What Will Civilization Look Like In 10,000 Years? | Unveiled

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What Will Civilization Look Like in 10,000 Years?</h4>

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine yourself in the distant future. You stand surrounded by a new world, a world that bears little resemblance to the one you know today. It could be for the better or for the worse. The air is different, perhaps it’s clean and invigorating, free of pollutants… or perhaps it’s not so fresh, and your breathing has had to adapt. The landscape is an amalgamation of nature and technology, where either lush greenery seamlessly blends with towering structures that seem to defy gravity... or, rather, shiny machines dwarf a shred of wildlife that’s still barely clinging on. Maybe you hear the harmonious chatter of unknown, not-yet-evolved birdsong… or your ears ring with the hum of heavy industry. 

Clearly, the future is unknown. It could be incredible, it could be incredibly bad. While the question of fulfillment is another with multiple answers. Because, is the future a utopia or dystopia? Are you happy in this far off world, or is there something missing?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what will civilization look like in 10,000 years?

Through the lens of time, ten thousand years is both long and short. Long in the sense that it’s almost double the whole of recorded human history up until now… and short in the sense that it’s a miniscule fraction of the timeline of humans as a whole, and certainly in comparison to the age of Earth itself. So, to understand what civilization will look like that far into the future, we must first appreciate just how much time will have passed. For example, how far have we come in the last ten thousand years? Yes, it’s just a blink of the eye in geological time, a mere speck in the vastness of the universe, but this relatively short period has witnessed some astonishing transformations.

Ten millennia ago, humans were still predominantly hunter-gatherers, reliant on the bounty of the land. The wheel was a novel invention, the smart phone of its time, and the concept of writing was in its infancy. Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves in an era of rapid technological advancement, global connectivity, and scientific breakthroughs… but all of that was still so far away for our ancient ancestors. The rise of agriculture was in full swing around ten thousand years ago, but since then (and relatively recently) we’ve had the industrial revolution and the internet age; both major milestones that have redefined what it means to be human and to live on Earth. At the current rate of development, it’s a sure bet that similarly significant revolutions will happen in the next ten millennia, as well.

So, say you’re present at the ticking over of the year 12,000. There are infinite ways in which life might be different, but some factors appear more probable than others.

Technology no doubt will have progressed, and massively. While we can't predict the exact forms it will take, we can anticipate that AI, nanotechnology, and biotechnology will have reached unprecedented levels. Our understanding of genetics and our ability to manipulate it will, again, change what it means to be human. The line between biology and machinery will well and truly have been blurred. We may have achieved feats like mind uploading, enabling us to exist in a purely digital form. We likely will have harnessed fusion power for clean and virtually limitless energy. We may even be enjoying a hive consciousness, although some predictions argue that it’ll actually take more than ten thousand years to get to that level. Either way, such advancements will completely change how we live. Perhaps even the concepts of industry and the economy will have disappeared… in a world that’s run by machines but still populated by organic beings.

Those beings would likely still live in cities, but cities that are a far cry from the ones we have today. All projections are that the human population will have continued to rise, maybe to between 50 and 100 billion people on Earth. But, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that everyone would have less. By the year 12,000, if we are still here to tell the tale, we should have solved many of the challenges that plague our relatively small urban areas today. Things like congestion and pollution might even be forgotten about. Instead, smart cities will be the norm, built around automated transport systems, vertical farming that stretches into the skies above, and a generally ultra-energy-efficient infrastructure. If all goes well, then the world will be designed to foster human well-being and environmental sustainability. Although, of course, if all goes badly, then perhaps none of that will be possible… and, instead, we’ll have seen the population boom burst. And, despite all our improved knowledge, our cities could descend into troubled hubs of scarcity. And, as so many sci-fi dystopias imagine, the humans that remain may be so outnumbered by the machines that they created… and so the cities, in particular, become wildly dangerous places.

Nevertheless, in the meantime the human body will have changed. With advances in biotech, we may have dramatically extended our lifespan, perhaps even to the point of functional immortality. This means that even if there were dangers afoot, then they needn’t kill us off. Unlike today, future humans will be well equipped to play the long game no matter what level of struggle is thrown their way. Genetic modifications may allow us to tailor (and heighten) our physical and mental skills, while regenerative medicine should have long eradicated all the diseases and conditions that we encounter in the modern world. However, these advances will have also given rise to various ethical questions about the nature of humanity, individuality, and about our role on Earth and in the universe. 

What would you do if you were a biologically enhanced human of the time? Do you think you will have evolved enough to outrun anything that could have gone wrong? By then we should also be a comfortably space-faring species. Colonizing other planets and moons, and mining asteroids, all to our heart’s content. Many predict that we will have discovered alien life by this point, and if it’s intelligent then we might’ve struck up a relationship with it. Although, again, the potential problems of this future epoch might’ve made that difficult. In one especially concerning scenario, we could see the machines of here team up with the aliens from afar, all while the lowly humans live under the gaze of both.

So, if that happens, or if any of the other circumstances unfold, then the question remains; are we happy? Is in and around the year 12,000 an era of hope or a time of despair? A vision of success or a picture of doom?

Here, we can look to philosophy for some answers. The hedonistic view, for example, argues that happiness is derived from pleasure and the avoidance of pain. And, in the future, advanced technology may offer unparalleled opportunities for pleasure and comfort. Enhanced sensory experiences, limitless entertainment options, and a world free from disease and poverty. However, the counterargument says that the pursuit of pleasure alone may lead to a shallow existence devoid of meaning or purpose.

Eudaimonia, championed by Aristotle among others, asserts that happiness is found in living a virtuous and fulfilling life. But that might not be possible if even all the more positive applications of future tech come to pass. Instead, the humans of 12,000 may face profound existential questions about the meaning of life. For example, are they even needed anymore? And, if not, then where do they go from there?

A Buddhist perspective posits that happiness is closely tied to the alleviation of suffering. Now, a future marked by advanced medicine and AI-driven mental health solutions, for instance, could potentially reduce (or even remove) the burden of being alive. But again there’s a trade off… as we may instead grapple with new forms of suffering, such as with the perceived loss of individuality.

Finally, happiness is also intrinsically tied to the relationships we have with others. In a future defined by shiny tech and digital living, the maintaining of meaningful friendships and social connections could become challenging. And the happiness (and general psychology) of the future may depend entirely on how we navigate this hurdle. On the one hand, there might be more people to meet than ever, and all of us living the most comfortable lives we’ve ever known. On the other, and even if the population does soar, could we be heading for a time of isolation and loneliness? 

As with so many of the considerations that need to be made, it’s a thin line and a delicate balance. But the future is coming for us all… so it’s surely best to try to ensure that it’s somewhere that we’ll still want to be, and somewhere that will still want us there. Because that’s what civilization will look like in 10,000 years.