Scenario: Beyond Earth Beyond Human

Beyond Earth/Beyond Human • Far-future pessimistic scenario

By 2070, climate change has ravaged the earth. Mitigation strategies pursued decades earlier did not prevent the worst outcomes, but they did delay the inevitable destruction. By 2040, governments across the globe concluded climate change had reached the point of no return. They began a global collaboration to prepare the world’s population for space travel.

While highly controversial, scientists pursued the necessary gene editing experiments. Volunteers underwent experimental procedures to acclimate the human body for life on other planets. Early edits aimed to make humans resistant to radiation, to counteract the deleterious effects of zero gravity, making them more durable for long-distance space travel. Controversy increased upon the discovery that those who received the gene edits wouldn’t venture off the planet, but rather were expected to create offspring that were space ready. An entire generation was unwittingly volunteered for emergency missions, and many began to wonder if they were truly human, or if they had evolved beyond humanity.

The global coalition began long-distance missions in 2065 in search for habitable exoplanets. Years later, most of these missions had not yet found a suitable planet for habitation. For them, hope of survival relied on additional procedures to grow synthetically engineered organs to replace those that had failed. These advanced organs raised additional existential questions for these individuals about their human identity. But as they traveled further into the depths of space, it became clear that they would soon be the only remaining representatives of Earth.