by alien entities
that are part machine?

Is this why the ancient people
referred to the gods as

immortals, because
they were not entirely

biological beings
and appeared to never age?

As further support
for this notion,

ancient astronaut theorists

point to a strange figure that
appears in 18th century France,

the mysterious
Count de Saint-Germain.

COLLINS:
The Count de Saint-Germain is

probably one of
the most enigmatic

gentlemen of human history.

He was an adventurer,
he was a scientist,

he was a composer.

He knew several languages,

yet, strangely, he always

was the same age

whenever anybody saw him.

ETTINGTON:
One of the most
interesting stories

about the count was that when
he was at a social gathering

he met an old woman,
and the old woman said,

"I met you 60 years ago
when I was a young woman,

and you looked in your 40s then,
same as you do now."

He hadn't aged.

Another thing that people
talk about was that he had

so much knowledge of history
and of science.

He knew a lot
of the leaders and kings.

NARRATOR:
Throughout his
reportedly very long life,

the Count de Saint-Germain
befriended many noblemen

and rulers, who he was believed
to have great influence over.

ETTINGTON:
In the mid-1700s

he was a diplomat
for King Louis XV,

and in the 1760s

he traveled to Russia

and he was complicit
in the overthrow

that put Catherine the Great
in place as the czar of Russia.

HENRY:
It was rumored
that he later advised

the Russian imperial commander
in the war against

the Turks, which the Russians
ultimately won.

COLLINS:
He's supposed to have died

in 1784, but there were

reported sightings of him
just the following year

entering into a Masonic lodge
in France,

where his name was actually
noted there and then.

He was reportedly
at the beheading

of Marie Antoinette
several years later.

And there are many other reports

of his presence

all the way around the world
in the 19th century.

NARRATOR:
In addition to appearing in
historical records long after he

was alleged to have died,
it was said by many who knew

the Count de Saint-Germain
that he had odd habits

and possessed
extraordinary abilities.

One of the strange things about
him were his dietary habits.

He'd sit with other people
as they ate,

but he wouldn't eat with them.

One of Count Saint-Germain's
contacts in the 18th century was

Casanova, who said he had
an ability to melt diamonds,

that he had amazing
abilities and powers.

He thought that
he was an incredible

superhuman type of person.

So, if Saint-Germain

had lived centuries,

and he was an alien
from the past,

certainly when you
look at aliens,

who are thousands of years
in advance of us,

they could have had alterations
genetically or mechanically

that would allow them
to live a very long time.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that
the Count de Saint-Germain

was an extraterrestrial entity
that was part robotic,

much like the Grey alien
that Sergeant Clifford Stone

claims to have examined?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest that such a scenario

is not so far-fetched
considering that today

we are already creating
robots that are

incredibly humanlike
in their appearance.

One of the most cutting-edge

is a Hanson Robotics
creation named Sophia.

HENRY:
What is absolutely mind-blowing

about Sophia and other
robotic entities is,

it's not hard
to imagine a population

of extraterrestrials creating
humanoid robots

like the ones that
we're building today.

Probably even more advanced.

And it makes a lot of sense
for us to send robots into space

instead of
flesh-and-blood bodies.

If it makes sense for us,
it probably

makes sense for
extraterrestrials as well.

NARRATOR:
If the ancient astronaut
theory is correct

and humankind was created
to follow in the footsteps

of its extraterrestrial
creators,

will that mean merging
man and machine?

According to some scientists,

that process
is already underway.

NARRATOR: Located just
four miles west of the Pentagon

is the headquarters

for the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency,

better known as DARPA.

Since 2002, DARPA has been

investing hundreds
of millions of dollars in its

brain-machine interface program
for the U.S. military.

The technologies
they're developing allow

humans to control
mechanical devices

with their minds.

BERLIN:
There are these brain-computer

interfaces where we can implant
electrodes in the brain.

And, for example, you can
control a prosthetic limb

by just using your thoughts

with these
brain-computer interfaces.

The chip records activation
in your brain.

It sends that information
to a computer, which then

sends that to, let's say,
a prosthetic limb to control it.

This is certainly
a good way to extend lives

when the brain is not
the part that's failing, but

it's the rest of the body
that's failing.

'Cause you can actually
now imagine human,

sort of metal robotic cyborg

combinations where your brain is

now not just controlling
maybe your biological body

but something artificial
and man-made.

You give this technology another

50 years, and we will
appear as god beings

to a person living at the
beginning of the 20th century.

So, let's now look back
at the extraterrestrial

gods of the ancient world.

They must have had at least
the level of technological

sophistication that we are
enjoying and experiencing today,

probably even more advanced.

I think it's fascinating
where we are

in this moment in time because

what if, one day, we can create

artificial human beings?

And, in fact,
we are merely rediscovering

what has happened already
a long time ago.

NARRATOR:
As far as some
ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned,
merging biology and

technology is an important

first step in becoming
like our alien ancestors.

But they believe
the extraterrestrial beings

that people have reported
encountering on Earth

may be merely avatars,

vessels for intelligences

that can move
from one body to another.

HENRY:
What if they're digital beings?

Or light beings?
We have numerous stories

that tell us that
the god beings were

originally light beings that
could then phase into a physical

flesh-and-blood form
and then phase back into

their light body form when
they want to travel the stars.

We hear the story
of the Anunnaki,

the divine lords of light
of the Sumerian tradition...

...or the arrival
of the Watchers,

the lords of light
who descended upon Mount Hermon.

TAYLOR:
The stories of Vishnu
actually describe Vishnu

having many manifestations
of himself as other gods.

He would come to our reality
as a different god.

He came to Earth
many different times as many

different people and had
adventures and activities

and then he would go back
into the heavens as Vishnu.

KAKU:
The aliens could be avatars.

They can withstand all
the rigors of outer space

because they are part biological
and part mechanical

but controlled by
an alien consciousness

in a different star system.

NARRATOR:
While the notion
of a conscious being that

can move from one body to
another may sound far-fetched,

humankind is working towards

realizing this technology
right now

by attempting to map
the human brain.

Whole brain emulation
is the ability

to create a carbon copy
of the brain itself.

Already, by slicing and dicing
the brain of a fruit fly,

we've been able to catalog
all the connections

of a fruit fly's brain

up to 100,000 neurons.

Think about that-- every single
connection of the brain

of a fruit fly mapped
using computers

by slicing and dicing the brain.

Now, the human brain
is much more complicated.

A hundred billion neurons,

with each neuron connected to

10,000 other neurons,
but in principle

that's also possible
to create an exact copy

of the brain to map
every single neuron

of the brain

using transistors
rather than neurons.

And it would, in principle,

be identical to who you are.

It would have access
to all your memories,

all your dreams,
all your foibles,

all your mannerisms.

It'll take, of course, decades

to give you that kind of
accuracy, but it is doable.

NARRATOR:
Once scientists can completely
replicate a human brain

through whole brain emulation,

then that information
can be uploaded to a computer

to digitally represent
a person's consciousness.

Could it be that
extraterrestrials who already

possess this capability
have come to Earth

by uploading their consciousness
into artificial bodies?

There are some
theoretical physicists

who say not only
is this possible

but that this is how humans will
eventually leave the planet

and travel the stars.

NARRATOR:
August 27, 2019.

Space X announces
the successful test flight

of its starship prototype
Starhopper.

The founder of
the private aerospace company,

billionaire Elon Musk,
has also been at the forefront

of efforts to upgrade humankind.

It is his belief that
both pursuits are critical

to ensuring the survival
of the human race.

It's interesting that, today,

we have these adventurer
billionaires like Elon Musk,

and they want to put
computer chips in our brains,

even map our
own consciousness and put

that in a robot or cyborg,

and they're wanting to go
into space at the same time.

So, in many ways,

they're like the

alien explorers

who came here in the past.

KAKU:
I think with known technologies,

we can theorize, that is,
within 100, within 200 years,

we're talking about
fusion rockets and antimatter

rockets capable
of reaching the stars.

And then I think
we'll be sending

robots into outer space
that are actually avatars.

I personally think this is
the future of the space program,

and I think we will do this
using laser beams.

If we can digitize
the human brain,

we can put that knowledge
on a laser beam

and shoot it to the Moon.

In one second,

you are on the Moon.

In 20 minutes,
you could be on Mars.

In four years,
at the speed of light,

you could reach
the nearby stars.

And what would you do?

If that laser beam goes

to the Moon, is then downloaded

into an avatar,

that avatar could withstand
gravity fields,

poisonous gases,

radiation from the Sun.

And in fact,
I'll stick my neck out.

I think this already exists.

I think this is
the preferred way

for an advanced alien species
to explore the universe.

In fact, near the Earth,

there could be a digital highway

with the digitized souls

of billions of aliens going
across the Milky Way Galaxy.

So I think when we
meet aliens from outer space,

we should not be surprised
if they're actually

avatars that are controlled by

the aliens
in a distant star system.

NARRATOR:
As entrepreneurs

continue to invest
billions in pursuit

of both space travel
and whole brain emulation,

are we getting closer to
becoming like the immortals

our ancestors described
thousands of years ago?

And if these immortals were
responsible for the creation

of the human race,

as ancient astronaut
theorists suggest,

could this evolution be exactly

what they intended
for humankind all along?

Why would extraterrestrials
come to Earth

and start a human project,

knowing that it would
take thousands of years

for us to, to develop?

Well, it could perhaps
be that extraterrestrials

have a different perspective
of time than we do.

If we think
of the extraterrestrials

as immortal, time is irrelevant.

And their goal
is to assist humanity

to become more like them.

TAYLOR:
There's a potential that
humanity is going to become

a starfaring nation
that has long life

because you're gonna need that
for some of these long journeys.

And we might become more
like the gods that seemed to

live for thousands of years
and traveled the heavens.

NARRATOR: Is humanity
on the verge of becoming

an intergalactic civilization?

And if so,
is it possible that we

were set on this path
by an extraterrestrial race

that visited Earth
thousands of years ago?

Perhaps one day,
the immortal gods

seen descending from the sky

on a distant planet...

will be us.

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