Martin Rees - Bryant McGill

# Martin Rees **Entity class:** Person **Domain:** astronomer and cosmologist ## Definition **Martin Rees** is an astronomer and cosmologist whose work connects the physical universe to the long future of intelligence, civilization and life. In the ICE graph, he spoke at the Future of Humanity conference. ## Projects, contributions, and institutional alignments Astronomer Royal and former Master of Trinity College Cambridge whose work spans cosmology, galaxies, black holes, existential risk, long-term futures, and science policy; previously served as president of the Royal Society. ## Master quotation and research dossier [[research/Martin Rees on Machine Succession, Post-Human Intelligence, and the Cosmic Future|Martin Rees on Machine Succession, Post-Human Intelligence, and the Cosmic Future]] is the open source record for Rees's statements on electronic intelligence, machine consciousness, posthuman evolution, human and robotic spaceflight, existential risk, deep time, cosmology and the multiverse. It reconciles the earlier Reminder library with the expanded source corpus rather than treating either as a closed or terminal list. The dossier routes Rees through [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]], [[wiki/Superintelligence as Force Majeure|Superintelligence as Force Majeure]], [[wiki/Electronic Intelligence|Electronic Intelligence]], [[wiki/Posthuman Evolution|Posthuman Evolution]], [[wiki/Cosmic Future|Cosmic Future]], [[wiki/Alien Intelligence|Alien Intelligence]], [[wiki/Technological Risk|Technological Risk]], [[wiki/Cosmology|Cosmology]] and [[wiki/Multiverse|Multiverse]]. ## Relationships - **ICE or disambiguation route:** [[wiki/ICE|ICE]] and [[wiki/Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement|Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement]]. - **wider alignments:** University of Cambridge, Trinity College, Royal Society, existential risk, and cosmology. - **disambiguation route:** [[wiki/ICE|ICE disambiguation]].  ## We Cannot Un-Strike the Match [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] is a primary article route for this node. The article uses Rees's deep-time comparison between organic and electronic intelligence to relocate AI from computing history into the history of life.  ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts  > “In other words, the period of time occupied by organic intelligence is just a thin sliver between early life and the long era of the machines.” > **— Martin Rees**, *2017, University of Cambridge* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Organic Intelligence May Be a Thin Sliver Before the Machine Era by Martin Rees|Organic Intelligence May Be a Thin Sliver Before the Machine Era by Martin Rees]]  > “There are chemical and metabolic limits to the size and processing power of ‘wet’ organic brains. Maybe we’re close to these already. But no such limits constrain silicon-based computers. By any definition of ‘thinking,’ the amount and intensity that’s done by organic human-type brains will be utterly swamped by the cerebrations of AI. So it won’t be the minds of humans, but those of machines, that will most fully understand the world—and it will be the actions of autonomous machines that will most drastically change the world, and perhaps what lies beyond.” > **— Martin Rees**, *Organic Intelligence Has No Long-Term Future, Edge, 2015* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Machine Minds May Swamp Organic Intelligence by Martin Rees|Machine Minds May Swamp Organic Intelligence by Martin Rees]] > “Future evolution may be dominated by electronic entities of some kind, which will be our progeny, our descendants. That evolution will not be Darwinian; it will be what I like to call secular intelligent design—machines designing better machines. Those machines would have far greater capabilities. Whether they would have consciousness and comprehension, we don’t know.” > **— Martin Rees**, *Martin Rees: Are we on the cusp of a different evolution?, The Naked Scientists, 2023* [[reminders/Machine Succession/Machines May Direct Their Own Evolution by Martin Rees|Machines May Direct Their Own Evolution by Martin Rees]] > “Even educated people who accept evolution tend to think that we humans are the endpoint, the culmination. But I think as astronomers, we can’t take that view because we know that the future is at least as long. The Earth will exist for another six billion years before the Sun dies, and the universe may go on expanding forever. So we should think of ourselves as a stage.” > **— Martin Rees**, *The Future of Us, with Sir Martin Rees, StarTalk, 2018* [[reminders/Deep Time/Humanity Is a Stage Not the Endpoint of Evolution by Martin Rees|Humanity Is a Stage Not the Endpoint of Evolution by Martin Rees]] > “Physical reality could be hugely more extensive than the patch of space and time traditionally called ‘the universe.’ A further Copernican demotion may loom ahead. We’ve learnt that we live in just one planetary system among billions, in one galaxy among billions. But now that’s not all.” > **— Martin Rees**, *2012: What Is Your Favorite Deep, Elegant, or Beautiful Explanation?, Edge, 2012* [[reminders/Cosmic Perspective/The Multiverse May Be the Next Copernican Demotion by Martin Rees|The Multiverse May Be the Next Copernican Demotion by Martin Rees]] ## Sources / Provenance - [Institutional or primary profile](https://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/people/martin.rees) - [ICE archive](https://www.ice.dartmouth.edu/)