What kind of technology will be available in a million years from now?

[fresh_42]

But populations are not growing outside of Africa

This is not how growth on a compact manifold works. We call the averaging mechanism migration, and it already has begun.

 

[pinball1970]

But populations are not growing outside of Africa

World population 1918 was 1.8 billion people
2023 8 billion

UK population 1918 was 40 million
2023 67 million

 

[BWV]

World population 1918 was 1.8 billion people
2023 8 billion

UK population 1918 was 40 million
2023 67 million

https://www.ined.fr/en/everything_about_population/data/world-projections/projections-by-continent/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/global-decline-of-fertility-rates-visualised/

 

[pinball1970]

Back to the next 1 million years thing, a few searches on Smithsonian state roughly 1 million years for a species before it is in danger of going extinct with an upper limit of 10 million years.

 

[BWV]

Back to the next 1 million years thing, a few searches on Smithsonian state roughly 1 million years for a species before it is in danger of going extinct with an upper limit of 10 million years.

Maybe an average, but plenty of animals around today that predate the dinosaurs

 

[pinball1970]

View attachment 335336
https://www.ined.fr/en/everything_about_population/data/world-projections/projections-by-continent/
View attachment 335337
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/global-decline-of-fertility-rates-visualised/

Fertility has declined everywhere except Africa? Is that actual fertility rates or choosing to have less in other countries? Also of those 5 children in Africa, how many die of malnutrition or infection before the age of 5?

 

[pinball1970]

Maybe an average, but plenty of animals around today that predate the dinosaurs

Yes a few, not mammals on the whole and certainly not "man."

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/...extinction,mammalian species alive at present.

 

[BWV]

Fertility has declined everywhere except Africa?

Its declining in Africa too, but still high

Is that actual fertility rates or choosing to have less in other countries?

What is the difference?

Also of those 5 children in Africa, how many die of malnutrition or infection before the age of 5?

Far fewer than in the past, which is why the population is growing

 

[pinball1970]

Its declining in Africa too, but still highWhat is the difference?

Far fewer than in the past, which is why the population is growing

View attachment 335341

There is a difference between actual fertility, the ability to produce viable gametes and deliberately avoiding conception.

 

[BWV]

There is a difference between actual fertility, the ability to produce viable gametes and deliberately avoiding conception.

Not in the data, it just measures the results, but the impact of the global decline in sperm counts is no doubt part of that

 

[PeroK]

There is a difference between actual fertility, the ability to produce viable gametes and deliberately avoiding conception.

All the predictions I've seen are for the global population growth to slow and stabilise this century. I don't know whether those predictions are reliable. In any case, it's somewhat more difficult to predict the human population of Earth a million years from now.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Waitasecond....

I have two parents, four grandparents, eight grand-grandparents. Looks to me like the population is decreasing.

 

[pinball1970]

Waitasecond....

I have two parents, four grandparents, eight grand-grandparents. Looks to me like the population is decreasing.

Some cross over though.
Your 5th cousin 4 times removed is also my 6th cousin 3 times removed (either side)
We are practically family.
If you decide you want to come for dinner, I will instruct the under butler to inform the kitchen to order another pheasant.

 

[nsaspook]

What kind of technology will be available in a million years from now? Is the world going to be a better place in a million years from today?

Will it be possible to solve chess or have completely self-driving cars and self-driving trucks in a million years from now?

We would turn on the great machine and wipe out the civilization in one night.

 

[PeroK]

We would turn on the great machine and wipe out the civilization in one night.

We already have. It's called social media. The Forbidden Planet used artistic licence and the barbaric monsters from the id were unleashed all at once. We're seeing it happen at a more measured pace.

 

[pinball1970]

We would turn on the great machine and wipe out the civilization in one night.

When he got back to earth he settled down got a less stressful job got old gracefully and even helped civilians with taxidermy now and again. I have hope for the next 1000 years or so.

 

[PeroK]

And when Altaira got back to Earth, she set up as a private detective, aka Honey West:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058814/

 

[BWV]

Yes a few, not mammals on the whole and certainly not "man."

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/2/l_032_04.html#:~:text=The typical rate of extinction,mammalian species alive at present.

We are the most successful animal species on the planet, can survive in more climates than roaches or rats, so if any large animals survive, we will be at the top of the list.

 

[pinball1970]

And when Altaira got back to Earth, she set up as a private detective, aka Honey West:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058814/

She was stunning. 26 in the film

 

[pinball1970]

We are the most successful animal species on the planet, can survive in more climates than roaches or rats, so if any large animals survive, we will be at the top of the list.

8 billion yes. Very few of those driving the train. (Jim Jeffries I recommend)

 

[BillTre]

Humans are transforming an increasingly large proportion of the earth to human use rather than being left wild.

 

[berkeman]

When he got back to earth he settled down got a less stressful job got old gracefully and even helped civilians with taxidermy now and again.

Oh noes! I never made that connection.

I guess I see an opportunity for an interesting sequel to Forbidden Planet, similar to Airplane...? @jedishrfu -- are you available?

 

[PeroK]

I guess I see an opportunity for an interesting sequel to Forbidden Planet,

There is already a sequel:

 

[BWV]

Back to the OP, we do not know the limits of science and tech, but have a much better idea than 50 or 100 years ago. Just because people 150 years ago thought they had seen the limits and were wrong, does not make it true that there great new discoveries to be made in the physical sciences that would result in technology we cannot understand today. It may be that we are well along on the flattening of the curve. Perhaps even with 1 million years of a stable human society, few fundamental discoveries remain to be made. It looks increasingly likely that human space travel within our solar system is unfeasible, let alone outside of it. ITSM that if you believe in unbounded technological growth, one also has to believe in the near absence of other technological civilizations in our galaxy, as it is old enough for some older race to have covered the Milky Way with Von Neumann probes or whatever.

 

[berkeman]

Back to the OP

Spoilsport...

It may be that we are well along on the flattening of the curve.

Almost certainly not in medical science, given the timeframe of the OP. It is quite possible that as we continue medical research that we will find cures and prophylactic measures to cure/prevent most diseases and extend human lifetimes significantly. That may open up a whole different issue with overpopulation, if lifetimes are routinely extended to, say, 500 years. Not to mention the possible mind-electronics links that are likely, which could introduce issues with "artificial intelligence" being combined with (well, you know...).

I'm going to have to slink off and give myself a "Speculation" infraction now...

 

[PeroK]

There is already a sequel:

... I saw it at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch. That's the further east I've ever been - all the way to the end of the District Line!

 

[berkeman]

... I saw it at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch. That's the further east I've ever been - all the way to the end of the District Line!

I hope it was better in person than in that trailer...

 

[Uri Zlatnik]

I really hope that humanity doesn't devolve into some neo-medieval rat race and that is also a possibility which is going to pretty bad very much like today's corrupt and broken world.

I really hope humans learn from their past mistakes and really make the future a better place for everyone, with better technology and more food for everyone.

In the past life was almost always hard and there were many wars and it's always been the strong imposing their will on the weak and using them and controlling them for their own benefit.

So I just hope that in the future humans learns from their past mistakes and don't repeat them.

 

[docnet]

I'd guess years from now, a larger portion of the population would probably be living in cities. I really want to see what Manhattan looks like in 500 years, probably a lot more different from now.

 

[PeroK]

I'd guess years from now, a larger portion of the population would probably be living in cities. I really want to see what Manhattan looks like in 500 years, probably a lot more different from now.

I suspect it will be under water by then.