Modern humans may have been around for 200,000 years or so, but we won’t be here forever.
For one reason or another, we have a limited amount of time left on Earth.
But, when we’re gone, will this planet then become a memorial to humanity… or will a
new, intelligent species rise from the ashes?
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; will there be
a post-human species on Earth?
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One of the biggest threats facing humans at the moment is climate change.
And, according to increasing numbers of studies, we have only a few years left to reduce emissions
before we start reaching climatological “tipping points”; various points of no return with
the potential to render huge parts of the planet uninhabitable.
But while it’s difficult to look beyond climate change, there are plenty of other
things that could kill us, too.
Other natural disasters outside of human control include another giant impact from space, like
the one believed to have killed the dinosaurs, or a supervolcanic eruption that could block
out the sun and freeze the planet.
And, even if none of those things happen, then mammal species in general only have an
average lifespan of a million years.
It’s thought the best that humans can hope for is around ten million years, before we
just plain die off.
That does give us plenty of time to work with, but seeing as the Earth still has about five
billion years to go before the expansion of the sun destroys it… in the far, far future
there’s a long, long time for life on Earth to continue without humans.
When it’s all said and done, we - the whole of humankind - could have been around for
just a tiny fraction of the Earth’s total lifespan… not to make you feel small, or
anything!
It’s clear then that there most likely will be a post-human species, but what will it
look like?
And how will it work?
One of the leading contenders to follow on from us is AI.
The “technological singularity” is the hypothetical point at which our own technology
surpasses us, potentially with disastrous consequences.
A hyper-intelligent AI that learns how to upgrade itself quickly and indefinitely, for
example, could also decide that humanity is surplus to requirements, and take over the
planet.
Or, so the theory (and many a sci-fi movie) goes.
In one version, it’s one centralized AI taking over the world through our own infrastructure…
in another, it’s us developing synthetic lifeforms, or androids, which ultimately rebel
against their creator and wipe us out.
In general, the worry is that advanced mechanical life won’t empathize with humans; that it
will one day coldly and ruthlessly view itself as superior.
But, it’s not all doom and gloom where AI is concerned.
There’s still the possibility that the first true AI will be compassionate and won’t
resent humans for creating it.
AI and robots are also good news for space exploration, and so will be crucial if humans
are to ever leave Earth of their own accord.
After all, we already predominantly send robots into space to carry out important missions
because, since they don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe, they’re the ideal candidates
to visit other worlds.
From another perspective, though, it’s another reason why robots could well outlast humans
even here… when this world grows inhospitable to us, we will disappear, but the hardiest
machines could live on.
Some believe that the artificial life that comes after the singularity is actually the
next natural step in evolution, but the proposed rise of intelligent robots wouldn’t automatically
mean that all biological evolution would stop.
As such, in another version of the future, it’s an organic species which follows in
humanity’s footsteps… but who’s to say that this next race of intelligent creatures
would be primates, like us?
Sure, as they include some of Earth’s smartest animals, primates are a likely candidate,
but there are other creatures which by some criteria are also incredibly clever - like
octopuses, dolphins, dogs or elephants.
If the future of evolution takes a different path, then, might we see Earth play host to
advanced variants of these animals?
That said, let’s not forget that we humans are also still evolving right now… so perhaps
we will physically adapt to survive the high temperatures of climate change, for example,
or the disastrous repercussions of an asteroid strike, to continue on Earth without breaking
our evolutionary line.
It wouldn’t technically count as a post-human species, but the changes between now and those
future humans could mean that neither group would be recognisable to the other.
In reality, though, it’s impossible to predict precisely where evolution will go next, when
it produces so many bizarre creatures even today.
Take the ocean sunfish as an example; it’s an enormous, bony fish with very few predators,
it subsists mostly on fish larvae, but it also lays 300 million eggs at once.
Could the oceans one day be taken over by them?
And, if sunfish already exist then, to some degree, why not higher-intelligence octopuses
and dolphins, too?
On the one hand, it’s strange and improbable; on the other, life on Earth has already proven
how significantly it can change and develop - just look at the vast differences between
the animals alive today and the dinosaurs of the past.
Organic or artificial, however, what will any of these future societies make of those
who came before?
Will they even know that we existed?
Well, much depends on what kinds of records we leave behind.
In the relative short term, evidence of our cities and buildings would likely remain in
some form.
Today, the stone temples of Malta are considered some of the oldest human-built structures
in the world, dating back at least 5,000 years… while our oldest written texts date back a
few thousand years, too.
So, we’ve seen that material things can survive, and we know that certain modern materials
could take thousands of years to disintegrate… but, for millions of years in the future,
it’s unlikely that anything we build or make will still exist or be recognisable.
Of course, fossils and bones can survive for millions of years, so a post-human society
could feasibly learn about us through them.
For more, though, we have to imagine something we might’ve achieved, by when our time on
Earth ends; digital preservation and mind uploading.
There’s some potential here for humans - or at least proof of humans - to last forever,
although not necessarily.
Digital files offer an infinite space to “save” the human race onto, but they can also degrade
just like pieces of paper do, and the information they contain can become disordered or illegible.
And, then, even vast digital archives wouldn’t survive if all the servers and drives they
live on were physically ruined by the passage of time.
It’s one of the main arguments against the theoretical idea of digitally storing human
brains - like computerised cryonic freezing - because what if what they’re stored onto
breaks, is lost, or is just switched off?
Ironically enough, though, many of today’s ancient, traditional texts have stood the
test of time despite people not caring to preserve them at all.
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are manuscripts found in an ancient dump in Egypt, for example.
They include fragments of Sappho’s poetry, passages from Homer’s “Iliad”, previously
unknown Sophocles plays, and some writings of Aristotle.
They’re significant cultural artefacts now, but they were unceremoniously thrown out about
2,000 years ago!
So, while we really have no way of knowing what will actually survive into the future,
it’s a good bet that at least some digital files will be readable.
And, if it is the case that some kind of technological AI outlives humanity, then the chances are
that those files will be understood, as well.
There’s no doubt that the history of humankind so far has already had an impact on the Earth
itself.
The post-human planet looks set for a period of recovery and recuperation, particularly
from human-led climate change.
But the good news is that it almost certainly will survive, just as it has despite incredibly
destructive disasters like super-eruptions and ice ages in the past.
With potentially billions of years left in its lifetime, then, it is difficult to imagine
that there could ever be zero evidence that we were on this planet.
And yet, it’s taken 4.5 billion years for life to evolve into us; if it takes a similar
period of time for something else to develop, then perhaps we will have been long forgotten
by then… or perhaps nothing else will develop in time to beat the sun expanding and consuming
this world.
That’s why, when it comes to longevity, many can’t see anything other than AIs in
the future.
And, if artificial life takes over, maybe it could then fan out into the solar system
and travel to exoplanets beyond, carrying Earth’s cumulative knowledge with it even
after the planet is gone, ensuring that some evidence of humanity survives.
Whether it’s biological, digital or non-existent, a post-human species is an incredible thing
to imagine.
What do you think?
Is there anything we missed?
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