Recent advances in photonics and directed energy systems now allow us to realize what was only a decade ago, simply science fiction. It is no longer. New technology allows spacecraft to be propelled to speeds currently unimaginable with our existing propulsion technologies and to finally reach the stars. This talk also discuss our recent ideas for “backing up humanity” in digital format and placing this backup on the interstellar spacecraft, allowing all of humanity to travel as “digital astronauts” and the resulting technical and ethical concerns surrounding such a program as well as the implications for detecting other civilizations that may possess the same technology we are developing.