[lumi]

What I wouldn't give to see the world a thousand years from now. A million years...

Would an asteroid have wiped us out? How would humans have evolved? What would we be wearing?!

[Erwin_Br]

From an article posted on BBC's website: (Can't find the link anymore)

Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said. Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology.

People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added.

The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.

Race 'ironed out'

But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims.

Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.

Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.

However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology.

Spoiled by gadgets designed to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals.

Receding chins

Social skills, such as communicating and interacting with others, could be lost, along with emotions such as love, sympathy, trust and respect. People would become less able to care for others, or perform in teams.

Physically, they would start to appear more juvenile. Chins would recede, as a result of having to chew less on processed food.

There could also be health problems caused by reliance on medicine, resulting in weak immune systems. Preventing deaths would also help to preserve the genetic defects that cause cancer.

Further into the future, sexual selection - being choosy about one's partner - was likely to create more and more genetic inequality, said Dr Curry.

The logical outcome would be two sub-species, "gracile" and "robust" humans similar to the Eloi and Morlocks foretold by HG Wells in his 1895 novel The Time Machine.

"While science and technology have the potential to create an ideal habitat for humanity over the next millennium, there is a possibility of a monumental genetic hangover over the subsequent millennia due to an over-reliance on technology reducing our natural capacity to resist disease, or our evolved ability to get along with each other, said Dr Curry.

[samIamsad]

That's a little creepy, Erwin... (To be honest: I seriously doubt it that humanity will even exist anymore in 10,000 years from now).

Originally Posted by Erwin_Br

Oh, don't worry. Time is moving at another pace in that world of yours. In our time, it'll be ages before we're being thrown in the poo-bag.

But now assuming ages have already passed, a little cute lady alien thing is already reaching out for her cleaning utilities. Whatever cleaning utilities culte little lady alien things are using in that world is up for debate, but not really the point so let's get on with this: it could be over any minute, it could be over on Christmas 2079, Samorost day 2899 or a little later than that, because we really don't know how quickly time passes over there... :eek:

[Squinky]

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving, and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour, that's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned, a sun that is the source of all our power...

[undeaf]

Very odd that in a thread about space there is mention of humans spliting into two subspecies not in the context of mars colonization.

[Gordon Bennett]

Squinky, vey cute. Much appreciated. I've often said that I could happily spend the rest of my life without ever revisiting Monty Python again, but you've proved me wrong.

I'm not certain that I can believe that prediction for the future. It reads too much like 1940's pulp sci-fi for me to take it seriously. There's no proper way to predict the future, all you can do is distort the present by taking it to an extreme. Predictions rarely seem to be at all accurate. If they were, we'd all be communicating by a global radio network by now, having huge personal movie screens in our homes, listening to music on miniature records read by laser beams, eating food cooked in atomic ovens, wearing clothes made of man-made cloth, and riding around the world in jet planes.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Squinky

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving, and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour, that's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned, a sun that is the source of all our power...

The best Python film.

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by Gordon Bennett

There's no proper way to predict the future

But what about putting candied spider eggs, witches' warts, plops of pigeon poop, vanilla dipped house flies and RLacey's clipped toenails into a pot, adding a drop of bat and budgie blood, heating it past midnight on Friday the 13th, and telling each and everybody's future from the resulting mess, as often seen on TV? You're right, the old hand method might sound more feasible, but this sure has got to work as well?