The first goal of the intergovernmental task force had been to assess the actual situation. In brief, here are their first conclusions:

• In a world where evolution is clearly going towards immateriality, the race for accumulating money and material goods is not relevant anymore.
• Capitalism showed its limits and can no longer give a satisfactory solution to the actual world crisis.
• The role of work must be reconsidered fundamentally.
• There must be a right for food and home independent of social or working conditions.
• All possible technological resources must be considered.
• Humanity has lacked collective consciousness and must find a new model.

This last question soon became the centre of discussions. After a lot of controversy they finally agreed on the following points:

• Work will only have sense if it brings collective consciousness.
• Virtual Space must become the space for collective consciousness.
• Hybrids biotechnologies can be the answer for the supply of energy.
• Water plants or similar can be the solution for nutrition.
• The new society will be nomadic and follow the model of dolphins.

The concept of the Plant was almost born.

It’s important to notice that at this time artificial life had already made a lot of progress. Since pioneering work of people like Yoichiro Kawaguchi or Karl Sims, in the end of the 20^th century, artificial life had left the world of computer simulations to meet the realm of biology a long time ago. Artificial life had been the point of convergence of many other researches. For instance, Nature also inspired the cellular networks developed by Daniel Mange. Each "cell" (a simple microprocessor with a basic set of instructions) could duplicate itself, develop and connect with other cells to finally form a network capable of much more complex operations like learning specific tasks or self-reparation. However, those "cells" were still evolving on a silicon substrate and other researches intended to go even further by connecting living cells to silicon chips. With those new interfaces it became possible, for instance, to give back motor functions to paralysed persons. But maybe the most important breakthrough was the invention of bio-processors: living cells with DNA microprocessors. This was an outcome of advanced genetic engineering that achieved to reprogram the DNA sequence of a cell so that it could also perform basic arithmetical functions. That’s why bio-computers were already common stuff in 2066: networks of bio-processors or, in other words, artificial brains.

The Task Force tried to synthesise all current knowledge and ideals to build the concept of the Plant. The project was finally entirely defined in 2067, after one year of ardent discussions. Here is a summary of the main points.

• The new society will be living in a huge living structure called "The Plant". Inspired by sea plants this structure will provide everything that mankind needs: energy (photosynthesis), food, protection (remember the destruction of the ozone layer) and communication.
• The Plant will be using artificial life technologies but brought to a much larger scale so that it can contain inhabitants. Leafs will form personal living spaces, like individual cells, and stems will be pedestrian ways, like corridors, that connect all of them.
• The Plant will be at the same time a huge artificial brain formed by the DNA processors of all the microscopic living cells. This means that the Plant will not only provide a physical space but also an infinite virtual space.
• This virtual space will be the consciousness of the Plant and the collective consciousness of the new civilisation.
• Work will be abandoned and replaced by the notion of experience. People will live to increase their own consciousness and the collective one through their experiences in the virtual space.
• Living and experiencing in the Space (the virtual space) will be realised through an avatar connected via a brain interface. This interface will allow a total immersion and a total integration with the avatar. This one will be controlled by thoughts and all the stimuli perceived in the Space (sound, images, taste, contact, odour, pain, etc.) will be fed back to the brain.
• People will receive a talisman at their birth containing a genetic code that will allow their identification and their connection to the Space from any cell of the Plant.
• The new society will be nomadic and there will be no attributed cell. However, one will be able to configure a cell at his convenience and recall that profile when moving to another cell. As anything one could possess will stay in the Space, people will be able to come and go as they want, following their mood, their feelings or other persons met in the Plant.

In brief, the deal was simple: the people were going to feed the consciousness of the Plant with their experiences and the Plant was going to feed them with its sap.

* * *

10 years were necessary to build the first prototype of the Plant and a another 10 years for all the "seeds" spread around the 5 continents to be grown enough to accommodate people. Then the big immigration started. The living conditions on Earth had become so bad in the meantime that even the most reticent persons ended by accepting to leave everything, houses and goods, to move in the Plant.

By the end of 21^st century there were no more people on the surface of our planet...