Only the organisms that live deep underground will survive, as they have already for billions of years.Įnd of the Sun – 7.5 billion – 1 trillion years There’ll be no place to hide from the terrible temperatures. Finally, it’ll be so hot on the surface of the Earth that the oceans will boil away. The largest organisms and least heat tolerant animals will die out, leaving hardy insects and bacteria. Over the course of the next few billion years, evolution will seem to go reverse. The largest creatures won’t be able to survive anywhere but the relatively cooler poles. In as soon as 500 million years, temperatures on Earth will rise to the point that most of the world will be a desert. In their book, they chronicle how Sun’s energy output is slowly increasing. One of the most fascinating books about this topic is The Life and Death of Planet Earth by Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee. That’s because the Sun is slowly heating up. It’s ironic, then, that the Sun will eventually kill all life on Earth. Or maybe we’ll engineer our robotic replacements.Įnd of Life – 500 million years – 5 billion years Perhaps another species (intelligent cockroaches, rats) will evolve, and out compete with us in our niche. Perhaps we’ll wrap it up in a mass extinction event, such as the one that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, or “the Great Dying”, 251 million years ago that killed 70% of land species and 96% of all marine species. From an asteroid strike to worldwide pandemic global warming to a nearby supernova detonation – there are many ways we could go. There are many natural and man made disasters that could wipe us out. Like all life on Earth, our time is limited. To think that humans can avoid the fate of every other creature is arrogant. The vast majority of every species that has ever lived on Earth is now extinct. Since then, we’ve gone on to inhabit every single corner of the globe. Modern humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago. Look forward millions, trillions, and even 10 100 years into the future. Let’s really think big, stare forward in time, and think about what the future holds for the Universe. But these are just a blink of an eye in cosmic terms.
We’re concerned about the end of summer, the next school year, and maybe even retirement. It can be said that humans have a bit of a short term view of things.
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