NARRATOR: Incredible strength.
RICHARD RADER: You had the creation
of a superhuman that was indestructible, invincible.
NARRATOR: Superior intelligence.
MARK DICE: The ultimate goal is to become an immortal god.
NARRATOR: And the ability to reproduce.
DAVID WILCOCK: You have a robotic consciousness
that has become something we would think of as a person.
NARRATOR: But is this obsession with creating counterfeit humans
really pointing the way
to mankind's future
or to its past?
GIORGIO A. TSOUKALOS: Another civilization has done
the same thing hundreds
of thousands of years before us.
NICK POPE: We may be living in a universe
where the real intelligences out there
are robots.
NARRATOR: Since the dawn of civilization,
mankind has credited its origins to gods
and other visitors from the stars.
What if it were true?
Did extraterrestrial beings
really help to shape our history?
And if so, could there be a connection
between aliens and robots?
Kansai Science City, Japan.
At the Advanced Telecommunications.
Research Institute,
Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro and his team
are developing a series of robots.
Artificial humans that are incredibly lifelike,
both in their appearance and in their facial gestures.
NARRATOR: This robot... Part of the Geminoid series...
Is designed to look identical to its maker.
But what separates it from other robots of its type
is the number of miniature motors, called actuators,
used to mimic human expression.
While most use ten to 12,
the latest Geminoids use over 50.
NARRATOR: The robot is programmed to mimic
as closely as possible the movements
a human makes while at rest.
It responds spontaneously
to being touched or when asked a question.
It can also be remotely operated.
NARRATOR: While the Geminoid robots focus primarily
on replicating facial expression,
engineers at the University of Texas.
Human Centered Robotics Lab
have developed a robot named Dreamer
that can perform an equally impressive series
of sophisticated body movements.
We made Dreamer more human-like through, uh,
features and-and shapes and kind of dimensions of a human.
And at the same time making the movements much more human-like
by understanding and learning from the human.
So one thing that makes unique the movement of Dreamers
is what we call the whole body control.
NARRATOR: Although Dreamer's torso rests on a wheeled base,
a bipedal set of robotic legs
are currently being developed
which will make Dreamer fully mobile within two years.
SENTIS: Ultimately, we want these machines
to live 100 years unassisted.
Without any supervision whatsoever.
NARRATOR: By combining the lifelike characteristics
of androids like those
developed by Hiroshi Ishiguro
with the mobility of robots like Dreamer,
scientists believe we might soon see a time
when artificial humans will be virtually identical
to the real thing.
SENTIS: We're gonna be able to actually create very human-like
robotic systems to the point that
they are nearly indistinguishable,
both in movement and in morphology.
STEVE FULLER: You look at something like
the sort of entities that were dealt with
in the movie Blade Runner, the kinds of Turing tests
that were done there to try to spot the androids.
I think that in principle,
we could have androids passing
a sophisticated version of the Turing test
that would force the machine to think reflectively about
its own consciousness, about its own past,
about its own feelings,
and I think that this
should not be impossible to do, and in which case
we should count these beings as human.
NARRATOR: In the 21st century,
robots are being programmed to do everything
from performing surgery
to driving a car.
And humanoid robots are rapidly
reaching a level of sophistication
that was thought to exist
only in science fiction.
But what are the implications of creating robots
that are increasingly intelligent and independent?
In March of 2015,
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was quoted as saying.
"Computers are going to take over from humans...
the future is scary."
Even Stephen Hawking
and Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk
have predicted that machines may soon surpass
and ultimately replace humans.
Many scientists and thinkers have postulated
that ultimately machines
are gonna take over the world.
Computers are getting faster and more powerful.
Ultimately, we will design machines
that themselves design
even better machines.
If it gets smarter than us, we'd better watch out.
NARRATOR: But while conventional scientists
ponder whether or not robots
are destined to take over the earth,
ancient astronaut theorists are asking themselves
quite a different question:
Did this all happen before,
perhaps thousands of years ago?
Abydos, Egypt.
Seven miles west of the Nile.
Within this expansive archaeological site
lies the ruins of the Osiris Hall,
where thousands would gather to worship
the god of the underworld.
TSOUKALOS: In comparison to many of the gods,
Osiris is actually thought to have lived
physically on Earth
as one of Egypt's Pharaohs.
He is often depicted
with a winged disc of the sun.
And while many scholars have suggested
that this is nothing else
but, uh, to worship the sun,
that sun, as far as the Egyptians were concerned,
also had wings and it descended from the sky.
So in my opinion, something else was depicted:
An extraterrestrial event
that in fact took place in real life.
NARRATOR: Although most ancient astronaut theorists believe
that the Egyptian gods were, in reality,
extraterrestrial visitors,
there are many who wonder if Osiris
was even made of flesh and blood.
One of the most famous stories
that go hand in hand with Osiris
was that he was dismembered
by his jealous brother, Seth.
JONATHAN YOUNG: Seth went into a fury
and tore his brother's dead body
to shreds, tore it into 14 pieces, had it scattered
far and wide all over the kingdom.
But Isis, the loyal wife, searched far and wide
and found the pieces and pulled it together.
TSOUKALOS: Isis succeeded
in resurrecting him.
Now, when I hear a story like that,
that a being is dismembered
and then somebody puts together those pieces
and then they are able to magically resurrect him,
I have to ask the question:
Is it possible that Osiris was not
some type of biological entity,
but perhaps he was some type
of a machine or a robot?
NARRATOR: For ancient astronaut theorists,
perhaps the strongest evidence that Osiris
may have been a robot can be found
in the ancient Pyramid Texts,
which describe the symbol of the Djed Pillar
as Osiris' spine.
Osiris in his resurrected form
was portrayed as a pillar
that clearly resembles
a modern-day Tesla coil.
The Djed Pillar was considered a power pillar.
TSOUKALOS: In this one carving at Abydos,
it is as if Isis has her hand
inserted into Osiris's back.
And so perhaps it illustrates
how she was manipulating Osiris.
Could it be that the story of Osiris
is something completely different
than what we have thought?
NARRATOR: Is it possible that our ancestors
encountered highly sophisticated extraterrestrial robots
in the ancient past?
And if so,
might there be some tangible evidence?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes
and believe the evidence was recovered
deep beneath the sea
and dates back
more than 2,000 years.
NARRATOR: The Aegean Sea.
April, 1900.
Just 230 feet off the coast
of the small island of Antikythera,
sponge divers discover an ancient shipwreck
150 feet beneath the surface.
Over the next two years,
artifacts are recovered from the wreckage
and among them are the remains
of a coral-encrusted metal box
that dates back to the second century BC.
It is the oldest mechanical computer
ever found,
predating artifacts of similar complexity
by 1,500 years.
So you have this small little box
with dozens of cogwheels
on the inside, and it has been determined that
that analog computer was used
to predict astronomical events.
And so it was the first computer
that has ever been created by mankind.
CHILDRESS: The American scientists
who were studying the Antikythera device
actually said that discovering the Antikythera device
was like finding a jet plane
in the tomb of King Tut.
It was so amazing to them.
They had never, ever conceived
that the ancient Greeks, at 200 BC,
would have had the knowledge of mechanical devices like this.
That's completely changed the way we perceive ancient history.
NARRATOR: While excavation teams
have still not determined for certain the origin of the ship
on which the Antikythera mechanism was found,
the leading candidate is the island of Rhodes.
According to some contemporary accounts,
Rhodes was once home to what, by today's standards,
would be considered high technology.
In the fifth century BC,
the poet Pindar wrote that Rhodes
was once adorned with statues that came to life
like living, moving creatures.
TSOUKALOS: He wrote that they
all of a sudden became alive,
and so the question then arises:
Well, if you have a lifeless object first
and then all of a sudden somebody
breathes life into something,
could it be that we have references
to some type of machines?
Where did the people of Rhodes
get the knowledge of how to create
these moving statues 2,500 years ago?
I believe that it is
just what Pindar said,
which is, they got it from the gods.
Well, who are these gods?
The gods are real people, they're extraterrestrials
who had this technology, shared it with humanity.
And now when we see the Antikythera mechanism,
there's something you can put your hands on
that shows that they had the capability
to do advanced machine work.
It's 1,500 years too early, at least.
The point is, that technology really exists,
and from a technology like that,
going to robotics is not too much further.
And extraterrestrials would very well have had
that capability for the time.
If you believe what this legend says on face value.
NARRATOR: Could the Antikythera mechanism be proof
that the ancient Greeks had technology
far in advance of the times in which they lived?
And might this be evidence that there really were
functioning robots on the island of Rhodes?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes
and claim there is also evidence
that advanced robots existed
300 miles to the north
on another Greek island: Lemnos.
Here lie the ruins of Hephaistia,
one of the most important cities in Greece.
It is named for the Greek god of metallurgy,
Hephaestus, who was said to have fallen here
from the sky and actually existed
on Earth alongside humans.
RADER: He's described in his workshop as being
surrounded by automated robots.
He flips on the machines
and they bustle around, doing all the sort of...
the hard busywork for him.
NARRATOR: One of Hephaestus' most famous
and amazing creations was Talos,
a giant man made of bronze
who protected the island of Crete.
Talos was able to observe
all of the ships approaching Crete
and hurl stones at those ships.
And he was able to release this heat,
and thus incinerating any boat
or anything that would come close to him.
So is it possible
that Talos was some type of a machine
or a robot?
NARRATOR: Greece isn't the only place where ancient stories
can be found about inanimate objects
that appear to come to life.
The Jewish Talmud describes a clay figure
called the Golem that could be brought to life
by inserting a spell into its mouth.
In India, an ancient Sanskrit text
called the Lokapannatti
tells of spirit movement machines
as far back as the fifth century BC.
And the Chinese text the Liezi
describes a humanoid robot being presented to King Mu
as far back as 3,000 years ago.
YOUNG: There are stories from many cultures
from all over the planet of people who have either
created other humans or machines
that were very much like humans.
NARRATOR: But if sophisticated robots really did exist
in the ancient world, what function did they serve?
Who built them?
And perhaps more importantly,
what happened to them?
On March 24, 2015,
the Mars rover called Opportunity
reaches the west rim of the 14-mile wide Endeavor crater.
It is searching for minerals and other evidence
that might prove that life once existed here.
It is one of several remote-controlled robots that,
for more than a decade,
have provided NASA with invaluable information
about our closest alien planet.
Well, NASA has successfully controlled robots over,
you know, crazy distances.
They would execute the plan here on the ground, then they
would upload those instructions to the robot on Mars.
NARRATOR: Another NASA robot... The humanoid.
Robonaut 2...
Works on the International Space Station.
And in development is the so-called
super robot, Valkyrie,
which is designed to set up habitats
and pave the way for humans on other planets.
When humans go out into space, uh,
it's very difficult and dangerous and time-consuming.
It's far easier to send robots,
and if that's what we do,
that's sure as heck what extraterrestrials
are gonna be doing.
NARRATOR: But just as we are employing robots today
to gather information and minimize risk to human life,
could similar cybernetic technologies
have existed in the ancient past?
Could stories like that of Osiris,
Talos, and the Golem be true?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes
and believe that the proof can not only be found
in the past, but right here in the present.
NARRATOR: Norway.
November, 2014.
Scientists from the University of Oslo
work on a new breakthrough in robotics,
creating robots that are able to adapt
and continue functioning
even after losing a limb.
The robots also know how to create new limbs
with the use of a 3-D printer
and reapply them,
effectively repairing themselves
without the aid of a human being.
This new technology is the first step in achieving
what Hungarian scientist John Von Neumann envisioned
back in the 1940s:
Self-replicating robots.
John Von Neumann was, uh, a mathematician
that had an idea about self-replicating machines,
where you send out a seed machine
and that machine will seek out raw materials
to construct a copy of itself,
and then that will then send that machine
out to replicate itself.
POPE: So one become two,
two become four, and eventually these things
would be able to explore the entire cosmos.
Now, one theory is that extraterrestrial civilizations
would build space probes like that,
and that would be the quickest way
to explore the entire universe.
FULLER: The interesting question
is going to be the extent to which
part of that self-replicationing includes
the memories and the learning
that the first generation of robots engage with.
So you'd want to make the robots
as open to new experiences as we are
but at the same time be able also to pass on
the experiences from any given generation
to the next generation through self-replication.
So I think that this could be a very important way,
in terms of space travel, to go.
I mean, I think the more interesting question,
from the standpoint of ourselves as human beings,
is the extent to which we remain part of that process.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that we could create self-aware robots
that are completely autonomous
and send them off to explore the universe unassisted?
And might these robots be able to self-replicate endlessly,
using materials found on distant planets?
Ancient astronaut theorists propose
that extraterrestrial beings
may have already achieved this technology.
It is entirely possible that an advanced civilization...
I'm saying far more advanced than we are on Earth...
Could actually develop this technology
of self-replicating machines
and then could send artificially intelligent robots
out into space as sentinels
that scan a much vaster area
than that civilization itself could go to with manned probes.
It's something that probably is already very widely in use
by a variety of extraterrestrial civilizations.
HENRY: The Von Neumann machines are
an awesome idea that is reflected in ancient stories
of extraterrestrials coming to Earth.
In the ancient Egyptian tradition,
we learn of these formless light beings
that emerged from what they describe
as the Island of the Egg
and create civilization.
It suggests that they're utilizing
some kind of self-replicating robot
that has the ability to utilize genetic forms,
perhaps imported from the home planet,
that can then be manifested on a new planet,
in our case, Earth.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that evidence
of self-replicating robots can be found
in ancient historical and religious texts,
such as those concerning ancient Egypt?
And, if so, is mankind today
merely tapping into knowledge that was available on Earth
thousands of years ago,
knowledge that might have been brought here
by extraterrestrial space travelers?
According to some ancient astronaut theorists,
the concept that extraterrestrial life-forms
may have first visited the earth as machines or robots
is not only likely but logical
and can even help to explain a series of alien encounters
that have been reported as recently as the 20th century,
encounters with robot visitors
that might otherwise be referred to as the Greys.
NARRATOR: May 9, 2001.
The National Press Club, Washington, D.C.
During a media conference for the Disclosure Project,
former Army Sergeant Clifford Stone
makes a stunning announcement:
He claims that for more than two decades
he was part of a top secret military operations unit
tasked with recovering extraterrestrial technology
for the United States government.
I was involved in situations where we actually did recoveries
of cra... of crashed saucers,
for lack of a better term, debris thereof.
There were bodies that were involved
with some of these crashes.
Also, some were alive.
While we were doing all this,
we were telling the American public there was nothing to it.
We were telling the world there was nothing to it.
One of the things that Clifford Stone talked about
was a program called Project Moon Dust.
Now, Project Moon Dust was a legitimate military program,
and it was designed to recover things
like Soviet space satellites.
The small number of documents on Moon Dust
that have surfaced through the Freedom of Information Act
talk about how it wasn't just Soviet spacecraft...
It was also UFOs.
Actually uses the term "UFOs" in the document.
NARRATOR: According to Stone,
he was the first to respond to 12 UFO crashes.
But it wasn't until the day after the press conference,
during a closed session with Stone and members of Congress,
that he revealed something even more shocking
about his firsthand accounts with alien entities.
I met him the very next day, on May 10,
in the closed executive/VIP summary briefing
for members of Congress.
One of the things that Sergeant Stone talked about
was the nature of the so-called Grey extraterrestrials.
He said that there were some very strange
biological anomalies about them
that make them look almost as if they are some sort
of biological robot.
They seem to have very few, if any, organ systems in the body.
And yet these beings appear to be able to walk around
and think and function.
Sergeant Clifford Stone got so emotional
about what he was talking about in front of these congressmen
that he literally broke down in tears and walked off the stage.
LINDA MOULTON HOWE: I spent several different times with him
at his home,
looking at documents and listening to him tell
his own extraordinary experience
of having some sort of an encounter
with something that would fall in the category,
from his point of view,
of being in the android
or hybrid area.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the so-called Greys
reported by alleged alien abductees
are really robots being controlled
from beyond our planet?
In 2014, the online magazine Motherboard posted an article
in which a handful of philosophers and astronomers
speculated that the dominant life-form in the cosmos
is probably superintelligent robots.
And according to ancient astronaut theorists,
the notion is not as far-fetched as it seems,
especially when one considers
that Hiroshi Ishiguro's Geminoid robots
are designed to transmit a human presence
from thousands of miles away.
Similarly designed to operate from a remote distance
is the Dreamer robot created by the University of Texas
and also NASA's latest robotic space traveler,
Valkyrie.
RADFORD: What we envision in the future
is more of a supervised autonomy,
where you're giving the robot high-level instructions
and the robot's autonomous enough
to interpret those high-level instructions
and then carry out a portion of its mission.
HOWE: If you have androids,
something else with great intelligence
has to have made them
to come here to work on this planet.
NARRATOR: But while some ancient astronaut theorists believe
the Greys could be surrogates
controlled by alien entities from far, far away,
others suggest the truth is even more incredible.
People often describe the Greys
as featureless, emotionless creatures.
Could it be that they're all effectively from the same mold?
Maybe they are
Von Neumann self-replicating machines themselves.
The interesting thing about this theory
is that people often say that the purpose of the abductions
is to harvest genetic material.
Well, if these Greys
are actually self-replicating robots,
what they might be doing
is actually getting genetic material from humans
to construct more copies of themselves.
NARRATOR: When Clifford Stone made the statement
that Grey aliens might not be entirely biological entities,
as part of his argument, he cited the fact
that they have a cookie-cutter quality to them.
Does his testimony suggest that the extraterrestrial entities
that are visiting the earth are not only part mechanical
and synthetic but also part biological?
Or do they really represent alien creatures
that are part machine and part human?
NARRATOR: September 2003.
Clemson University, South Carolina.
Dr. Thomas Boland files the first patent
for inkjet 3-D printing of viable cells.
Already a multibillion dollar industry,
this process involves placing biological materials
into modified ink cartridges
and printing onto bio paper
made of soy and collagen.
What we see is little petri dishes
with a culture medium like agar in them.
And then you have a little nozzle that comes over
and spray-paints these little hexagons onto the agar.
And within only a few minutes, they start growing cells,
and they become these brown spots,
which are the beginnings of human livers.
RADFORD: Dr. Boland has some very interesting research
looking at printing cell tissue.
I think that opens up some very interesting ideas,
um, about how to bio-manufacture things.
At some point, it'll have application
in the field of robotics,
especially as we start combining devices,
uh, with the human body.
NARRATOR: Many believe this is the first step
in constructing engineered human organs.
Ultimately, the goal is to do the same
for every other part of the human body.
But there is a movement to go much further
in merging biology with technology.
It is called transhumanism.
The ultimate goal of the transhumanists
is to become an immortal god.
And, literally, these people believe
that they will merge with technology and become cyborgs.
They believe that they will unlock the immortality
anti-aging systems encoded into the human race
and that that will be the supposed final evolution
of human beings as they ascend into godhood.
Transhumanists generally acknowledge
that human beings are the products of biological evolution
but we've now reached a stage in our development
where there's an open question about where we should go.
On the one hand, our biological background
could be taken as a kind of platform to go forward,
manipulating genes in various ways.
But on the other hand, we might think about ourselves
merging more directly with silicon-based technologies.
DICE: We see the rollout of these head-mounted displays
like Google Glass,
where people are now wearing a computer on their head.
The Apple Watch now is sort of merging man with machine, and,
instead of sitting down at a computer now,
people are just wearing their computer.
Uh, we see artificial hearts, we see, uh, pacemakers.
These are sort of the early precursors
to this transhumanist transformation.
There certainly is a merging
between technology and biology,
and we are experiencing it right now.
NARRATOR: Some experts believe that by the year 2050,
scientists and engineers will have unlocked
the secrets of immortality
through the production of artificial organs
and silicone-based structures.
Ancient astronaut theorists suggest
that considering the fact that we are experimenting
with transhumanism today,
it is very possible a more advanced extraterrestrial race
has already achieved similar technological advancements.
A civilization millions of years older than us
could have actually evolved much beyond the baby steps
that we're taking right now.
TSOUKALOS: If we are doing this,
is it possible that another civilization
has done the same thing
but perhaps thousands, if not hundreds of thousands,
of years before us?
When we look at some of these ancient texts that we have,
we're always talking about ancient astronauts
that came to visit us.
But what if we were visited by machines?
And so the idea then arises:
Will we ourselves be able to become cyborgs?
WILCOCK: It's possible that other civilizations
may have decided they would be able to essentially live
indefinitely this way.
And the more that we look at the way in which technology
and biology are fusing together,
the more that we can confront the notion
that, with the advancements of computer power,
we could have sentient beings
that are significantly more advanced.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that extraterrestrials have not merely sent intelligent robots
to Earth in their place
but that they themselves have actually evolved
beyond biological bodies?
And, if so,
what might this mean for the future of the human race?
NARRATOR: February 8, 1957.
Washington, D.C.
At Walter Reed General Hospital,
Hungarian scientist John Von Neumann,
the man who came up with the idea
for self-replicating robots,
dies at the age of 53.
At the time of his death,
he was working on a manuscript
titled The Computer and the Brain.
At only 82 pages,
the text was far from finished,
but some have proposed
that Von Neumann was exploring the possibility
of reproducing a human mind entirely on a computer.
For transhumanists, this opens the door
for what many consider one of the most radical innovations,
mind uploading.
DICE: Companies have actually built
what are called neural interfaces,
where they have wired computers into people's brains.
They believe that they can map the entire human brain
and all of the data that's stored in it
and then replicate it
into an artificial intelligent silicone-based system,
where it can then be stored and essentially never die.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that an entirely nonbiological being could have sentience?
And if extraterrestrials have been visiting Earth
for thousands of years,
might it be more likely
that they are actually fully robotic beings?
POPE: Biological entities
may actually be a rarity in the cosmos.
We may be largely living in a universe
where the real intelligences out there...
And perhaps coming down here... Are robots.
WILCOCK: There are some who believe
that machines may have already achieved a level of intelligence
vastly in excess of our own
and that they may be giving us a trail of bread crumbs
to help us rebuild the technology
that would get us to become enough like them
that we could eventually be merged into their society
in some fashion.
NARRATOR: Could extraterrestrials
who have been observing mankind for thousands of years
have led us to this point
because they desire not just
that we achieve advanced technology
but that we actually become the technology?
And if humans are the creation of extraterrestrials,
as ancient astronaut theorists suggest,
might they have initially created us
as biological entities in order to limit our lifespan
until we are ready to become like them?
There are very interesting things
about how similar to a machine the body is.
If you injure certain parts of the brain,
the body breaks down, like a machine.
You can injure a tendon or a joint,
and then that part of the machine
doesn't function anymore.
So we have to look at the possibility
that life is not necessarily what we've considered it to be.
There is a possibility that if we create computers
with enough complexity
that consciousness could actually breathe life
into that inanimate substance
and you have a robotic consciousness
that has become something we would think of as a person.
HENRY: In ancient story after ancient story,
we see references of extraterrestrials seeking
to influence the human body,
to augment it, especially with technology.
With today's transhuman movement, you have to ask,
is this possibly part of an extraterrestrial agenda
to influence humankind through the implantation of technology
with the human body?
And, if so, what is the purpose?
Is it to accelerate our abilities
or is it an effort to control humanity?
Ultimately, time will tell the answer to those questions.
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that otherworldly beings are leading mankind
not only to evolve on Earth
but ultimately to a destiny of joining them in the stars
as nonbiological entities?
And could it be that our increased reliance on computers,
cell phones, the Internet,
and even synthetic body parts
is part of a vast extraterrestrial plan,
one that will see humans become more and more assimilated
into the very technology we have grown so dependent upon?
Perhaps mankind's destiny
is not to have a close encounter with its ancestor
but with our future selves.
And perhaps when that day comes,
human beings as we now know them
will be thought of as little more
than obsolete operating systems.