Why this generation is possibly last one of its kind.

Human beings came into the picture of Earth millions of billions of years later after Earth took a solid form. Ever since this two-legged creature with his super-efficient brain came into existence, he/she had an upper hand over other animals. Be it twice or thrice it’s size.

The evaluation happened at a very slow rate over the years. But, ever since human has developed science especially medical science, he/she had paced the evaluation process. It was around 3-6 million years ago when human stood upright but now it is like everyday humans are being changed or developed. It is estimated that coming generations will be very less like us and here is why it is speculated.

1. Genetic Engineering.

When we think and talk about future, the first thing that comes to our mind is genetic engineering. Believe it or not, we are in a transitional period. Day by day Genetic Engineers are coming up with new, better and sophisticated technology which is going to shape the future. It was not until a decade back when the concept of Genetic Engineering was banished but in recent years, research have developed a revolution called CRIPR that has re-established this dream. The diseases which have no cure now may become non bothering. It is very possible that in coming years humans could customize themselves and their babies. There are infinite possibilities of how Genetic Engineering could be used.

2. Pandemic.

It is not unusual now to list pandemic as one of the main game changers in humankind. We have seen with the Sars-Covid-2 that how pandemic can affect the world. If it makes you feel any less worried, let me tell you that the scientists and researchers had already speculated from three to five years that a pandemic, a global pandemic could strike the world. And several organizations were already prepared for it, yet be it government negligence or something else, it has affected over 41 million people worldwide.

The thing that scares the most is that over 1.7 million unknown viruses are out there in the wild which humans have no idea about. If one, one teeny-tiny virus can affect the world like that, God forbid if some other virus comes into play, then humans will have no answer to that.

3. Reality.

One of the most horrifying though I had when I was a child was after watching a film ‘Matrix'. Are we sure we are not in the matrix? Well, who am I to judge. But I can say this with certainty that our reality has been change and it is not what it was like a decade ago. Life was much simpler back then, wasn’t it? Now, we are all trapped in this invisible world wide web. Sure, history manipulation is there from a long time. Kings have always used history to bring them into good light. Even today, every country has their own version of history.

We now have a thin line between reality and augmented reality. What might change would be versions of reality of individual. And it has surely started with new and developed AIs and MR and Virtual reality.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/07/17/the -important -risks -and -dangers -of virtual -and -augmented -reality/

4. Artificial Intelligence.

When we talk about the adverse effect of artificial intelligence, we often picture several robots making colons of themselves to take control over our lovely planet. That might not happen in near future, but the effects of AI can be seen now. Think of it this way, an AI is basically a machine learning and what it learns is, well YOU. Everyone has smartphones now a days, they are connected to the whole world with that device. What humans don’t realize is the complex networking and huge servers that store and transport this enormous amount of data every second. You went to England for a little holiday and everyone knows it, by everyone I mean everyone. Google to Facebook to Microsoft everyone. And next thing you know is your Facebook feed is filled with advertisements of hotels in England without you even asking for it.

Harmful is not that AI learn about you, potential harm is that AI already knows about you so much that it can change your behaviour, your beliefs or maybe YOU.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ethics -and -international -affairs/article/future impact -of -artificial -intelligence -on -humans -and -human rights/2016EDC9A61F68615EBF9AFA8DE91BF8

5. Space Exploration.

This one is no bummer. Space Exploration is on the human bucket list for a long-long time. Since the last century, humans have tried to get to moon and mars in search of an alternate sustainable environment. We know that fuel on this planet is limited and the way we are using it, depletion is much nearer. It was and is highly ambitious to think of humans 'living' on another planet but we now have that kind of technology to make that possible. People like Elon Musk are planning this from a long time and are continuously working on it. It might not be very long that humans start to visit other planets.

6. Climate Change.

Okay! Let’s get this clear, Climate Change is real and is happening right now. It’s effect on the planet are not hidden and many countries are taking action to control it. It will not be a surprisingly new phenomenon but humans have definitely speed up the process. With the glaciers melting several species are affected. The habitat is slowly changing for the snowy life. And not to forget that scientists have claimed that if the glaciers melts than humans will be introduced to millions of new microorganisms including viruses which are trapped inside the snow from past millions of years. Scientists have found such 28 ancient viruses from Tibet glaciers.

With the greenhouse effect and ozone layer depletion, coming generations will have to suffer and adjust a lot with the potentially hazardous environment.

Read more here-

http://www.germanwatch.org/sites/germanwatch.org/files/20-201e%20Global%20Climate%20Risk%20Index%202020_16.pdf

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-arewaking-up

7. Energy.

The one thing which increasing rapidly since last century is energy consumption. With growth in population, globalization and changing lifestyle the demand of energy has gone up. And so has the production of it too. Due to this, the source of energy, i.e., Fuel is at depletion point.

Fuels are classified into two major category- renewable and non-renewable. Renewable sources are like sun, wind water etc. and non-renewables are coal, petroleum etc. Since the non-renewables are limited, humans are constantly in search of new efficient synthetic resource. And will always be.

Read more here-

https://www.altenergymag.com/article/2019/07/what-is-the-future-of-non-renewableresources/31346 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/renewable-energy-future-carbon-emissions/

8. Anatomy.

Mother Nature has gifted us with this extremely complex machine that keeps us alive. Over these years human body has evolved as such that it can complement the lifestyle. Our ancestors use to have tail to balance themselves when walking on four limbs, slowly it vanished as we started to walk on two legs. The diversity of human habitat has also made significant changes in human body. This process is extremely slow and happens due to necessity. But in this era body transformations are a common practice. And as the medical science progress humans might be able to change their anatomy as per convince.

https://www.bbcearth.com/blog/%3Farticle%3Dwhat-will-humans-look-like-in-a-million-years/ https://theglobepost.com/2020/01/17/gene-editing-future/

9. Mental Health.

We are not only talking about physical changes but mental also. The thinking process of humans have also changed over the years. We are in an era where for most of our tasks, even simple ones we are dependent on some kind of technology. One might say that technology has made humans lazy which is not all false. Technology should be a tool that helps. Due to this, games like Pokémon Go campaigned and encouraged players to go outside and walk. We aren’t talking about just sitting in rooms being lazy but it’s greater impact. Depression and anxiety are common in children today. Humans today think as they are fed by social media and big tech giants. And that manipulation would continue even more in future.

Read more here-

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11469-016-9684-0.pdf

https://www.zurich.com/en/knowledge/topics/global-risks/decline-in-mental-health-showsthe-human-cost-of-global-

risks#:~:text=Noting%20that%20mental%20health%20problems,on%20social%20cohesion%20a nd%20politics.

10. Socio-political Situation.

Okay, so the terms ‘technology’ has made it in almost all the points and would be in this one too. Future and technology go hand in hand. It’s is researched that over this decade as social media grew more popularity political parties have used or rather misused it as a tool for propaganda. It is seen that more and more right-wing ideologies are fed into people’s mind. Humans are becoming more and more aggressive and the extremist ideologies are corrupting human’s brain. We have seen its example all over the world from Indonesia to America to UK to India, everywhere.

Read more here-

https://ipdgc.gwu.edu/files/2019/07/Blogs-and-Bullets-IV.pdf https://www.ft.com/content/55a39e92-8357-11ea-b872-8db45d5f6714

So, to boil it down, Let’s say, future has infinite possibilities. It could be a boon to the society or could be a doom. All it depends on the choices we make now. Choices that could make it a utopia or a dystopia. We can’t say what will our future be for sure, but one thing we could say is it will be something completely different from what it is today. We are in the transitional period and might possibly be the last generation of its kind.

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