What does science predict for the far future?

Scientific projections regarding the far future rely on fields like astrophysics, particle physics, evolutionary biology, plate tectonics, and sociology to map events beyond the year 3000 CE. While indeterminacy prevents absolute certainty, researchers can outline broad cosmic and terrestrial changes such as continental drift and stellar evolution. These timelines also explore alternative scenarios like human extinction, the expansion of the Sun into a red giant, and proton decay.

What we know

• Scientific timelines of the far future begin at the start of the 4th millennium in 3001 CE and continue into remote time. [1, 2]
• Fields used to predict far-future events include astrophysics, particle physics, evolutionary biology, plate tectonics, and sociology. [2]
• Unresolved scientific questions addressed in alternative future events include whether humans will become extinct and whether proton decay will end all matter. [2]

Still open

• It remains an unresolved scientific question whether humans will become extinct or whether the Earth will survive when the Sun expands.
• It is uncertain whether proton decay will be the eventual end of all matter in the universe.

Where to go next

• how it workedHow will continents shift over millennia?
• what followedWhat is the ultimate fate of the universe?
• whenWhat events are expected in the 3rd millennium?
• how we knowHow does particle physics view the end of matter?
• the bigger pictureWhat are the predicted futures of Earth and the solar system?
• an unexpected connectionHow do human sociology and particle physics both map the far future?Although they operate at completely opposite scales of reality, both human sociology and particle physics are utilized together by scientists to map out the broad outlines of the far future.

Sources

• [1]timeline of the far future (Wikidata Q472374) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Timeline of the far future · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Timelines of the future · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Far future · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]List of future astronomical events · CC BY-SA 4.0