Superhumans, dead worlds, and the fate of the universe in pictures
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its Fifth Assessment Report which concludes that humanity is on a path to self destruction and is rapidly running out of time. Despite these warnings, and a broad scientific consensus, much of the public remains skeptical about global warming. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Third World countries are benefitting from a revolutionary portable device. First revealed in 2007, it is now widely used by foreign aid workers and UN staff. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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These "micro aerial vehicles" - no larger than a common house fly - are being used primarily in spying missions. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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In 2020, mobile phones are becoming available with the option of texting by thought power alone. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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After years of development, Ultra High Definition TV (also known as 4320p) is entering the home consumer market. This format has 16 times the resolution of HDTV. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Our view of the universe is greatly expanded with the completion of a major new observatory. This radio telescope has a total collecting area of approximately one kilometer. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
Photo credit: Jo Bowler, SKA Program Development Office, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
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Following years of research and development, a number of geoengineering techniques are now being utilized for trapping and removing CO2. This is offering fresh hope for mitigating the effects of climate change. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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The most long-overdue of all space missions - a manned trip to Mars - is finally undertaken during this time. A full six decades after the Apollo landings, technology is now greatly improved, particularly with regards to computing and telecommunications. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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First developed in the 2010s, compact, floating "energy islands" combine offshore power generation with desalination plants to help cope with chronic water shortages. They are becoming a fairly common sight in tropical coastal areas, where conditions are ideal for ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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After decades of research, new processes have been developed for synthesizing carbon nanotubes. These promise to revolutionize the fields of engineering, architecture and materials science. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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The pace of technology has become so fast that humans can no longer comprehend it - unless they augment their own intelligence. No monitor or projector of any kind is required for the latest generation of computers. Nanobots instead produce a virtual image of the screen which is augmented in the user's field of vision.Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Nanobots can boost immune systems, regulate blood pressure, repair some of the damage caused by the aging process, and accelerate the healing of wounds. Cybernetic organs are now available that almost never fail and can filter deadly poisons. Brain-computer interfaces are increasingly used in middle class homes to open doors, control lighting and operate everyday appliances. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Today's jet fighters are now entirely computer controlled. These unmanned planes have fully autonomous capability from the moment they take off, to the moment they land. A combination of strong AI, swarming behaviour and hypersonic technology is employed to create near-instantaneous effects throughout the battlespace. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Due to Moore's Law, desktop PCs now have AI systems equivalent to all of the human brains on Earth combined. Although full immersion VR has been available for a while now, recent advances in AI have led to Matrix-style worlds of breathtaking scale and ingenuity. Entire new societies are forming in cyberspace, with many in developed nations spending their entire leisure time engaged in them. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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By the end of this decade, a permanent team of scientists is present on Mars. They number around a dozen and comprise a highly international mix of people. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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As the world enters the second half of the 21st century, equatorial regions are being abandoned by many people as climate change wreaks havoc on the environment. Large swathes of Africa, the Middle East, Southern Asia, Southern Europe and Latin America are being ravaged by a combination of severe drought, creeping desertification, torrential flooding and sea level rises. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Most leading countries now have at least one fusion plant either operational, or in the process of construction. These reactors offer a clean, safe and abundant supply of energy. Alas, they have come too late to prevent runaway global warming. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Anti-gravity propulsion has been under development for almost a century now. Initially seen in military applications, it eventually found its way to the consumer market. Here, it began showing up in various luxury items and devices, such as hoverboards and floating recliners. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Today, the average citizen has access to a wide array of biotechnology implants and personal medical devices. These include fully artificial organs that never fail, bionic eyes and ears providing Superman-like senses, nanoscale brain interfaces which greatly augment the wearer's intelligence, synthetic blood and bodily fluids which can filter deadly toxins and provide hours' worth of oxygen in a single breath. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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The icy continent today would be unrecognisable to observers from the 20th century. Its northern peninsula is now home to a multitude of towns and conurbations, with a total population numbering in the millions. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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A new means of living which does away with national boundaries altogether comes in the form of floating, artificial islands - wholly self-sufficient and capable of cruising around the world indefinitely. The ships provide the kind of comfort, safety and security that many of their occupants have never experienced before. In addition to a continuous supply of food, freshwater and energy, a number of facilities are available – including state-of-the-art virtual reality suites, android servants/companions, industrial-scale nanotech assemblers, landing pads for anti-grav vehicles, swimming pools and other amenities. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Technology on the scale of quadrillionths of a metre (10-15) is becoming possible around this time. This is three orders of magnitude smaller than picotechnology and six orders of magnitude smaller than nanotechnology. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Rising from the Pacific Rim, this mega-structure is thousands of miles high. Decades in the making, it has been built entirely from carbon nanotubes. These are hundreds of times stronger than ordinary steel and capable of withstanding the enormous tensile forces involved. The elevator is controlled largely by AI, which monitors any stresses or unusual conditions. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Fast-forward 140 years. With humanity shifting its focus beyond Earth, a veritable gold rush is taking place throughout the Solar System. Countless technological and engineering marvels are now possible in space, aided by the vast growth of AI which is dominating planetary and interplanetary government. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Polar reversals have occurred many times before in Earth's history - typically every 300,000 years. The last time was around 780,000 BC. This means the planet is long overdue for such an event. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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The biological and technological descendants of humanity are attaining the perfection of computer science. Hardware and software are becoming the absolute fastest, most efficient they can ever possibly be, within the known laws of physics. All of the knowledge to do so has now been largely achieved.
From this point onwards, computer science becomes obsolete as a field of study - the only "unknowns" left for researchers to discover will be in other areas of science. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
Photo credit: Tiberiu Stan
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The Chernobyl explosion, which occurred in 1986, was the worst nuclear accident in history - affecting tens of thousands of square kilometres of land. Radiation at the centre of the former disaster zone has decayed to negligible levels by now. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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Purely biological (non-cyborg) humans are exceedingly rare now. The very few which do remain comprise only a tiny fraction of the total sentient minds in existence. The entire Milky Way galaxy has been explored by these transhumans and their sentient ships. Planet-sized computers are being constructed throughout the Local Group of galaxies, with every available resource going towards their production. All of the "dead" worlds, comets, moons and asteroids considered uninhabitable are being converted into these machines, forming a vast network millions of light years across space. Each computer is capable of instant communications with any other, regardless of distance. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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The seas and oceans are evaporating, as the Sun begins to get hotter and brighter. The Earth's atmosphere has become laden with water vapour, creating an intense greenhouse effect. Mars is actually becoming more habitable during this time. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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The last remaining black hole has evaporated.
From this point onwards the universe is composed only of photons, neutrinos, electrons and positrons - with no way of interacting with each other.
The universe continues to expand forever... but is essentially dead. Get more details at FutureTimeline.net.
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