Far future in science fiction and popular culture
Encyclopedia
The far future, here defined as the time beyond the 10th millennium
, has been used as a setting in many works of fiction or popular scientific
speculation.
10th millennium
The tenth millennium is a period of time that will begin on January 1, 9001, and will end on December 31, 10000.-Astronomical events:All these dates are in a uniform time scale such as Terrestrial Time. When converted to our ordinary solar time or Universal Time, which is decidedly non-uniform, via...
, has been used as a setting in many works of fiction or popular scientific
Popular science
Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...
speculation.
Timeline
- 12004–12006 : The events of Eureka SevenEureka SevenEureka Seven, known in Japan as , is a mecha anime TV series by Bones. Eureka Seven tells the story of Renton Thurston and the outlaw group Gekkostate, his relationship with the enigmatic mecha pilot Eureka, and the mystery of the Coralians....
. - 12005: According to the Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episode End of the WorldThe End of the World (Doctor Who)"The End of the World" is the second episode of Series One of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Russell T Davies and directed by Euros Lyn, the episode was first broadcast on 2 April 2005....
, a new Roman EmpireRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
has been established on Earth by this year. - c. 16000: Cordwainer SmithCordwainer SmithCordwainer Smith – pronounced CORDwainer – was the pseudonym used by American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger for his science fiction works. Linebarger was a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare...
's novel NorstriliaNorstriliaNorstrilia is the only novel published by Paul Linebarger under the pseudonym Cordwainer Smith, which he used for his science-fiction works...
is set in the 160th century, amidst the Rediscovery of ManThe Rediscovery of ManThe Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith is a 1993 book containing the complete collected short fiction of science fiction author Cordwainer Smith. It was edited by James A...
, an effort by the Instrumentality of MankindInstrumentality of MankindIn the science fiction of Cordwainer Smith, the Instrumentality of Mankind refers both to Smith's personal future history and universe and to the central government of humanity...
to inject new life to humanity's stagnant utopia via the reinstation of old customs. Smith's Instrumentality future history spans the millennia from the 21st to the 160th centuries. - 17276–17278: The events of the game XenogearsXenogearsis a science-fiction console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation. It was released on February 11, 1998 in Japan and on October 20, 1998 in North America. The game was never released in PAL territories...
begin. - 20,001: The events of the epilogue to 2010: Odyssey Two occur.
- ca. 23,191: The events of Frank HerbertFrank HerbertFranklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
's DuneDune (novel)Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965. It won the Hugo Award in 1966, and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel...
(10,191 After Guild). - 25th millennium: The events of Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
's FoundationFoundation (novel)Foundation is the first book in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy . Foundation is a collection of five short stories, which were first published together as a book by Gnome Press in 1951...
. - Early 30th millennium: The Fall of the Eldar occurs. Slaanesh is born (Warhammer 40,000Warhammer 40,000Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...
). - 85,271: Many of the events of the DC ComicsDC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
' DC One MillionDC One Million"DC One Million" was a crossover storyline that ran through a self titled, weekly limited series and through special issues of almost all "DCU" titles published by DC Comics in November 1998...
series. SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
emerges from his 15,000-year exile in his Fortress of SolitudeFortress of SolitudeThe Fortress of Solitude is the occasional headquarters of Superman in DC Comics. Its predecessor, Superman's "Secret Citadel", first appeared in Superman #17, where it was said to be built into a mountain on the outskirts of Metropolis...
inside the Sun. - 100,000: Rise and fall of the Patagonians; the First Men enter in eclipse. – Olaf Stapledon, Last and First MenLast and First MenLast and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a "future history" science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years and eighteen...
- 802,701: Most events in HG Wells's novel The Time MachineThe Time MachineThe Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 for the first time and later adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction...
occur in this year. - 1,001,986 One million years later from 1986, when the events of Kurt VonnegutKurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
's Galápagos have taken place and humanity has evolved to seal-like creatures with limited thinking. - ca. 1,000,000: In the Babylon 5Babylon 5Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
universe, approximately one million years after the founding of the Interstellar Alliance (2262 AD), humans evolve into beings of energy. They leave Earth for the old VorlonVorlonA Vorlon is a member of a fictional alien species in the Babylon 5 television series and fictional universe. The Vorlon species is a member of the First Ones, a group made up of the earliest species to gain sentience in the galaxy...
homeworld—and ultimately destroy the solar system to keep any remaining technology out of the hands of younger races. - 5,000,000: According to the documentary The Future Is WildThe Future is WildThe Future Is Wild was a 2002 seven-part documentary television miniseries. Based on research and interviews with several scientists, the miniseries shows how life could evolve in the future if Homo sapiens became extinct; the Discovery Channel broadcast changed this outlook by stating the human...
, scientists believe that the world will be in an ice ageIce ageAn ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. The Mediterranean SeaMediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
will be a vast salt plain and the Amazon rainforestAmazon RainforestThe Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
will be no more. Creatures of this land include huge killer birds, thin-legged pigs, sticky-frilled lizards and birds that act like whales. Humans, by this time, have either gone extinct or have left the planet. - 12,700,000-15,000,000: Humanity has completely died out according to Isaac Asimov's book The End of Eternity.
- 18,000,000: A "half-plastic denizen" of the interior of a planet beyond Pluto is among those that exchanges mind with the Great Race of YithGreat Race of YithThe Great Race of Yith are aliens in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. They first appeared in Lovecraft's short story "The Shadow Out of Time" . They are called the Great Race because they are the only beings to have mastered time travel...
. – (H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, The Shadow Out of TimeThe Shadow Out of TimeThe Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...
) - 50,000,000: Following the final end of humanity, a new race of beetle-like insects arises– (H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, The Shadow Out of TimeThe Shadow Out of TimeThe Shadow Out of Time is a novella by Americanhorror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between November 1934 and February 1935, it was first published in the June 1936 issue of Astounding Stories.-Plot summary:...
) - 100,000,000: In the documentary The Future Is Wild, scientists speculate that in 100,000,000 years' time, the world will be very hot due to excess volcanic activity
- 200,000,000: In the documentary The Future Is Wild, scientists speculate that in 200 million years' time the world will contain one global ocean and one continent, like PangaeaPangaeaPangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
. Approximately 100 million years before this time, there was a mass extinction and now most of the world's land is desert, with a couple of rainforests around the edge. - 500,000,000: In Stephen Baxter'sStephen BaxterStephen Baxter is a prolific British hard science fiction author. He has degrees in mathematics and engineering.- Writing style :...
novel Evolution, last descendants of man live in a symbiotic relation with borametz-like trees on the red, Mars-like plains of Pangaea UltimaPangaea UltimaPangaea Ultima is a possible future supercontinent configuration and an alternative to the Amasia supercontinent. Consistent with the supercontinent cycle, Pangaea Ultima could occur within the next 250 million years...
. - ca. 1,000,000,000: The last inhabitants of Earth, a species of arachnids, live within the interior of the dying world. – (H. P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Out of Time)
- 1,000,000,000: Human extinction occurs across the galaxy – (Brian Aldiss, Galaxies like Grains of Sand).
- ca. 5,000,000,000: The End of the WorldThe End of the World (Doctor Who)"The End of the World" is the second episode of Series One of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Russell T Davies and directed by Euros Lyn, the episode was first broadcast on 2 April 2005....
in Doctor Who. The date is given as 5.5/Apple/26—implying that the explanation of 5 billion was an approximation. The episode establishes the destruction of the original planet Earth at this time. - 5,000,000,023: In the British science fiction television program Doctor Who, in the episode New EarthNew Earth"New Earth" is the first episode of the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, first broadcast on 15 April 2006. It is a sequel to the first series episode "The End of the World", and brings back its villain who was thought to be destroyed, Lady Cassandra, as...
, Humans are shown to have moved to a new planet and called it New Earth in the galaxy M87. - 10,000,000,000: Arthur C. Clarke's novel, Against the Fall of NightAgainst the Fall of NightAgainst the Fall of Night is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. Originally appearing in the November, 1948 issue of the magazine Startling Stories, it was first published in book form in 1953 by Gnome Press. It was later expanded and revised as The City and the Stars...
. - ca. 10,000,000,000,000: ManHumanHumans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
fuses with ACMultivacMultivac is the name of a fictional supercomputer in many stories by Isaac Asimov. According to his autobiography In Memory Yet Green, Asimov coined the name in imitation of UNIVAC, an early mainframe computer...
and EntropyEntropyEntropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...
destroys the universe in Isaac AsimovIsaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
's The Last QuestionThe Last Question"The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the November 1956 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and was reprinted in the collections Nine Tomorrows , The Best of Isaac Asimov , Robot Dreams , the retrospective Opus 100 , and in Isaac Asimov: The...
. - 100,000,000,000,000: In the TV series Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, the last remnants of humanity seek out a legendary utopia in this year. - 1,500,000,000,000,000: Stars evaporate from galaxies in Stephen Baxter's Ring.