What Will Earth Look Like In The Future? | Unveiled

<h4>

What Will Earth Look Like in the Future?</h4>

Imagine. You’re moving through time, beginning at the ancient Earth with its molten seas and scaling through the ages of abiogenesis, of the dinosaurs, the ages of ice, and then onto the rise of human civilization. Clearly, a lot has happened on our planet over the years, centuries, millennia, and eons. Travel right up to the present day, and we have bustling cities, vast farmlands, oceans, deserts, and intricate ecosystems, all doing their bit to define what the modern Earth is. But now, transport yourself to the future. Here the images aren’t quite so clear. But, what do you see? How has this place we all call home been transformed yet again?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what will Earth look like in the future?

Today, we know that there are some major challenges ahead of us. Although our fate may well be decided by the outcomes of two general problems, in particular; the threat of environmental ruin and the rise of artificial intelligence. Global warming and climate change threaten rapidly rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and dwindling species diversity. Meanwhile, the prospect of an increasingly tech-driven future offers both hope and further reason for pause. On the one hand, future technology promises solutions to all of our worries, including climate change. However, on the other hand, some predict that the so-called (and imminent) intelligence explosion - after which tech will be smarter than humans - is actually what should concern us more than anything else. 

Either way, the future Earth will clearly be shaped by the environmental moves we make and the technological upgrades we deliver.

First off, there’s the continued rise of renewable energy, which will increasingly alter our physical horizons. Picture vast landscapes adorned with sleek solar panels and towering wind turbines, harnessing the power of the sun and wind to meet our energy needs. It isn’t hard to visualize because, actually, in many places we already have this… but, in the future, renewable energy installations are likely to dominate even more. According to the most extreme forecasts, solar farms could blanket entire deserts, and offshore wind stations may surround each and every coastline. Earth will look different, but the energy it runs off will be clean, abundant, and perfect for an ever-growing civilization. As for what will happen to the power stations of the past… many will be converted into other things, while some may fall to ruin as relics of a different time.

In general, we might envision that energy farms will rise mostly in otherwise quiet locations - like in the sea, or across the sahara. But, in amongst all of that, tomorrow’s smart cities will emerge as oases of efficiency. With it predicted that a higher and higher percentage of the global population will migrate to the cities in the future, these megalopolises will far outperform even the most innovative urban centers of today. Imagine buildings reinforced from scratch to withstand tomorrow’s weather events; linked together by streets with sensors to optimize traffic flow. Trains that always run on time, bridges that never break, high-rises that are taller than ever. Instant communication links; seamlessly connected services all across the board; colossal data centers to beat even the largest and most sprawling complexes of today. There are even some plans for a physical internet, where products - including your groceries - are shot through a massive web of interconnecting pipes, potentially to anywhere in any city on the world map.

With both future energy and future cities, however, there is an easy-to-find darker side. Just as when, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, many foretold of the smoky, grinding urban hubs that would rise like monsters around the factories… there are various less glistening predictions for this new future ideal, as well. Chiefly, the “smart Earth” raises a wealth of questions about data privacy, cybersecurity, and tech equality. While, on paper, it seems as though worldwide renewables should mean that everyone gets the same, is that really how this future will play out? And, despite the obvious allure of smart cities, are they worth the reams of personal data and information that they demand? In the event of us breaching the AI singularity, might a smart city even become something to fear, once humans are no longer the most intelligent entity around? These questions add color to an alternate future landscape, then, where the smart cities rise and the energy farms hum… but perhaps the humans become gradually less and less significant.

The same kinds of balance can be found when we look at the future of agriculture. In the broadest sense, farming is around 13,000 years old. It was then (13,000 years ago) that humans first began settling in one place and cultivating crops. However, in the last couple hundred years, even in just the last few decades, agriculture has dramatically changed. Now, more than ever, we have industrial-scale farming, which has massively altered how the Earth looks. In the future, though, some foretell of a potential reversal, in search of greater efficiency. Rather than regimented fields primed for harvest as far as the eye can see, we may revert back to smaller farms in terms of the literal space they take up. Precision farming techniques combined with the advent of vertical agriculture, should mean that farms appear more like office blocks to today’s eyes. We’ll have crops that thrive in controlled indoor environments, and the fields that do remain will be patrolled by autonomous tractors, harvesters and drones, all constantly monitoring to ensure the best results. The future of the meat industry could be the most changed of all. In just the last few years, lab-grown meat has moved from science fiction to genuine foodstuff. There’s an increasing realization that livestock farming is a major contributor to global warming. Some even go so far as to predict that future humans will universally eat a meat-free diet which, if it were to happen, would again serve to completely reshape how the land on Earth is used. Indeed, perhaps some of the freed-up fields and pastures will be reworked into energy hubs, instead.

Again, on the one hand it sounds incredible. If all the best estimates do come to pass, then food scarcity will no longer exist. Every human will have enough to eat and should also be healthier, which should make them happier. But, on the other hand, in the event that farming did become an autonomous industry, what happens if that automation breaks down? Or, in true sci-fi form, what if it turns against us? 

Only a little less dramatically, there’s also the question of the natural world. Today, farming monocultures have obliterated the lives of countless animal species, all while systematically reducing the diversity of plant life in search of greater yields. In the future, with precision farming so geared towards success (and likely required to feed more people than ever before) will much thought be given to replenishing nature, at all? With the planet having already been widely deforested over the last few generations, by us… would a potential handover to AI result in more trees and greenery, or even less? As with so much when it comes to future technology, it’s difficult to tell. Those smart cities we outlined earlier may also be resplendent with green spaces and green roofing, to blur the lines between the natural and artificial worlds. That said, the future cities really might be so mesmerically honed that nature becomes an afterthought.

Nevertheless, the technological revolution is here. With multiple governments, companies and individuals engaged in a monumental race to produce the next big thing, there is no stopping progress - for better or worse. In the past, and to some extent in the modern day, we’ve seen this kind of competition play out with regard to space travel, in particular. And there’s certainly reason to believe that this trend will continue into the future, with Earth being changed as a result. An expansion of space infrastructure means spaceports, launch facilities, climatization biomes… anything to make a trip into the void more possible. But, what’s increasingly likely, is that the race will no longer be confined to just space, anymore. Instead, as the future Earth looks set to be relentlessly changed in line with tech innovation and climate troubles hand-in-hand, we may be entering into a turbulent era of dramatic and near-total remodeling. An overhaul for the ages.

It’s truly impossible to know what the final results will be but, with the environment and AI guiding the way, that’s what Earth will look like in the future.

Antarctica, our most mysterious continent, lay theorized but undiscovered until the 19th century. It took almost another century for anybody to make their way to the south pole, on the only truly uninhabited landmass on our planet. But could humans someday live there in far larger numbers?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; what if a future civilization lives on Antarctica?

Despite Antarctica’s hostile and isolated environment, humans have lived there on and off for more than one hundred years. There were a handful of exploration expeditions in the first half of the 1800s, but the biggest Antarctic endeavors didn’t begin until the very end of that century… and, in the 1900s, humans moved onto some Antarctic islands to set up whaling stations. Today, whaling is at best controversial, and is now illegal in many parts of the world. It’s been banned internationally since 1986, although not all countries observe this. But it was huge in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and with overfishing decimating whale populations further north, the untouched Antarctic became compelling. In fact, exploiting whale and seal populations was the first major reason people went to Antarctica at all. It wasn’t until much later that we began going to explore for exploration’s sake, rather than for profit.

Thankfully, though, the practice of whaling did almost end completely, and plundering the continent is no longer the reason for human habitation there. Broadly, Antarctica is today split into different sections, designated to various countries to use for scientific research. Disturbing the environment in any way is not really allowed anymore, nor is using Antarctica for military purposes. The biggest settlement, then, is McMurdo Station, a science base operated by the United States – although, interestingly, the US doesn’t actually claim any territory on the continent. In summer, when McMurdo is most populous, there are around 1,000 residents; being allowed to live there is often a career highlight and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the researchers selected to go. But Antarctica still isn’t entirely free of commercial enterprise, either;  there are for-profit Antarctic cruise companies, for example, and some even make landfall and allow paying tourists onto the land itself, albeit with strict rules about what they can and can’t do. Some even visit those eerie, abandoned whaling stations that were one a hub of activity. Evidently, then, Antarctica is a unique and intriguing destination, and in many ways a desirable one - although it isn’t accessible to many. 

Nevertheless, a few people have lived on Antarctica for an extraordinarily long time. A British explorer named Ken Blaiklock, for instance, spent 14 years there, though not consecutively. With current technology, the landscape for living in Antarctica is very different from how it was for those whalers of yesteryear. They lived there before even the invention of aviation, meaning that the only way to get back was via long and treacherous voyages on ships - leaving them even more isolated. Also, while there’s now electricity powering the outposts, and most even have the internet, those are relatively new developments - not so long ago, nothing like that existed. Contemporary Antarctic locales are at the forefront of satellite internet, too, which doesn’t require the installation of complex infrastructure, like cables. And so, slowly but surely, modern communities are growing on Antarctica, albeit communities that are carefully operated and managed. So, does this mean that more will follow?

For many, humans likely wouldn’t migrate this far south en masse unless they were faced with climate disaster - at which point, Antarctica perhaps looks a good option. With the Arctic far smaller by comparison and made up primarily of ice, Antarctica is a full landmass with ice only on top. If the planet were to get too hot and we needed to live somewhere cold, then Antarctica might even be the only option - although not every model arrives at this particular conclusion. That said, in a reality where Antarctic migration was necessary, then the protection of its unique wilderness would likely, suddenly come second to ensuring our species survives. 

But, nevermind the reasons for it, whether a sizable number of people were ever enticed to Antarctica on another quest or forced there due to climate change, what might life be like down there for an advanced civilization like our own? One built by humans for humans, but in the coldest place on Earth?

Well, while we often associate urban cities as being the antithesis of nature and inherently destructive to the environment, it doesn’t actually need to be that way. There are many movements to build sustainable (or green) cities, already ongoing all across the world. It’s a major goal of the United Nations. These cities aim to minimize how much they disturb the environment they’re constructed within… albeit often retroactively, as it wasn’t necessarily how they were originally designed and built. However, we do know that it is possible for urbanization to meet nature and not ruin it all. Before the industrial revolution, many human settlements existed alongside nature without affecting it too much. And, in the future, we perhaps could feasibly do this in Antarctica. What’s more, with no retrospective action needed, because we would be building Antarctic infrastructure mostly from scratch. This would offer the perfect opportunity to invest in green solutions – and, indeed, wind turbines do already exist on the continent to power its outposts. Antarctica could also be a great place for solar energy, though, as the extreme days for half of the year would enable energy stockpiling in large reserves and batteries, to help in the long, dark winters. Meanwhile, those wind turbines would continue to work year-round. Add in tidal generators along the lengthy Antarctic coastline, and the prospects look even better. In fact, Princess Elisabeth Station, an outpost built by Belgium in 2009, is already a zero-emission installation, making use of wind and solar power and leading by example. 

It could be, then, that a long-term human presence wouldn’t automatically mean terrible things would happen to the continent. But how would the people themselves adapt to living there? For one, extreme isolation might be a problem… but, then again, if you were part of a large enough settlement, with plenty of people around you, it might not be so bad. Especially with internet access to the rest of the world - assuming that there was a rest of the world after whatever it was that led to the construction of our city in Antarctica! But then there is the other big factor: the temperature. The coldest recorded temperature in Antarctica is −128.6 °F - pretty chilly. Mind you, that was well inland; the average temperature on the coast is around 14.0 °F. Still cold, but not insane. And, of course, for thousands of years, humans have lived in extremely cold places, like the far north of Canada, Greenland, Siberia, and Scandinavia. Societies in these cold places have even thrived, like the Vikings, living in close communities and wearing heavy clothes to protect against the cold. 

Humans are adaptable creatures, and it only takes a few weeks for us to acclimatize to cold temperatures. Many scientists who have lived on Antarctica, for example, get so used to it that they don’t even wear the huge coats that most of us imagine must be necessary. So the cold perhaps WOULD eventually start to feel much more manageable.That doesn’t mean that - in this alternate, Antarctic-centric world - we wouldn’t still all need to be careful, however, particularly while outside, and especially during the winter. Elsewhere, some early Antarctic explorers reportedly acclimatized in more extreme ways, through drastic measures like throwing buckets of icy, Antarctic water all over themselves, thereby exposing them to the worst of the cold and getting them used to it faster. That was around a hundred years ago, though. We’d likely at least have central heating and reliable buildings in this hypothesized future, so perhaps it needn’t be quite such a shock.

Finally, though, food would also be tricky. We wouldn’t want to revert to the early days of whaling, because that wouldn’t represent a truly sustainable life on the continent. Meanwhile, at present you’re not even allowed to TOUCH the penguins if you visit Antarctica, and have to be as considerate to them as possible, so people definitely won’t approve of you trying to eat them. Without relying on shipping large quantities of food from other parts of the world, then - which also wouldn’t be especially eco-friendly - we’d likely have to resort to methods similar to what we’re planning to use in space exploration. Things like greenhouses and large hydroponics labs would be required to manufacture large amounts of food. It could also be a predominantly vegetarian or even vegan society, since it wouldn’t be ideal to bring livestock down to Antarctica and disrupt its ecosystem that way, either - by introducing invasive species like cows, chickens, and pigs. By this point in the future, maybe we’ll have mastered growing tasty, cultured meat in labs. We’d certainly need to be well skilled in growing fruits and vegetables in climate-controlled buildings. But if it’s seemingly possible to do all that on the likes of Mars or the moon, then it’s absolutely possible to do it on Antarctica, too.  Astronaut food, here we come!

What do YOU think? Should humanity use all its knowledge to build a huge, eco-friendly city on Antarctica? Will it ever need to?

In the end, keeping Antarctica pristine for scientific and environmental research is probably going to continue to be the status quo, and for good reason. But, it IS possible to live there, and doing so could even prove to be the first step towards leaving Earth entirely - so alien is our southernmost land. And that’s what would happen if a future civilization were to live on Antarctica.