We are all stardust. Or, as Carl Sagan said, “star-stuff,” when he explained in his legendary series Cosmos how billions of years before the sun and Earth formed, atoms were synthesized inside of hot stars and exploded into stellar debris, forming planets, Earth and every living thing. The idea that consciousness is in every atom throughout the universe and therefore consciousness is in everything, suggests a paradigm shift in the way we view the world. It also represents a model for the future, as wireless sensor systems called “smart dust,” no bigger than a speck, will soon be dispersed in the air and become aware. Considering that these “motes” when near each other automatically network themselves, and can convert surrounding vibrational energy or barometric pressure into movement, as well as shape-shift when voltage is applied, these devices, developed at UC Berkeley and DARPA, are expected, with the advancement of nanotechnology, to be used from everything from detailed surveillance such as tracking people’s movements, to monitoring traffic flow, evaluating ecosystem activity, and detecting light and temperature changes for controlling at-home energy usage. In fact, according to a new simulation at Max Planck Institute, electrically charged dust can organize itself into DNA-like double helixes that behave like living organisms, reproducing and transferring information. Moving forward, smart dust could even be used to explore space, traveling throughout the galaxy to detect new worlds or, perhaps, even “awaken” planets. According to robotics engineer Hans Moravec, in the future we may find that these mini cybercreatures have colonized the universe. Considering that their minds and computation power is so astronomical, Moravec even suggests that when they think of us, (as they may miss us since we are their ancestors) they will be able to bring us back to life. Or maybe, as Moravec suggests, this has already happened, and this very moment we’re experiencing right now is a simulation that has been recreated millions and trillions of times. Laughing he adds, “This can’t be real.” Domo-Arigato. Mr. Roboto.