As the growing global population continues to increase the burden on the Earth’s natural resources, some historians and scientists (such as Stephen Hawking) think humans should prepare to colonize space, which could require the “next state of human evolution,” cyborgs — a living organism with a mixture of organic and electromechanical parts — says Historian Roger Launius.

“Altering man’s bodily functions to meet the requirements of extraterrestrial environments would be more logical than providing an earthly environment for him in space,” Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline wrote in an article entitled “Cyborgs and Space” in 1960.