The first sign of an alien intelligence may well come from this planet. The solution to modifying the body is not to be found in its internal structure, but lies simply on its surface. The significant event in our evolutionary history was a change in the mode of locomotion. Death does not authenticate existence. It is an out- moded evolutionary strategy.
Utopian dreams become post- evolutionary imperatives.
Because technology so successfully mediates between the body and the world, it disconnects the body from many of its functions. The body plugged into a machine network needs to be passified. The problem with space travel is no longer with the precision and reliability of technology but with the vulnerability and durability of the human body. It is the human component that has to be sustained and also protected from small changes of pressure, temperature and radiation. Symbiotic systems seem the best strategy.