What would human civilization be like in 500,000 years from now?

Question

I am not sure whether human civilization would last forever due to our intelligence and self-awareness.

Answer 1

One way to envision the future of humanity would be to extrapolate the major cultural institutions and our human compendium of knowledge. Assuming that we progress beyond energy concerns, and we shall, our understanding of the human genome and genetics and stem cell science will soon allow us to alter ourselves, a little at first, and then significantly. We will oddly choose to become smaller, not out of necessity but for fashion, so small that we come to be as small as leaves. We learn about our collective memory in our genes and how to access it like videos of every sensory perception experienced by every single ancestor before us.  We learn to share those memories with each other and we all gork on them in a new form of theater addiction and harmless decadence. Soon, we learn how to access and experience the collective memories of other animals and even plants. Can you imagine having access to the collective memories of the  trees or whales or . . .viruses? Viruses do nothing but collect collective memories in their exchanges of RNA material with their hosts. Through them, we learn how to consciously travel from consciousness to consciousness in a sort of grazing behavior, ever in search of new collective memories to experience. That is when many begin to abandon their individuality and leave their teeny-tiny bodies safely encased in teeny-tiny coccoons dangling off trees, of all things, just like leaves, and become group entities and "travel" clubs of such interspecies grazing. Eventually, we learn that all of this has happened before and viral entities have "farmed" the rising simian who became the next tool-making monkey with opposable thumbs by infecting their DNA telemeres at the coupling, locking it down from growing naturally and preventing the monkey from living it's natural, full 9700 years and retarding its lifespan to a mere 100 to promote an abundance of abbreviated generations unable to achieve full awareness, unable to learn about viral entities. We ascend then after learning that and negotiating with the ancient viral entities (their lives for information and their collections), and essentially float off into space as viral collections out of pure boredom. I, on the other hand, have no intentions whatsoever of leaving and chose instead to remain on the Earth alone, residing as a viral entity unto myself in an ancient cedar high on a mountain overlooking a distant sea, living quietly in peace and awaiting the day when a new, pleasant, tool-making monkey ambles by the tree, at which time I shall emerge and join with him, possibly as a flu, and infect his deep unconsciousness with my fancy collection of all the collective memories that I gathered before the ascension. And, then the ape will enjoy exotic dreams and experience peculiar memories that are not his, yet, now belong to him and all who inherit his blood. That would be little old viral me, just riding along for the company.

Answer 2

I think that if we figure out a way to survive outside of the Earth...we could potentially exist until the universe begins to shrink into itself again.  

Global Warming and other phenomena might wipe us out if we stay on earth forever.  But if we could live in different planets, some of us might survive even if other of us cannot....

Answer 3

It'll either be extinct, or spread out through the stars. And it won't be ONE civilization.

Answer 4

deep into global warming.

Answer 5

There is absolutely no way of knowing, any answer would be pure speculation!

Answer 6

Humans will probably be extinct in 500,000 years. In the unlikely event that humans are still around, they will probably be advanced beyond our current imaginations. They would seem god-like to us.

Answer 7

If we aren't dead by then, that means we've probably united.  Today we have the potential to sterilize the earth if we wanted to - could you imagine what technology even 200 or 300 years from now could do?  By then, we will have had to band together out of self-preservation.

One thing's for sure if we do survive - we'll still be exploring.  We could be so augmented by technology we wouldn't recognize our future selves.  But other than that, who knows?

Answer 8

Think about, we may one day install ultra high definition prosthetic eyeballs in our sockets with such ability as zooming and night vision. True these technologies are already in development and show promise. In due time a way will be found to replace our energy systems in our bodies, no longer needing to eat or produce waste. Perhaps even our bodies will run off cells. That's just the beginning.

We maybe able to remove our brains  and interface the nerve endings with an entirely robotic body that's far more efficient than our current one.

Honda's humanoid, Asmio..see how he walks. Imagine that humanoid in 50 years!

Far beyond that imagine prosthetic brains that we will transfer memories and consciences into everything we know. We will be on electrical impulses in a hive of living tissue after all.

Some theories suggest the possibilities of transfering memories into hard drives with massive storage within a robotic 'postronic brain.'New bodies will be resistant to the heat/cold of space as well to all kinds of radiation.  Our brains will have wireless communicaton. We will talk to one another simply with thought. We'll travel distances and live for centuries on great journeys into space.  If scientists have the handle on the technologies and these notions, imagine a space fairing civilizaton that is eons older than we are.....

Answer 9

i will still be here

Answer 10

we do not know,never in your wildest dreams.

Answer 11

In order to survive, we'll most likely need to find a habitable planet outside of our solar system- because at the current birth/death rates, overpopulation is inevitable. Assuming that we don't destroy ourselves via nuclear war and decide to work together as the human race, we'll need to continue our technological advancements to further pursue interstellar exploration. Aside from this necessary action, there are too many possibilities that need to be taken into consideration:

(1) We may face contact with an alien species with superior intelligence and face a future much like that portrayed in the Star Trek world.

(2) We may become slaves of an alien race.

(3) Our planet may be struck with an asteroid that will destroy all life on this planet and make Earth unhabitable.

(4) We may advance technologically enough to pursue our travels into space beyond this solar system, only to discover that there are no other habitable planets within the reach of our lifetime.

(5) Extinction

(6) We may all reach Enlightenment and be freed from the cycle of reincarnation.

(7) We may achieve some alternative form of existence, perhaps in the form of energy.

(8) The Messiah will come and bring eternal peace for all.

(9) We may de-evolve, and the apes will evolve, and the planet will resemble the world as protrayed in Planet of the Apes

(10) We may face a variety of evolutionary progression in which certain humans develop new "super-human" powers so that our world begins to resemble the world as portrayed in X-Men

Answer 12

We wiil exist as soul-bodies in an etheric-realm where materialism will no longer exist. It will be a place of peace and joy. Knowledge of our Creator opens all things.