Questions tagged [far-future]
For questions of Earth\humans that extrapolate beyond available data: hundreds of years at least, thousands commonly, millions preferably.
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3answers
254 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
312 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 ...
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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
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1answer
105 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 ...
8
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8answers
414 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
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2answers
131 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 ...
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2answers
152 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
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4answers
264 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
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2answers
171 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 ...
3
votes
2answers
272 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 ...
4
votes
7answers
779 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
3k 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 ...
7
votes
4answers
172 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 ...
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vote
2answers
76 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
270 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
320 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 ...
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3answers
160 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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3answers
193 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
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5answers
202 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.) ...
64
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22answers
25k 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 ...
3
votes
2answers
784 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 ...
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2answers
354 views
How plausible would a fully aquatic bat be?
So, it turns out that bats are actually pretty good swimmers; several species of bats have been reported swimming, and they're far more capable and agile in the water than they are on land:
https://...
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18answers
11k views
In a cemetery, what evidence could be found that humans were intelligent and had technology?
So, a group of archeologists from the year 4978 have uncovered something strange. They’ve been searching for the missing link between them and their primordial ancestors, and they seem to have found ...
6
votes
4answers
491 views
Regenerative ability caused by radiation
I know it looks like a lot of topics but hear me out here. I am not talking about some nonsense explanation for this ability but more of an evolutionary process.
Imagine that for numerous ...
12
votes
3answers
244 views
Where would a dense population of human beings live underground?
By that, I don’t mean what type of structures, I mean under which part of the Earth? It's an extremely densely populated nation. As densely populated as many major cities - think Hong Kong and more ...
0
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1answer
91 views
Can an Earth like planet support life by building a Dyson Sphere across a White Dwarf or a Red Dwarf star? [closed]
Is it possible to depend on a white dwarf as our power source, provided that we harness 99% of energy?
Can life be sustained?
How it will change the climate and the seasons of earth if it is our ...
5
votes
3answers
368 views
What could the side effects be for long-term Cryosleep?
I’m writing a story about someone who is going to be frozen in cryo for about 450 years. He’s frozen in 2120, so the technology is certainly well-developed in his time. I’m thinking maybe the cryo pod ...
1
vote
1answer
247 views
Which parts of our civilization would survive 1000 years? [closed]
If some catastrophic event happened that wiped out humanity tomorrow, not destroying any objects or places, which parts of our civilization would survive for 1000 years? What would the world look like?...
4
votes
2answers
202 views
How would a big cat evolve to climb on and jump between ruined modern buildings?
So, in a post-apocalyptic setting, when humans have gone extinct and their cities fell into ruin, I was wondering what animals might evolve to conquer the ruins of our cities.
Notice: I know that all ...
27
votes
5answers
6k views
What would Earth's Land look like in the year 3000? would there be any significant changes at all in 1000 years?
I've tried researching this question myself, but the only data I can find is over huge timescales, like situations where the continents have reformed back into a Neo-Pangea.
I'm not looking for any ...
6
votes
5answers
314 views
“Great Firewall of China” in an era of ubiquitous wireless internet
TL;DR:
in a world with hyper available internet, could a despotic state impose national censorship?
BACKGROUND/FLAVOR:
"Back in the before times during the long long ago, there was a network of ...
3
votes
1answer
102 views
Could a gravitational lens in the far future be used to detect 20th century radio or television broadcasts?
Wondering if a naturally occurring gravitational lens (such as one created by a star or black hole) could be used in the future by someone searching for "ancient" (ie, our recent) radio and TV ...
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vote
4answers
351 views
Feasible guns and ammo in a distant future post-apocalyptic setting [closed]
I'm working on a setting for an rpg and I definitely want to go for a distant future, post-apocalyptic world, not unlike Numenera. In Numenera guns of all different kinds would be considered Cyphers ...
4
votes
2answers
162 views
Long lifespans and risk aversion [closed]
Suppose in all types of medicine will be sufficiently advanced to enable very long life spans (many thousands of years +). I imagine that a cure for pretty much all diseases, disorders and morbidities ...
18
votes
13answers
3k views
Which is initially more favorable; large or small settlements in a new planetary colony?
I have a question that concerns a story I am writing and I hope it is a valid one to ask. But in my story, several groups of colonists, each arriving on different ships at relatively the same time, ...
6
votes
6answers
314 views
What hardships would humans face colonizing a nearby habitable world
My story involves a groups of colonists from a near post-apocalyptic Earth settling on a nearby, newly discovered habitable world, each colony separated and unknown to the others initially. Throughout ...
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votes
7answers
2k views
How can I tell I've travelled 20 million years into the future?
Story starts out about 100 years from now.
While in orbit around Earth preparing for an interstellar mission, our spacecraft encounters some hand-wavey spacetime anomaly such that we're still in ...
8
votes
9answers
520 views
What mechanisms can I use to instantly materialize an object?
In a far-distant future Pascal enters the bridge of his intelligent space ship.
He's a lazy bloke who can't be bothered to sit or stand, so he flicks his fingers and in a moment of Clarkian magic ...
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votes
7answers
594 views
Lava behind a forcefield; How to solidify the lava in contact? [closed]
I have a volcano spewing a lavaflow over the countryside.
I have a small valley area protected by an advanced forcefield. It is an extended version of a space going ship's forcefields.
When lava ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
Could a quantum computer be able to simulate a universe? [closed]
Is a quantum computer able to simulate an artificial universe like The Matrix or is that technology not advanced enough?
3
votes
3answers
97 views
How could Earth be propelled into a further orbit?
In my story, technologically advanced aliens create a "white hole" at the center of the sun that constantly spits out matter (hydrogen) from a parallel universe, increasing the star's mass quickly. ...
4
votes
3answers
224 views
Can the Great Race of Yith's record-keeping actually last for eons? [duplicate]
I was researching the alien races of H.P. Lovecraft when I came across this passage:
For those unaware, The Great Race of Yith are so named because they've mastered time travel as a means of living ...
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votes
1answer
224 views
Post Scarcity Currency
BACKGROUND:
So Futurestan, that most curious of nations established in the far far away, has created a post scarcity utopia where everyone definitely has enough food and it is always summer (snow is ...
0
votes
5answers
275 views
How to abduct humans from a planet? [closed]
I'm trying to get some of my citizens abducted from a planet and return them later...alive!
How do I do it?
If the following is excluded:
Beaming/teleportation - as it involves killing the ...
18
votes
3answers
3k views
How deep would the ocean be if continents all eroded away?
If all of the continental crust on Earth were eroded down, smoothed out, and distributed evenly across the whole planet, filling in all of the ocean basins and displacing the water therein, how deep ...
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votes
3answers
315 views
What are the consequences of completely banning fire and burning stuff? [closed]
I was thinking of a world where environmentalists are voted into power, and have decided that humans should no longer pollute the natural resources or cause any sort of disturbance to other living ...
65
votes
19answers
15k views
How would an astronaut conclude he's on Earth, but 600 million years in the future?
Say we have a group of space travelers who have been frozen inside a sleeper ship for an enormous amount of time that left when Earth was recognizable. When they thaw out and reach their destination, ...
9
votes
7answers
2k views
Futuristic alternative for showering/bathing [closed]
I am looking for plausible alternatives to our traditional water based showers and bathing for maintaining hygiene in a science fiction story that is set far enough into the future to the point where ...
3
votes
4answers
381 views
What evolutionary history supports sapient felines?
So, I have a story in which all of humanity flee's the Earth. The reason as to why they left is out of the scope of the question. After they leave, I want for the domestic house cat (or some other ...
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vote
5answers
367 views
How to make a slow but powerful futuristic bow and arrow
Obviously, guns are pretty superior to bows and arrows, nearly no matter how good you make a bow (within realistic measures). But in this case, I need a weapon that can have a slow projectile that can ...
