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What Will Happen In One Billion Years?


3m read
·Nov 4, 2024

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If you could spend one day in the year 2100 to see what life would be like in that time, what do you think you would find? The idea of seeing the future—seeing life as we know it in a far, distant timescale—has been in the minds of people for thousands of years. What if you could see even further into the future? One thousand—ten thousand—a million—even a billion years into the future. What do you think the universe would look like? What events would occur in these vast timescales? What will we miss?

Let's start here on Earth. Everyone knows about Chernobyl, but if you don't, let's sum it up really quick. On April 26, 1986, just outside of the town of Pripyat, Ukraine, disaster struck at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as Reactor No. 4 exploded, spewing over 8 tons of radioactive material into the surrounding area. This left the city almost completely uninhabitable. And due to the immense radiation still in the surrounding area, the Chernobyl zone won't be suitable for life until at least the year 22,000. By that time, you and I will most likely be dead, so we won't be able to finally ride this Ferris wheel that we waited 20,000 years for.

In 50,000 years, due to lunar tides from the moon, the Earth's rotation will have slowed enough to the point that our days will become one second longer. If humans are still alive and thriving using our current timekeeping system, they will either need to add a leap second to the clock every single day (which, let's be real, would probably get really annoying really fast), or we would officially have to make the day one second longer. On a good night, you're able to walk outside and gaze up at the drops of milk in the sky. And if you're good, you might be able to point out some constellations in specific stars.

Except that in a hundred thousand years from today, Earth and our solar system will have traveled so far throughout the galaxy's orbit that the star patterns in the sky that you see today will look vastly different. But maybe you're just looking at the stars the wrong way. By this time, Mars should be able to be completely terraformed, and you can hopefully take a look at the stars from a new planet. And it might be a good idea to get to Mars as soon as possible—for many reasons.

In 500,000 years, it is extremely likely the Earth will have been hit by an asteroid greater than one kilometer in diameter. This asteroid would most likely leave a crater over 400 kilometers wide, and would cause massive fires across the globe, rendering the air practically unbreathable. If that isn't enough for you to want to leave Earth, then perhaps this will change your mind.

In 1 million years, it is likely the Earth will have undergone a super volcanic eruption large enough to cover over 3,000 cubic kilometers with hot magma. This much magma could fill up about 75% of today's Grand Canyon. The last super volcanic eruption comparable to this event would most likely be the Toba Supereruption. This was so powerful that it single-handedly sent the world into a global volcanic winter for over ten years. Nearly all vegetation on Earth was destroyed, and scientists estimate that this single event almost completely wiped out human life. Numbers estimate that only 3,000-10,000 human individuals survived this eruption.

If you've been around on this channel long enough, you'll know that I made a video discussing the Kardashev Scale—the theoretical scale that ranks civilizations based on the amount of power they possess. It's estimated that in 1 million years, it's possible that—if humanity has survived and advanced enough—we could become a Type 3 civilization by the year 1 million. A Type 3 civilization harbors all of the power in the entire galaxy that it resides in—meaning that we could harness all of the energy of all the stars in the entire Milky Way Galaxy.

If humanity has thrived and successfully terraformed Mars, then this next milestone may be a problem. In 50 million years, it is believed that the orbit of Mars's moon Phobos will destabilize and come hurtling into the Martian atmospher...

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