What would planet Earth look like?
Would most of its surface
be covered in volcanoes?
Or would it be frozen in ice?
What if you traveled even further?
Would all of the oceans have evaporated?
Or would it have become one giant water world?
Now, what about
Would there be any humans left?
Or would they have settled
in other parts of the galaxy?
Let's face it,
the chances of any humans being around
to greet you when you arrive
one billion years into the future
are pretty low.
Several key existential threats
face the human race,
and if we want to be around in one billion years,
we'll need to endure them all.
We've seen how much we've struggled
to come together just to survive
a global pandemic.
So how do we have any chance
of enduring the threats of climate change,
overpopulation,
global nuclear war,
killer asteroids and comets,
natural ice ages,
and the Sun getting a lot hotter?
Well, let's take a look into the future
and find out.
We're going to run into a big problem called
the deca-millenium bug.
In the year 10,000 A.D.,
software encoding the A.D.
calendar year, won't encode dates
with more than four decimals.
Remember Y2K?
Yeah, it's just like that.
Except, hopefully, we won't
panic as much this time around.
On the bright side, in 10,000 years,
genetic differences and traits between humans
will no longer be regional.
Traits like skin and hair color
will be evenly distributed around the world.
Maybe that will help us all get along, finally.
None of the current languages
will be recognizable.
Future languages will only contain
1% of the core vocabulary words
of their present-day counterparts.
will mark a new glacial period for the Earth,
which will start a new ice age.
Niagara Falls will have eroded
into Lake Erie completely.
And interestingly,
a full day on Earth
will also increase by
1 second at this point in time.
So much more time for activities.
the Lō-ihi Volcano
will rise above the water
to form a new island in Hawaii.
It is likely that an asteroid
with a diameter greater than
1 kilometer (0.62 miles) will hit Earth
unless we can prevent it.
The resulting crater will be no less than
400 km (248 mi) across.
It will start fires all over the planet
and make the air unbreathable.
So, there's something to look forward to.
And in case that's not enough,
We'll likely have
another supervolcano eruption
large enough to spew out
3,200 cubic kilometers (720 cubic miles) of ash.
It would produce enough lava
to fill 75% of the Grand Canyon.
This would be similar to the Toba eruption
that almost wiped out humanity
70,000 years ago.
Oh, and the nearby star Betelgeuse
will have exploded into a supernova by this time,
making it visible from Earth
even during the daytime.
Humanity will have settlements
throughout the Solar System.
This also means that
if populations on different planets
have remained separate,
humans may have evolved
into other species adapted
to their specific world.
A huge part of Eastern Africa will break off,
forming a new ocean basin.
In 50 million years,
Africa will collide with Eurasia,
closing off the Mediterranean Sea,
and a new mountain range will form
between the two landmasses.
This mountain range may include
a mountain taller than Mount Everest.
In space, Mars will collide with its moon,
resulting in it developing
a ring system like Saturn's.
The Canadian and American Rockies
will have eroded entirely.
All Hawaiian islands will be below the water.
An asteroid similar to the one
that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago
will likely hit Earth.
One that is 10 km (6.2 mi) wide.
All of Earth’s continents will be fused together
like Pangea,
except this time, it will be called Pangea Ultima.
But don't get too attached to it,
because in 400-500 million years,
Pangea Ultima will separate again.
A gamma-ray burst will likely occur within
6,500 light-years from Earth.
If it strikes Earth,
it could damage the ozone layer
and trigger a mass extinction.
The Moon will be so far from Earth
that total solar eclipses
will no longer be possible.
And the Sun's increasing luminosity
will have raised temperatures on Earth so much
that it could halt plate tectonics' movement.
Carbon dioxide (C02) levels
will drop dramatically,
and photosynthesis will no longer be possible.
Free oxygen (O2) and ozone (O3)
will disappear from the atmosphere,
and complex life on Earth will die.
And finally,
The Sun's luminosity
will have increased by 10%,
and the average temperature on Earth
will be 47 °C (117 °F).
Our atmosphere
will feel like a damp greenhouse.
And our oceans will evaporate,
leaving just pockets of water
at each of the poles.
When you arrive here in your time machine,
be mentally prepared to take in a planet Earth
that looks nothing like the one you remember.
The human race will be gone,
hopefully living its best life on
some other far-off planet.
Because of the intense heat, lack of water,
and lack of breathable air,
Earth will be uninhabitable.
So you probably shouldn't stay too long.
Instead, you should head out
to see the rest of the Solar System.
Maybe you'll find your fellow humans there
or some other form of intelligent life.
But that's a story for another WHAT IF.