Questions tagged [far-future]
For questions of Earth\humans that extrapolate beyond available data: hundreds of years at least, thousands commonly, millions preferably.
132
questions
4
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3answers
81 views
How to build a star-sized humanoid superorganism? [closed]
For whatever reason, humans in the far future want to build a star-scale humanoid creature. This massive lifeform would completely envelop a star in its chest area, turning the star into its "...
20
votes
18answers
5k views
What are plausible faster than light methods for a far advanced civilization that aren't a warp drive
Hopefully the title sums it up well, but I'm looking for potential faster than light travel (hoping for real or pseudo-real science here, as much as possible) that doesn't involve a warp drive, which ...
3
votes
1answer
156 views
Could a colony on Neptune work?
My book is set far, far into the future, in a widely settled solar system. An expedition is sent to Neptune, and the expeditioners find out that there are massive cave systems reaching deep into ...
35
votes
16answers
8k views
Signs of wealth in a world where private planet ownership is common
In my far-future world, owning a planet or moon is as common as owning a house. People usually have a large house, with an adjacent farm for their own sustenance that is usually tended by robots. ...
2
votes
6answers
158 views
What is the quickest way to kill someone using nanobots?
Assume a distant future where all humans have nanobots in their bloodstream that keep them alive indefinitely.
Now let's say there is a way to override those nanobots so that they can instantly be ...
4
votes
2answers
94 views
Alternate power for projectile weapons [duplicate]
I am working on a series set a few hundred years in the future where fusion power is common and starships roam between planets. I am trying to think of a way to power small Arms weapons and keep them ...
4
votes
7answers
1k views
Would a fully automated future society where everything is owned by the state still require taxes?
In this future society:
All of Earth's resources can be accessed since the planet has one world government.
All services and goods are owned, created, and distributed by the state.
Every step of ...
7
votes
8answers
449 views
What would encourage multiple animal species to evolve human features simultaneously?
The setting is fifty-five million years in the future on Earth, with multiple humanoid species that have different ancestors, but share similar characteristics. Their ancestors would be animals that ...
17
votes
9answers
5k views
Is a modern dark age possible?
For context, I'm considering a story similar to the Netfilx TV show The 100 in which humanity has to recolonize the Earth following a major extinction-level event. I'm aiming for the society they ...
2
votes
2answers
110 views
How would evolution be influenced by the remnants of humanities servant robots?
So let me explain the frame/world first, I actually think all of it is relevant as some details would probably have quite the impact on the outcome. I was hesitant to post the question as it's quite a ...
3
votes
1answer
94 views
How would hands or hand-like appendages evolve from ray-finned fishes?
Tetrapods evolved fingers from the inner-bones of the fins of lobe-finned fish, could hands ever evolve from ray finned fishes if they were to become fully terrestrial, from a mud skipper ancestor?
38
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4answers
8k views
Is it possible to maintain a gun functioning after thousands of years?
The gun in question is a normal, reliable and non-specialized .45 revolver. The idealized character is the last descendant of a lineage of carriers of this gun, considered by them legendary.
Is it ...
7
votes
2answers
325 views
How soon does the Earth's surface re-solidify after the red-giant Sun is replaced with a different star?
(Note: This is a follow-up question to my previous one: Moved into further orbits to protect them, how much damage do Earth and Moon take when the Sun expands?)
Thanks to clever stellar engineering ...
4
votes
1answer
224 views
Moved into further orbits to protect them, how much damage do Earth and Moon take when the Sun expands?
Short version A far future catastrophe burns/melts away large chunks of the Earth and Moon. For reasons related to my story's fantasy elements, the remains of the Moon have about one fifth their ...
7
votes
4answers
236 views
Mind Uploading and Childbirth
In a world where every human mind has been uploaded, and no organic humans remain, can we still produce offspring?
In a worldbuilding project I'm dabbling with, there are many people uploading their ...
3
votes
4answers
226 views
Why would a technologically advance space-faring civilization still use physical currency?
In this world human civilization has reached the stars and now spans across multiple galaxies. Technological advancements such as neural implants, FTL travel, and FTL internet access are ubiquitous ...
6
votes
5answers
376 views
What species has the most chance of becoming the next civilised species? [duplicate]
I'm considering creating a world which take place on earth after all humans are dead/gone (we don't care actually). In this situation another/some other species develop enough to be a civilization.
...
7
votes
2answers
521 views
How much energy does a bee/micro robot need per second of flight?
In my scifi setting small utility robot swarms are used for many purposes. I'm currently trying to estimate how much energy such a swarm would need to operate. Since biology, robotics and ...
1
vote
1answer
88 views
Alien preservation plan for Earth and human evolution [closed]
I've got an idea and would ask for you evolution enthusiasts: what if humanity could be forced to not travel around the earth and be forced to stay by some alien culture in their home habitats (...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Cauterizing a wound with metal?
I am wondering if scientifically it is possible to cauterize a wound using molten metal.
I was thinking of a character whose wounds and scars were healed with metal, leaving her with spots and ...
8
votes
3answers
437 views
If an Alcubierre Drive is possible, can you communicate FTL without a vessel?
Assume that an Alcubierre drive is feasible. In fact, assume that one has been built. A superluminal starship can propel itself through space by distorting space in front of it and behind it. However, ...
3
votes
1answer
197 views
Dystopian Future | Moon Destroyed What Would Our World Look Like in 500 years? [duplicate]
This question came to me after reading this question on the Astronomy Page, and having a length discussion with colleagues about the 2002 movie "The Time Machine". As a result I am looking for hard-...
10
votes
2answers
209 views
Realistic Interstellar Energy Transfer
I've been reading some of the excellent answers on this question about galactic empires and it led me to imagine a reasonably realistic multi-system 'empire' might keep most or all of its population ...
11
votes
9answers
3k views
Historical experience as a guide to warship design?
I've been working on designs for some model starships, in particular warships. My working assumption has been that the designs and materials for these ships will reflect the way that the civilisation ...
25
votes
14answers
8k views
How can a dictatorship government be beneficial to a dictator in a post-scarcity society?
In my scenario of a post-scarcity society in the far future, everyone has abundance in their basic needs from food and energy and the technology is very advanced that humans are more intelligent, ...
1
vote
5answers
212 views
In a future post-scarcity civilization, how would evolution change humans when survival is no longer a challenge? [closed]
Let's imagine a post-scarcity society where everyone has unlimited access to food, energy and the aging problem has been solved so people are practically immortal.
Now my understanding is that, our ...
2
votes
2answers
201 views
How would a Type I civilization habitable planet be any different to a Type II civilization habitable planet?
This question is a different version of other questions that I have found here discussing a similar but different problem.
The problem I'm facing here is about the excess or waste heat that an ...
8
votes
2answers
200 views
How small can a perpetual energy source be to run a far-future civilization indefinitely?
You are the leader of a far-future civilization - human or otherwise - that has endured for trillions of years doing whatever far-future civilizations do. You've surrounded stars with Matrioshka ...
1
vote
3answers
149 views
If aliens would be like us, how can we survive [closed]
We Humans are the most intelligent species of this planet, we have total control over all other species of this planet, we can use them however we want like (Food,clothes,experiments). We are the most ...
4
votes
3answers
362 views
Could a more convenient form of energy transfer/storage than electricity be possible?
I was thinking about the progress that has been made in terms of energy usage for e.g. transport purposes and noticed how the prominent source of energy had changed over time: first muscle power, then ...
4
votes
1answer
456 views
Interstellar Propulsion for Hard Sci-fi Novel
Hypothetical: Hundreds of years into the future. Humanity needs to travel to exoplanets quickly. I'm aiming for hard sci-fi. What kind of propulsion can travel people at 0.1 - 0.9 lightspeed?
Is it ...
8
votes
7answers
3k views
Earth under one roof: Feasible?
Okay, so how feasible is it- if even possible- to put the Earth under 'one roof'?
So here is the premise. The world is heavily heavily over populated, so overpopulated in fact that almost all of the ...
0
votes
1answer
122 views
In 1000 years, could a magnetic bottle-like plasma dome system protect a small city? [closed]
I've looked at the magnetic bottle (hydrogen plasma/fusion) idea as a potential basis for extrapolating what technology might be capable of doing with plasma fields 1000 years into the future...which ...
9
votes
9answers
594 views
How advanced can a stagnant civilization on a dying planet be?
Background
The concept of an old and dying red planet is common in pulp novels, comics, and gaming. What I am interested in is a world dying under a sun that has turned red and is expanding. The ...
0
votes
2answers
201 views
What is the most pratical/feasible method to replace the human digestion apparatus?
Objective: Replace the human digestion apparatus (stomach, guts etc)
From my basic understanding the human body needs food, because it needs ATP (energy unit, some kind of sugar(?)) or you could say ...
-1
votes
2answers
199 views
How much could familiar species of animal evolve in 10,000 years? [closed]
In 10,000 yrs, barring human interference, what kinds of evolution might we expect in familiar animals? Leaving aside the causes of the adaptation, for example, is it possible that the grey squirrel ...
0
votes
4answers
405 views
How well would a society 35,000 years in the future remember today? [closed]
The story is set 35,000 years after the year 2024. In 2024, Donald Trump makes fun of Kim Jong Un's stupid hair, and long story short, the Earth gets nuked to the point where everything is covered in ...
0
votes
2answers
208 views
Reproduction is limited by mutation [closed]
In the year 2020, a cosmic event caused large-scale mutation in humans. Every woman could reproduce only once in her lifetime.
Two hundred years later, what would be the population and composition ...
4
votes
2answers
295 views
How to leave a message for the future?
I want my novel's protagonist to leave a diary on the dying planet Earth for some far-in-the-future being to read.
He wants to leave some kind of marker/clue (or perhaps timepiece) for this future ...
6
votes
7answers
3k views
Is a Utopia worth it? [closed]
In a far away future, when/where technology has erased scarcity, competition and poverty, what purpose does civilisation still have?
Suppose a civilisation reaches a level at which it can harvest ...
8
votes
13answers
4k views
Possibility of using large asteroid as planetary attack weapon
I am writing a story where the human race is divided into two groups one called Martians (they left to live on Mars) and the other Earthlings (who stayed on Earth). The Martians want to destroy Earth ...
8
votes
4answers
240 views
How to cause a surge in large carnivore diversity, roughly 5-7 million years hence?
I have had an idea for a possible story, where the protagonists are some kind of future, sapient hominid descendants (Not descended from humans; bonobos or gorillas or something).
The main premise of ...
1
vote
2answers
83 views
How would we overcome the sinking problem as sediment builds up around urban areas? [closed]
As sediment builds up over the earth, it is compacted into layers of rock, which can be seen in the geological record. However, urban areas typically have good maintenance which washes away any ...
4
votes
5answers
308 views
How could the government not prevent a medical company from helping terrorists? [closed]
Recently, the government has found out that the biggest medical corporation (responsible for plenty of technological progress) has been financing and providing material aid to an organization ...
5
votes
2answers
796 views
How to evolve fully terrestrial sharks, 100 million years in the future?
This is part of the same world I am making that this question I once asked is set in: How to evolve a reptile into a wyvern, 100 million years in the future?
I might call these questions related to ...
-3
votes
3answers
201 views
Is it possible to have a civilization after the year 15000? [closed]
In my context, the year 15000 is important but I was wondering if there is a chance to have existing civilizations around this year (or after) ?
Based on the Numberphile video, if we keep growing at ...
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votes
3answers
290 views
How Long Can a Burnt Postapocalyptic Forest Be Barren?
Lately, I have been reading word that our latest epidemic of firestorms is so severe that "trees won't plant themselves naturally", according to the Arbor Day Foundation. Indeed, the picture of a ...
3
votes
5answers
229 views
Can our civilisation create an artifact / time capsule to transfer knowledge to the next intelligent species?
The government of a rich country decides that it's time to create a time capsule to store our scientific knowledge so that in the case of a global disaster (meteor impact, nuclear apocalypse, etc.) ...
67
votes
22answers
26k views
Humans are gone - what can I harvest from their cities 30M years later?
A new species with technological potential is starting to multiply and subjugate the Earth. What resources can it harvest from human (our) cities which were destroyed 30M years ago (humans are gone ...
4
votes
2answers
809 views
Post-apocalypse: large mammals erased, can homo sapiens 2.0 build civilisation?
Humans managed to erase themselves from existence, taking a large part of Earth's higher mammals (apes, cats, dogs etc) with them. Millions of years later, the biosphere has recovered and biodiversity ...
