Within the vastness of the universe
Humanity… is not that big of a deal
We’re not here because we’re meant to be here
we’re just..here
If mathematical predictions are correct
We might only have 760 years left
What would be the cause of our extinction? what would we do if we knew exactly when our existence would come to an end? and could we delay the inevitable?
This is what if and here’s what would happen if we knew the exact time when humanity goes extinct
In 1993 knowing that humanity’s time on the planet is limited
Astrophysicists J Richard God made a very daring prediction using nothing but statistics
Basically he calculated that there’s a 50% chance that the end of human life will come sometime before the Year
2779 that gives us seven hundred and sixty years to make our final arrangements and Possibly pass the Earth on to a new life-form
Or even leave the planet to itself altogether
Stick around and we’ll take you on a journey to the future of humanity
On April 13th, 2029 the near-earth asteroid named Apophis will pass within 301,000 kilometers of our planet
That’s ten times closer to Earth than the moon is
And even closer than some satellites in orbit, But this 370-meter wide asteroid won’t hit the earth
Instead, it will sweep by safely and continue its path around the Sun
Reproductive technology would allow parents to preview and pick the genetic traits of their future babies
The global population would grow to about eight and a half billion and reach a crisis point. The world’s ecosystems would change faster than we’ve ever seen before due to increased levels of co2 Up in the Earth’s orbit
Everything from spent rocket stages to debris from accidental collisions
Would create a wall of space junk
It would be problematic for any spacecraft to leave the Earth, We’d have to find ways to clean up the upper atmosphere if we didn’t want to be trapped on earth forever
If humanity managed to solve the space junk problem.
We’d start establishing the first lunar basis and that would mark the beginning of the permanent human presence outside of earth.
On earth, the global average temperature would rise by one and a half degrees surpassing the safe limit, Even though humanity completely switched to clean energy sources global warming would become catastrophic and hard to control.
Due to warmer global temperatures, the Great Barrier Reef would lose up to 90% of its corals
The Amazon rainforest would largely be destroyed by wildfires and deforestation
Even after decades of conservation efforts, at least 1 million species in the wild would begin to go extinct
This would be the beginning of the next mass extinction event in the Earth’s history.
Although this time it would be caused by humans.
The Earth’s population would grow to 10 billion people
The Earth would become the hottest its been in the past 3 million years
Extreme weather would rampage around the world, Africa the Middle East and Southeast Asia would be most affected by floods, hurricanes, and droughts
Parts of the planet would become uninhabitable
Leaving 140 million people no other choice but to seek refuge someplace else
Biotechnology implants would become available to the general public resulting in humans merging with their technology on a biological level
Never-failing artificial organs, synthetic blood, and nanoscale brain interfaces would become a new reality
Sea levels would rise upwards of 6 meters forcing hundreds of millions of people to leave their homes
Large-scale evacuations and resettlement programs would be needed along the coastlines, costing humanity trillions of dollars in the process Because of the declining fertility rate and the significant number of casualties from environmental conditions, Earth’s population would stabilize at 11 billion people
By the 2180s humanity would start expanding into the solar system
Mining asteroids and terraforming Mars would be underway
More people would have access to space technology and a new form of terrorism would emerge, It would be possible to hijack a spacecraft and use it to redirect asteroids towards the earth the Moon and Mars
The lack of space infrastructure would leave space colonies particularly vulnerable
Spaceships powered by antimatter propulsion would take humanity outside the solar system, Automated unmanned probes would be sent to the far regions of the galaxy
researching thousands of interstellar worlds, By the end of the 23rd century
Humans would have confirmation of a microbial alien life existing on a warm wet, Exoplanet within a hundred light-years of our solar system
Decades of nanotechnology research and advancement would result in transforming the general public,into trance humans or cyborgs
Transhumans would have improved intelligence and strength, Among many superhero traits they would be able to sprint at very high speeds
Become invisible or even transform their appearances at will
Humanity would level up from a type 0 to a type 1 civilization on the Kardashev scale,
That means humans would be able to harvest all of the Earth’s energy and use it to power up their entire civilization
They would already be able to control the weather and global climate Alter, the course of earthquakes and build cities at the bottom of the ocean, The next step would be developing ways to fully manipulate the sun’s energy.
They might start building to space megastructures like a Dyson Sphere
Or even attempt to feed some of the sun’s mass into a black hole
The chain of the previous events could lead to humanity completely disappearing from the Earth one way or another, We might end up moving to space colonies we had established, or it may not even be us anymore
But a new biotechnologically engineered species, Of course, this is a rough timeline, estimated by futurists based on statistics and mathematical models if You’re upset about humanity’s coming extinction. Remember that it only has a 50% chance of coming true, Scientists calculated our date of extinction using the same formula that Marketers use to predict what product you might click on online or who you’re going to vote for.
It’s about probabilities, not guarantees, Besides other predictions tell us that we would face extinction, not 760.. but 10,000 years from now
In that case, we’d be around long enough to see the Earth’s poles reverse around the Year 3500.
And computers reaching their ultimate potential sometime after the year 4000, But how would knowing all this in advance change the way we live our lives?
Well, if we knew the date of our extinction with 100% accuracy, we could stop caring about our environment and our bodies, We might focus on all the bad habits that only bring us short-term happiness.
Our society could become more violent more self-harming more inclined to start wars Or we could team up and try to get off this rock
We could start looking for other places to move to beyond what our own solar system has to offer.
We could establish colonies with stable human populations,
Then even in the event of Earth getting wiped out by some cosmic power
humans would continue to exist
They could carry on until the universe itself collapsed and stopped existing
But that’s a story for another USA What-If
