34 | NewScientist | 3 March 2012

In the 21st century, it can feel as if the future has already arrived. But we’re only getting started.

It’s fashionable to be pessimistic about our prospects, yet our species may very well endure for at least 100,000 years.

So what’s in store for us? We now have the perspective to identify the forces and trends that have shaped humanity and the Earth to date. With this knowledge, we can make intelligent predictions about what is to come. Indeed, many groups are now attempting to extend humanity’s horizons far beyond the next century, from the Long Now Foundation to those who say our presence is forging a new geological era.

Over the following pages, New Scientist tours the coming epoch, from the language we will speak to what our descendants will make of our trash.

The deep future is only just beginning…

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