Prophesies, predictions and speculation about humanity’s future have caught the imagination of several scientists, philosophers, prophets, religious leaders, astrologers, soothsayers and literary geniuses. Most prominent among the writers I can recall have been Goerge Bernard Shaw (Back to Methuselah), H. G. Wells (The Time Machine, The War of the World, and other scientific fiction), Aldous Huxley (Brave New World), George Orwell (Nineteen Eighty-Four) and Bertrand Russel (Has Man a Future?).

Bernard Shaw’s monumental Pentateuch not only deals with futuristic predictions but also the past and the present. Back to Methuselah by Shaw consists of a Preface (The Infidel Half Century) and a series of five plays: (1) In the beginning: B.C. 4004 (In the Garden of Eden); (2) The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day; (3) The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170; (4) Tragedy of a Gentleman: A.D. 3000; and (5) As far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920. These have been described by critics as a “masterpiece of wishful thinking.” My imagination cannot stress beyond the present millennium, what to speak of the 32nd millennium, simply because ordinary mortals like me don’t possess the extraordinary imaginative powers of the great Shaw.

My imaginations or predictions are entirely based on logic and the wealth of knowledge available in the scientific world and therefore, my assumptions are confined to the present millennium and at best, can be stressed to another five hundred years, say up to 2500 CE. How are humans likely to behave and live their lives in circa 2500 CE? Back to the age of Methuselah? Or will they go back to the prehistoric days? Nobody knows; we can only conjecture. Let’s delve into it. The broad picture about the ultimate fate of humanity and our Earth is possibly this. The Sun, the giver and preserver of life on Earth has already reached half-life, that is, 4.5 billion years out of a total life-span of about 9 billion years. But the next one billion years would be extremely crucial for the earth and humanity as the Sun is likely to lose about 10 per cent of its luminosity and may also expand in size.

In that event, there will be either a “hot death”, when oceans will boil and dry up or “cold death”, when oceans and the earth will freeze. Or will the atmosphere lose oxygen making it impossible for life to survive? A supercomputer model has predicted that there could be rapid depletion of oxygen in the atmosphere between 1-1.2 billion years from now. In any case, death will be certain and all living species on earth are likely to face extinction. The earth will turn into a dead planet like Venus and Mercury. But for another five centuries, a tiny period of time in the Earth’s life, there appears to be no danger from the........

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