How much longer will we survive as a species?

by Jonathan K | Jun 3, 2020 | How much longer will we survive as a species, The Future

“As I see it, this is the last century in which we will face existential risks. Assuming we survive this one, we will be able to go on and on. That is a statement about us as a species, but it may also be true of individuals–even potentially individuals alive today. If we live in a “Big Bang” universe, there will eventually be heat death of the universe, but not for an incomprehensibly long time. If, on the other hand, we live in a cyclic universe (as described by Paul Steinhardt, Albert Einstein Professor of Science at Princeton University, writing in THE CYCLIC UNIVERSE), then humanity might be able to survive until the next cycle.

All of that presumes that our vastly more capable descendants won’t be able to figure out exotic physics to escape such a fate. It seems likely that, by the end of this century, “humanity”–as the term is then defined–will be far different than we are now. Going forward millennia and eons, I might as well be throwing up noise as speculating.

PS—Now that the question is specific to Earth, it depends on whether we make the Earth inhospitable to humans. Again, however, that will be determined in this century. So, this is either the last complete century that humans will live on Earth or one of an almost endless line of centuries. (It is also possible that we will make Earth inhospitable, leave for a time, and return to a different Earth once it is again habitable by humans. But putting numbers to such a scenario is beyond my capabilities).”