No one likes to think about certain species going extinct—least of all our own. Yet no matter what the future may hold for humanity, we have already achieved one form of immortality: all three billion “letters” of the human genome have been inscribed on a 5D memory crystal. Though they look remarkably unassuming (just a tiny glass disc roughly the size of a coin), 5D memory crystals are incredibly durable, high-density digital storage materials that can last millions or even billions of years. Though synthetic, the crystal mimics the properties of fused quartz, a glass made almost entirely of pure silica.
The instruction manual for bringing back our species comes courtesy of scientists at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. Lead researcher Peter Kazansky, an optoelectronics professor, said that his team was inspired by the potential of technology to “assist in the reconstruction of a person using stored genetic information” and thus “safeguard human identity.”
A single memory crystal can hold 360 terabytes of information and can withstand extreme conditions and the passage of time. In optimal conditions, the fused crystal has the potential to survive for an unimaginable 300 quintillion years (that’s 3 followed by 20 zeros). Even at an elevated temperature of 374 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees C), the crystal's estimated lifetime is still a whopping 13.8 billion years (approximately the current age of the universe). Memory crystals are designed to withstand fire, cosmic radiation, powerful impact forces, and extreme hot and cold temperatures—all of which could be useful if the disc needs to survive a long journey through space.
The crystal is stored in a time capsule in a former salt mine in Hallstatt, Austria, in an archive known as the Memory of Mankind. It features a visual key that provides clues about what information the disc contains, with diagrams about nucleotides, DNA, and the elements crucial for life.
Yet while the memory crystal technology is undeniably impressive, many people have questioned how realistic it is to expect future generations, species, or machines to have the ability to decipher the crystal, even if it is durable enough to survive for billions of years. They would also need to have the technology (which does not currently exist) to revive a species from a single genome.
Immortality or just information?
- In addition to storing the human genome as a blueprint that could be read by theoretical future lifeforms (or a form of artificial intelligence), 5D memory crystals could also preserve data about other species that are currently threatened or have gone extinct. Memory crystals have already been used to preserve important documents like the Magna Carta, the King James Bible, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- So what makes the crystal’s data storage 5D? The researchers used ultra-fast lasers to inscribe genomic data into the crystal’s nanostructure in five different dimensions: height, length, width, orientation and position.
- In 2014, University of Southampton researchers, including Kazansky, were awarded a Guinness World Record for their nanostructured glass disc, which was lauded as “the most durable digital storage medium.”