If we have some type of apocalypse here on earth nobody that finds our planet will need any help smelting metal or growing crops. Our scientists are so egocentric that they actually believe people from other worlds could benefit from their pathetic grasp of nothing. Obviously, if we destroyed our planet, which is likely, they won't be taking any advice from us about anything.

If people traveled from other worlds they certainly wouldn't need our help in metallurgy or anything else for that matter.

For some reason people seem to think that we need to keep human history alive in case of the death of our planet. I believe that the universe would be much better off without humans. We are totally insignificant. We're exactly like a virus that consumes everything and leaves nothing in return. We should be exterminated.

Duke Starbuckle, Pittsfield, MA

Fantastic idea! Why don't you people read Jack Williamson's novel "Terraforming Earth" to see how it shoud be done?

Gilbert Avila, Morgan Hill, California

Let's wait for doomsday.Catastrophy also means new epoch of humankind.So do your prayer please.2012,a new epoch will start!

PeterWang, ondcae,

Ray, from Vancouver Island,Canada...sounds like somebody has insight into something that's coming. MAYBE THE mAYAN CALENDAR FOR 2012 HAS GOT THEM SCARED. Would they tell us if there was a catastrophy coming? With all of the "Alien visitand catasrophy films coming out of Hollywood i think we are being set up for something. I use to be paranoid but but I'm all right now...(chuckle)!!!

r. holland, nanaimo,bc, canada

Hay, At least it keeps the scientists off the streets, And gives them something to do, We have enough deadbeats and lay abouts in the world, Do you want some Egg-head in a white smock and pocket protector, Cluching his sheepskin from Cornnell, Coming up to your car every time you stop, Wanting to wash the windshild for a Dollar?

Mike Humble, Shreveport, USA

Folks, sounds like Alternative 3 to me. Something for the fear consumed elitists to go on in their evil ways. I can't wait for the day that a greater unseen and unknown reality of sorts just decides to wipe all the war and misery causing elitists and militant incompetents....their day is coming and they can't do a damn thing about it....ha, ha, ha,.......! Maybe their ET enemies will ray gun straight into their Kingdom Come.....ha, ha, ha, stupid fools!!!

Jon Parker , Sheridan,

Tom in Toronto speaks the most sense here! Must not forget the peadophiles,rapists and murderers though. Should make it as a huge Alcatraz for the people that don't deserve to be on Earth.

carla, wales, uk

How much notice would we realistically get for people to hide in these shelters? Is it possible for anyone to actually be alive after a global disaster? In theory I think it's a good idea but practically I don't think it will work, who would be left to get the seeds and stuff off the moon?!

Kate, Birmingham, UK

First the seed vault, now a moon vault? Pretty sure they're trying to tell us something. Note to self: build bomb shelter, store food and water, learn to knife fight, attone my morals with the necessity of cannibalism. Should probably also buy a gun, a gas mask, maybe a radiation suit. Have you looked at Atlanta on a map? It looks like a big target! One giant road circling around, and crosshairs through the center. We're doomed. Doomed!

Marik Bromine, Atlanta,

"If no receivers survived, the ark would continue transmitting the information until new ones could be built."

this is stated as if building new radio receivers, antennas and demodulation equipment is trivial. how about leaving 4000 copies on the info ON EARTH?

this is the most convoluted idea i've ever heard of.

jerry hilbred, london, uk

God will provide for his creation?

Wow, delusion is deep with this one. Even by your own doctrine - he will help those that help themselves.

Joel, Brisbane, Australia

Something a little more low tech would be alot more practical. This project seems to be assuming a rather high ability level to get the knowledge and an over dependence on complicated technology.

Widely distribute a reference book made of very durable material, metal or plastic. It could start very simply and end with the final pages encoded very densely somehow, perhaps like the Long Now Foundation's Rosetta Disk.

It could even include technological tidbits to assist in the advent of a true global disaster. Seeds, drugs, chemicals sealed and embedded in some pages. Perhaps some useful technical bits like a frensel len(s) or electronics embedded like led or crude radio that could be powered with a simple to improvise power source (plans in book) or solar panel built in?

Hard parts apply to both, keeping it free of dogma, be it religion or politics. Making it accessible to all. Make it useful both today and in crisis. Most important, make it ubiquitous, more so than the bible!

ken, bloomington, indiana

If we blow ourselves up Its probably a good idea to have us never come back ... Races that can live together without war and destruction for profit probably a much better Idea.

Bill Lanphar, Eureka, USA

In case of disaster, God will provide for his creation.

Lars, Boise, Idaho

My thought is there is no way I would want to live after said events. The future of our society are the kids today. The ones that don't respect authority that our parents taught us. Do you honestly think the education system today is going to teach them how to think on their own.

I would want said meteor or rocket to hit me square on my forehead.

Bill, FM, Texas

Why hold the information in French? Sounds an ideal opportunity to erase a horrible language

John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England

Hey everyone, we need to learn how to farm, smelt metal, and make electronics to build a receiver ... so the info on the moon can teach us how to farm, make electronics, and build more receivers!!!

Paul, Rugeley, UK

Let me get this straight... we're going to put details of how to smelt metal ON THE MOON? How are the survivors going to get there - in a pottery spaceship?

Mike Richards, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

How Very Cool,
This is an idea that has many unknown aspects but it is kind've neat. It doesn't appear to be an American venture so all of you penny pinching "taxpayers" who would sooner pay 2.3 billion for one bomber to erradicate life then support it
can relax. And the dogmatic Christian right may do well to remember a previous Ark that was a blessing and a alledged savior of mankind.along with the revelations of one thousand years of peace in the after math of the cleansing. It would be nice if a world of hairsylists and phone sanitizers could learn to support life without a publix down the street for awhile..
As far as preventitive measures they have been in the works since the "Star Wars program" which was not just a bust. This is a last resort "just in case
Who will decide what is in it though. It would be nice if we could leave the plans for the fa 22 fighter plane and chemical biological and nuclear weapons alone and load it with green energy system info.

Sailingbum, Miami, FL.

Im with Bristol Rob on this one.

Tia, Columbus, Ohio

What if the asteroid hits the moon first? All is vanity and vexation of spirit

EyesOnHeaven, Bealeton, VA

I see my tax money spent before I have made any. I would like for them to make a way for me to make much more money than I do, then I could pay for more taxes. We could make a deal here, or no deal? You better spend resources on job hunting skill before you play games on planets.

Officer Lawrence, Highland, California

My personal view is that the inhabitants of Mars were a war mongering civilisation that ultimately destroyed itself. The survivors fled here, genetically modified monkeys and created us. Sumerian texts bear this out. It would explain why we all regard Mars as such a focal point for exploration, and why we have genetic tendency towards agression. All of the religions name Mars as the God of War. There are plenty of relics on Mars (and the moon) that support this, HitEnter co uk has loads of photos extracted from NASA archives. This planet is doomed, the demise of the honeybee has sealed our fate, tampering with the weather systems has destroyed the environment. If the video evidence of John L Walson depicts spacecraft of earth origin then we are being lied to, and misled, on a scale beyond our comprehension.

Rob, Bristol UK,

I oppose the idea. I think we have our chance to save ourselves on this Earth right now. If we fail, so be it. I'd rather not have humanity "reconstituted" by an alien race or some subsequent civilization at a later date. We are supposedly the smartest creature on the planet- and one can see the results in the number of species that have made way for us so far.
A nice idea, though...

horace, Reno, USA, Nevada

How about using the Moon as a detention center for Islamic Terrorists and others who threaten civilization, instead of as a library, and go on with our lives as normal down here?

Tom, Toronto, Canada

very interesting.....but....when will be doctors able to prove that war, fight impulses residing in human species are a common untreatable disease ?

Julian, Toronto, Canada

Straight Talker:

Not immediately, obviously.....

Martin, St Andrews,

For once one of my metrical poems is topical. Only punctuation was changed in the 2-16-08 edit.

"A single blue escapes the cloud" 10-1-06 & 2-16-08

The nagging bell of my decaying tooth.
The cost of travel to Tasmania
Contrasted with South Island / ÃŽle de Jade.
A skipping stone from porch and wine to talk
Inside. A single blue escapes the cloud.
The claim is diapers last a million years.
This Babel should consign its gold to books
Engraved in lunar rock, too safe from men.
A sky too gray to photosynthesize
This shaded lemon tree. The human haze
Without which only food and drink may spring

T. Appleman, Wellington, NZ

Which definitely means that by 2035, mankind does NOT foresee any kind of possibility to increase the overall IQ, in order to ban for ever the word war from the present time and future vocabulary. At least not the scientists or the military.

Mihai Nicolescu, San Sebastián, Spain

That is supposing that the moon isn't destroyed as well. After all, doesn't it share a symbiotic relationship with the earth?

The Oxford English Dictionary definition of the universe is, all existing matter and space considered as a whole. I have asked and asked but nobody has been able to tell me what was there before the universe. And if the universe is the sum of all things, then how can it expand? And into what?

If science stopped being so bloodyminded about its ability to define first cause, and stopped describing the universe as some kind of definable object, and instead told us that matter was expanding outwards from a set point INTO THE UNIVERSE, then that might make more sense.

I am still baffled as to why we take this explanation for granted, when it leaves the most fundamental of questions in place unanswered. Could it be that we are just not as clever as we like to think we ar

Jennifer Hynes, Plymouth, England

They should install at least 5 receivers here in Switzerland. All households are required to have their own or access to a nuclear shelter. There are early warning sirens in place that will alert people to the danger of nuclear attack and/or asteroid impact. You can bet that a majority of the earth's survivors will be either Swiss or expats like us, living in Switzerland!!!

Theia, Lausanne, Switzerland

What about if the giant asteroid hits the moon first???

Martina Smythe, Hull,

What a waste of funds. In a doomsday scenario knowing a DNA sequence would be the last thing on anyone's mind let alone (re)building a receiver to obtain the information. Would the assets to use the information be available?
Who has funded this idea - are they elected by tax/rate payers ?

Straight Talker, Angers, France

We are going to need it the way New Labour are running Britain.

Rb, Aberdeen,