Many writers working in the genre of fiction, as well as scientists-futurists, represent the future of human civilization in a dark light, and there are certain reasons for this. The attitude of modern man to the environment is extremely negative, and thoughtless use of technology irreparably leads to self-destruction. However, there are also more optimistic scientists who hope that the future will be amazingly wonderful.
At the end of the last century, the famous economist, political scientist and writer from the United States of America Francis Fukuyama wrote two works - "The End of Order" and "The End of History and the Last Man", in which the author tried to prove that, judging by the technological, political and economic development Human civilization on Earth is gradually approaching its end. As it turned out, the author was wrong, and all his reflections were inspired by the collapse of the USSR and rumors about the establishment of a New World Order.
Bill Joy, co-founder of the American hardware and software company Sun Microsystems, gave a more realistic picture of the state of the world community. In 2004, he wrote an article entitled "Why the future does not need us", in which he spoke about the negative, catastrophic consequences that theoretically could entail the development of modern technologies, in particular, genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics. Therefore, according to the author of the article, the most reasonable way out of the situation for a modern person is to use what has already been created, since only in this way will he be able to prolong his own existence on Earth.
Some scientists tend to believe that the era of technological progress will soon come to an end. And it is quite possible that in half a century, man-made, improved machines and robots with their own intelligence will get out of his control, which will lead to the death of mankind. At the same time, they can become a salvation for human civilization, but only if those scientists who will be engaged in the future invention of artificial intelligence set the right goals for themselves. In this case, new generations of people will be able to live in the environment of the so-called "friendly robots", which will be programmed not to harm the human race. In addition, robots will protect a person from all kinds of dangers and control so that nothing bad happens to him.
Experts who advocate for the preservation of the environment say that in the future, our planet may turn into a world completely chained in steel. It will be a world in which, due to the unreasonable and irrational use of natural resources and innovative technologies, all living things will perish. However, you can still change. It is enough now to start using technologies to create new sources of energy, cleanse the planet and even transport this very planet.
In this case, radical changes will occur to the person himself, who will strive to live in complete harmony with the environment. Energy will be generated from the Sun and the Earth itself. People of the future will thoroughly study the ecological systems of the planet, and on the basis of new knowledge they will change them, for example, put an end to the suffering of living beings. In addition, human civilization will be able to control weather conditions at its own discretion, as well as prevent all sorts of cataclysms, including earthquakes, asteroid falls, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes.
Another part of scientists says that humanity in the future will begin to colonize solar systems, since both their salvation and the very principle of development will depend on this - in order to evolve, it is necessary to conquer new horizons, move forward.
Already at present, a person makes the first timid attempts to master outer space, but this already brings certain benefits, since technologies with the use of satellites are developing, and many discoveries and breakthroughs are being made in science.
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Modern man is not at all adapted for the conquest of space. Therefore, the man of the future will be forced to change in order to withstand space loads - Robert Freitas (an expert in nanotechnology) proposed to abandon the lungs so that the need for air disappears. In addition, a person will no longer need food, and his cells will be activated by nanorobots. The person of the future will be short, completely lose hair, will be able to independently regenerate bones and adapt his DNA to radiation.
Futurologists argue about what kind of colonization it will be, but most are inclined to think that it will probably be a spaceship capable of self-replication, which will not only extract minerals in the neighboring star system, but also be able to create its own exact copies, which will go to other systems and do the same there.
Until now, no interplanetary travelers have been observed within the Galaxy, which led to the emergence of the so-called "Fermat's paradox". Its essence boils down to the fact that the confidence in the existence in the Universe of many highly developed civilizations in terms of technology, along with the complete absence of observations confirming their existence, is paradoxical and may indicate that either observations or human understanding of the nature of these civilizations is erroneous or inaccurate. Thus, it may well be that human civilization within the Galaxy will become not only the first, but also the only colonizing civilization.
But the philosopher from Great Britain David Pearce, in his book "The Hedonistic Imperative", tried to create a theory of building a paradise on our planet, the essence of which is to create a biological program that would completely free oneself from disease, suffering, and cruelty. The emotional state of people will be controlled through the use of synthetic drugs that will regulate mood (but these will not be drugs). Moreover, over time, the genome of all living beings will be rewritten so that animals do not experience any suffering.
There is another alternative theory of the future of humanity - you can achieve an ideal cloudless existence by overloading your own consciousness into supercomputers of enormous size. It will be a kind of megastructure that can apply and activate all the energetic capabilities of humanity.
It is likely that humanity will be able to create a "Dyson sphere" - a thin spherical shell in the center of which will be a star. Futurologists argue that in this way humanity will be able to solve several global problems at once - energy (it can be received directly from the main star) and a lack of living space.
However, there are also those among scientists who are sure that in the future human civilization will not take a step towards improvement. On the contrary, it is a big step back. As proof of their innocence, experts say that at the moment the society is mostly consumerist, so people must go through a regressive path until the moment when a person did not harm the planet. Thus, the human race will cease to be a threat to itself, nature and the Earth. The ultimate goal of such regression is the end of civilization and the return of humanity to the jungle.
Some scientists went even further in their predictions, stating that in the future humanity will completely disappear into the face of the Earth, thus giving the opportunity for living beings to become free in their development.
This is only a small part of the forecasts of the likely future of humanity. But what it really will be - no one can say for sure. And, by and large, it depends on the modern human civilization what future generations will be like.