Futures

Abstract

Life may not progress, but it expands. Like an obsessive adult whose personality was formed in a forgotten childhood, humanity can be understood only as we make sense of our past. Earth life will have to evolve to live on other planets, or even, perhaps around other suns. And if as humans we survive, we will certainly change, becoming part of the future “supercosm”—the hypothetical continued expansion of life from Earth into the solar system and beyond. The huge increase in area and resources will unleash life’s potential: the supercosm will be as different from Tokyo as Washington DC is from a bacterium.