Timeline of the far future

While the future cannot be predicted with certainty, present understanding in various scientific fields allows for the prediction of some far-future events, if only in the broadest outline.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] These fields include astrophysics, which studies how planets and stars form, interact, and die; particle physics, which has revealed how matter behaves at the smallest scales; evolutionary biology, which studies how life evolves over time; plate tectonics, which shows how continents shift over millennia; and sociology, which examines how human societies and cultures evolve.

These timelines begin at the start of the 4th millennium in 3001 CE, and continue until the furthest and most remote reaches of future time. They include alternative future events that address unresolved scientific questions, such as whether humans will become extinct, whether the Earth survives when the Sun expands to become a red giant and whether proton decay will be the eventual end of all matter in the Universe.

^ Overbye, Dennis (2 May 2023). "Who Will Have the Last Word on the Universe? – Modern science suggests that we and all our achievements and memories are destined to vanish like a dream. Is that sad or good?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
^ "Deep Time Reckoning". MIT Press. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
^ Rescher, Nicholas (1998). Predicting the future: An introduction to the theory of forecasting. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0791435533.
^ Adams, Fred C.; Laughlin, Gregory (1 April 1997). "A dying universe: the long-term fate and evolution of astrophysical objects" (PDF). Reviews of Modern Physics. 69 (2): 337–372. arXiv:astro-ph/9701131. Bibcode:1997RvMP...69..337A. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.69.337. S2CID 12173790. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2021.

[NYT-20230502-1] Overbye, Dennis (2 May 2023). "Who Will Have the Last Word on the Universe? – Modern science suggests that we and all our achievements and memories are destined to vanish like a dream. Is that sad or good?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.

[2] "Deep Time Reckoning". MIT Press. Retrieved 14 August 2022.

[3] Rescher, Nicholas (1998). Predicting the future: An introduction to the theory of forecasting. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0791435533.

[4] Adams, Fred C.; Laughlin, Gregory (1 April 1997). "A dying universe: the long-term fate and evolution of astrophysical objects" (PDF). Reviews of Modern Physics. 69 (2): 337–372. arXiv:astro-ph/9701131. Bibcode:1997RvMP...69..337A. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.69.337. S2CID 12173790. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2021.

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