Room for Debate #8 – What is the future like for Homo sapiens?

How well will humans be doing 5000 years from now? Give a scenario of life at 7020 AD on the continent of North America.
EXAMPLE
1. After 5000 years from now in 7020 AD, there will be an immensely high stage of prosperity across the globe. The USA will still be a leader in terms of economy, technology and science. People of North America would be able to visit their homes on Mars, Moon, Jupiter etc. We would be able to communicate with aliens and even travel with them. There would be no poverty not only in the North American continent but also across the globe. There would be a kind of Universal Government across the globe with one Federal Government and representatives of the Federal Government leading every country. The headquarters of this Global Federal government will be in NewYork. So the role of North America would still be prominent. Due to this unification of Governments, there would be no sense of exploitation, war, global tensions, nuclear war among different nations. People across the globe would be quite happy and there would be a sense of bliss everywhere. This would be a time devoid of any crime, quarrel, mishappenings because people would be also morally lifted and self satisfied. So, in all spheres whether social, economical, political, science and technology, medicine everywhere people would be enjoying and happy with no problems and worry. This would be a time which had never happened before. A golden era of humanity.
2.Before answering the question of how well humans will be doing in 7020 AD, it is necessary that I acknowledge a number of assumptions, or predictions, related to what we might have accomplished by this time. Firstly, I predict that humans have not only begun to explore the technology required for interplanetary inhabitance but have implemented various interplanetary colonies in our solar system as well. As a prerequisite to this first assumption, humans must have either overcome or escaped planetary extinction (regardless of whether it was by a huge or slim margin), the risk of which might have peaked as a result of anthropogenic climate change, global nuclear war, biological warfare, economic warfare, the list goes on…
Starting from the first hominids in the Ardipithecus genus, which had a cranial capacity of anywhere from 300 to 350 cc, the cranial capacity of each subsequent genus has increased significantly. The evolution of the Homo erectus around 2,000,000 to 108,000 years ago marked a notable period of evolution where hominids became more sophisticated than ever beforecoordinating hunting efforts, using fire, gathering in structured groups, practicing altruistic behavior, and creating art. With the 1400 cc cranial capacity of the modern Homo sapien, it seems within the realm of possibility that we, in 7020 AD, have moved beyond Earth and started to build and spread to new colonies on the Moon, Mars, and even Europa, the smallest of Jupiters moons. The biggest question, however, lies within the nitty-gritty details of what I mentioned in my first paragraph: can we evade extinction by climate change?
Carbon emissions will have already passed the point of no return for various coastal cities within the next 50 years, putting around 800 million people at risk of damages to their health and property. 50 years is exactly 1% of the 5000 years leading up to 7020 AD; multiplying 50 times 100 gets us to 5000, and multiplying the damage done in 50 years by 100 gives us the statistic that around 400,000,000,000, four hundred billion, people will be at risk of damages to their health and property by 7020 AD. With our starting population of around 7,874,965,825 people and an exponential growth rate of just 0.012 (1.2%), we will have reached a population of 14,348,606,764, just upwards of 14 billion, by 7020 AD, which only makes up 27% of the potential 400,000,000,000 people at risk.
Just a few simple calculations have proven the reality that humans will need to avoid climate change if they are to reach a point of interplanetary colonization by 7020 AD.
3.After 5000 years, the coal and oil on the earth will be used up. Clean energy cannot meet human needs. Because at that time, the population will increase exponentially. I hope that by that time people have learned to split water and use the hydrogen in it to generate electricity. Without oil and coal, the earths environment may be better than it is now. Due to the depletion of oil, the Middle East may be exhausted. People may start wars over the development of new energy technologies.

As the population continues to increase, organic food will be very limited. More people can only eat genetically modified foods. People can grow a lot of crops on a small piece of land. In some underdeveloped countries, the problem of hunger will become more serious. Due to the inability to master the core technology, a powerful country will become stronger, and a weaker country will become stronger.

In the future, I think human limbs will shrink. Because now people are getting less and less exercise, and human beings are increasingly dependent on cars. Long-term lack of training for the limbs will make our muscles atrophy. The human brain volume may increase. Because education will become more and more popular, people will be smarter than before. Due to long-term typing on the keyboard, our fingers may evolve to be stronger. Due to our long-term use of electronic equipment, human eyes may be more adapted to electronic screens in the future.

Last Completed Projects