What the future holds

in #science6 years ago

What the future holds

In 250 million years will humankind still be the masters of earth? If not who or what will be? Will the Earth end up just a billion specks of dust or the host of something more developed? This research paper will be about what the future may hold for our planet. It will delve into the possible life forms, geographical changes, and plausible changes in our atmosphere as well. 
In the life span of Earth, its atmosphere has gone through many different changes. From an atmosphere “heavy in methane and other thick, toxic gases,” [1]   to the atmosphere that is seen above today. Over the next 250 million years the earths’ atmosphere will continue to change. “In fact due to Greenhouse gas emissions, we are currently experiencing a rising in average in temperatures worldwide. This is melting the polar ice caps, increasing the sea levels and the acidity in the oceans. Also all of the hurricanes and storms that arise will be way more intense.” [2] These changes will prove to be detrimental to the whole ecosystem let alone human existence, if nothing is changed. Professor Frank Fenner believes that nothing will, and states that “humanity will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change.”  [3] What the atmosphere will look like in 250 million A.D. however, is nearly impossible to predict. 

If humanity learns its lesson on waste management and doesn’t commit genocide in the near future, it will see a lot of changes and go through just as many challenges one which will pop up over and over again, Ice Ages. “Earth has seen numerous ice ages on roughly 11,000-year cycles for at least the last million years” [4] From this it can be gathered that there will be quite a few more in the future. An Ice age is a period of time where the temperature drops much more than normal. Glaciers and ice fields generally cover most of the Earth during this time. Ice ages have wiped out many different species, and have caused others to evolve. Technological advances may help stave off the worst of the elements for humanity, but there is a strong likelihood that these ages wipe out much of its’ population man and animal alike. The world will probably go through these Ice ages a hundred times over before it reaches the 250 million year mark. It will be a long and hard road for humanity indeed.
“Interestingly enough asteroids do not pose a threat to Earth at least as far as the near future is concerned. NASA scientists have found that there are only two known asteroids that pose any threat and those are a “1” on a chart from one to ten.” [11] “NASA even has an Asteroid defense plan utilizing a nuclear weapon to change any apocalyptic asteroid that may head our way.” [12] “Though it seems Earth is safe for now, there is such a thing as a doomsday asteroid. Scientists say it is likely that the impact of an asteroid over six miles wide wiped out dinosaurs along with much of the life on Earth 65 million years ago.” [11] Something that has happened once could possibly happen again, but as long as humanity has diligent workers in NASA humanity can rest easy as far as asteroids are concerned at least.

“Two hundred and fifty million years ago the landmasses of Earth were clustered into one supercontinent dubbed Pangea”. [5] Now Two hundred and fifty million years from now, history, repeats itself. “As fast as fingernails can grow, the Earths’ continents are shifting towards each other forming one land mass that has been dubbed, Pangea Ultima. This follows the plate Tectonic theory, “a theory in geology: the lithosphere of the earth is divided into a small number of plates which float on and travel independently over the mantle and much of the earth's seismic activity occurs at the boundaries of these plates.”[8] [
Figure 1
This picture depicts the land masses after 50 million years of land mass movement. Africa has mashed into Europe, causing earthquakes and tsunamis worldwide! The Americas move westward towards Asia. If humanity can make it this far, it will undergo interesting challenges at this point. Imagine the world as it is now, with all its’ enemies and allies, now stick them all together. This will probably cause conflicts as other nations get closer and closer to each other. When Antarctica moves into warmer regions and becomes inhabitable it will also become quite valuable. A new New World, filled with untold history and discoveries, ready to be explored. With technological advances it will be much easier for different countries to reach this continent. As these countries head over, fights will break out over ownership of this new land more than most likely starting another world war.
Figure 2
As can be seen the world will be going through many changes throughout the years, but what about humanity itself? “One has to acknowledge that Nature no longer controls our evolution. We decide our biological future. Natural selection has been replaced by artificial selection.” [9] This quote by Thomas Mailund, states that humanity it no longer governed by the laws of nature, but can direct our path of evolution through science. Mankind has already taken clumsy steps in this direction through cloning, genetic manipulation, robotics, Nano research, etc. Humanity+, is one organization that is presently trying to use technological advances to improve and accelerate humans evolution. This may seem like a good idea, but that would only be if humanity knows what it’s doing, which it rarely does.
Despite the theory that humankind is done being affected by the Laws of Nature, Nature might have a few more words to say on the matter. “Mono ethnicity is where everybody shares one race. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering the present multicultural societies worldwide. Especially as the continents collide, and humanities numbers dwindle and grow, and so on, Mono ethnicity is probably going to happen sooner or later… or much later. This will finally get rid of the “Race” problem, which seems to be a huge conflict present day.” [10]
“Another evolutionary trait that will pop its head up in Mankind’s future will be a weakened immune system. This will be cause by our constant use of vaccines, supplements, and other medicinal remedies, humanity relies less and less on its immune system. If this trait continues then as the old saying goes, if you don’t use it you lose it. [10]
“The human brain will also go through different changes, and already is. As we rely more and more on technology for information we rely less on our brain to keep the content in it, and more on where we can find this information.” [10] Following this logic, we can conclude that the capacity to solve complicated math and other problems will also decline.
“Millions of years ago our ancestors feet were used more for grappling onto trees than for balancing. As the years have progressed our toes have shrank to the size they are now. Eventually however is has been determined that the smallest toe will be no more in the future.” [10]
With the threat of global warming, Ice ages, World Wars, and everything under the sun really. Besides migrating to another planet, the probability that humanity can keep its existence on Earth until the 250 million A.D. point will be very slim. However if humanity can’t make it to another planet and has to face all of those challenges, keeping a global society that relies on technology for survival….probably won’t survive, at the very least for a while. Considering the logic of how mankind would evolve because of the aid of technology, it can be assumed that mankind’s evolution would take a completely different turn without it. Possibly, humanity would even reverting to its’ more primal attributes. During the Ice ages especially, it can be imagined that thicker, coarser body hair will grow on the skin for warmth. The immune system should be much stronger. It really can’t be said what kind of information the brain will be relying on most heavily. Just like the continents returning to a Pangea once more, humanity could very well evolve back to one of its similar ancestors.
If humanity loses its’ grip on technology and social structure, it could very well make room for other contestants on top of the food chain. Though there is very little scientific research on how animals will evolve, it would be a very fool hardy thing to say that mankind is always going to be at the top. In fact give some species some time it could be probable that they could eventually evolve into a species that has the same type of intelligence as mankind.
Throughout time, change is the only constant. Though Earth will go through many different changes before it get to 250 million A.D. Humanity can very well change alongside it. As far as can be known mankind has made far more of an evolutionary advancement than any other organism on earth. Whether man will eventually sail the seven galaxies, or end up a primal denizen, only time will tell. One thing is for sure though, if humanity is to survive any of the challenges ahead. It will need to stick together, and be more responsible for its’ home.

Bibliography

  1. A New Sun: The Solar Results From Skylab, by John Eddy, NASA SP-402, 1979, page 37
  2. IPCC (2013). Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
  3. Walters, E. (n.d.). A new sun - The solar results from Skylab (Eddy, John A.). J. Chem. Educ. Journal of Chemical Education.
  4. Asrar, G. (n.d.). The NASA Earth System Science Program in 21st Century. Advances in Global Change Research Observing Land from Space: Science, Customers and Technology, 257-268.
  5. Continents in Collision: Pangea Ultima. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2015, from http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast06oct_1/
  6. Figure 1. http://www.scotese.com/future.htm
  7. Figure 2. http://www.scotese.com/future.htm
  8. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plate%20tectonics
  9. What will we look like in a million years? (2012, January 14). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from http://sciencenordic.com/what-will-we-look-million-years
  10. Fauen, E. (2012, November 26). Top 10 Possible Next Steps in Human Evolution - Listverse. Retrieved October 13, 2015, from http://listverse.com/2012/11/26/top-10-possible-next-steps-in-human-evolution/
  11. Big asteroid buzzes past Earth and will again in 19 years - CNN.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/18/tech/asteroid-near-pass/
  12. Uttley, C. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2015, from http://science.howstuffworks.com/asteroid-nuclear-bomb1.htm
Sort:  

@zimminycrickets, I gave you an upvote on your first post! Please give me a follow and I will give you a follow in return!

Please also take a moment to read this post regarding bad behavior on Steemit.

Congratulations @zimminycrickets! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 1 year!

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70557.88
ETH 3560.83
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.75