Contents

Talk:Timeline of the far future: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:45, 21 June 2023

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Timeline of the far future article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help. Assume good faith Be polite and avoid personal attacks Be welcoming to newcomers Seek dispute resolution if needed Article policies Neutral point of view No original research Verifiability

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5Auto-archiving period: 90 days

	Timeline of the far future is a featured list, which means it has been identified as one of the best lists produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured list on November 10, 2014.
Article milestones Date Process Result August 21, 2011 Featured list candidate Not promoted October 10, 2011 Peer review Reviewed January 15, 2012 Featured list candidate Not promoted August 18, 2012 Featured list candidate Promoted Current status: Featured list

This article is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Template:Vital article Astronomy FL‑class Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Astronomy, which collaborates on articles related to Astronomy on Wikipedia.AstronomyWikipedia:WikiProject AstronomyTemplate:WikiProject AstronomyAstronomy articles FL This article has been rated as FL-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. Physics FL‑class Mid‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Physics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Physics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PhysicsWikipedia:WikiProject PhysicsTemplate:WikiProject Physicsphysics articles FL This article has been rated as FL-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. Time FL‑class High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Time, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Time on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.TimeWikipedia:WikiProject TimeTemplate:WikiProject TimeTime articles FL This article has been rated as FL-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Geology FL‑class Mid‑importance Talk:Timeline of the far future is part of WikiProject Geology, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use geology resource. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information.GeologyWikipedia:WikiProject GeologyTemplate:WikiProject GeologyGeology articles FL This article has been rated as FL-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. Astronomy: Solar System Unassessed This article is within the scope of WikiProject Astronomy, which collaborates on articles related to Astronomy on Wikipedia.AstronomyWikipedia:WikiProject AstronomyTemplate:WikiProject AstronomyAstronomy articles ??? This article has not yet received a rating on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by Solar System task force. Statistics FL‑class Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Statistics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of statistics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.StatisticsWikipedia:WikiProject StatisticsTemplate:WikiProject StatisticsStatistics articles FL This article has been rated as FL-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale. Futures studies FL‑class Top‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Futures studies, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Futures studies on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Futures studiesWikipedia:WikiProject Futures studiesTemplate:WikiProject Futures studiesfutures studies articles FL This article has been rated as FL-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the importance scale. Lists FL‑class High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Lists, an attempt to structure and organize all list pages on Wikipedia. If you wish to help, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.ListsWikipedia:WikiProject ListsTemplate:WikiProject ListsList articles FL This article has been rated as FL-class on the project's quality scale. High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Extinction FL‑class High‑importance This article is a part of WikiProject Extinction, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative, comprehensive and easy-to-use resource on extinction and extinct organisms. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit this article, or visit the project page for more information.ExtinctionWikipedia:WikiProject ExtinctionTemplate:WikiProject ExtinctionExtinction articles FL This article has been rated as FL-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. High This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale.

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations: Frauenfelder, Mark (25 August 2017). "Wikipedia's mindblowing timeline of the far future". Boingboing. Retrieved 9 September 2017. Ellie Bate (November 22, 2017). "What Totally Fascinating Wikipedia Pages Have Kept You Reading All Night?". BuzzFeed.

While you may consider this article depressing or disturbing, please remember this page is only for discussing improvements to the article. Wikipedia is not censored, but articles do have to meet certain standards.

The contents of the Exasecond and longer page were merged into Timeline of the far future. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history.

The contents of the 11th millennium and beyond page were merged into Timeline of the far future. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history.

Daily pageviews of this article A graph should have been displayed here but graphs are temporarily disabled. Until they are enabled again, visit the interactive graph at pageviews.wmcloud.org

I've noticed that this timeline is split into multiple timelines based on subject. The exact order of events, therefore, is screwed up. Because there are symbols indicating subject already, I would recommend a single timeline, and perhaps, simply dating events by the year they happen. (The year 1,000,000,000, for example, is normally considered 1,000,000,000 years from now, so most dates will only have a "c." put at the left of them) I'm suggesting this because, if I did it myself, it would be reverted because I'm an IP. 24.59.254.203 (talk) 18:37, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

You wouldn't necessarily be reverted because you're an IP but because this change would be considered controversial, so thanks for bringing it up on the talk page first. ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 18:40, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, that was a good idea. 24.59.254.203 (talk) 18:44, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Also, I wouldn't see it anyway, due to Pending Changes Protection. 24.59.254.203 (talk) 18:42, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

If you were logged in with an account there's a preference that allows you to see the most recent edit to a page regardless of it having pending changes. ― Blaze Wolf^Talk_{Blaze Wolf#6545} 18:45, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The list is chronological (it is definitely not linear). It's just that topics tend to cluster as they become more relevant: you can't have biology when there is no life; you can't have geology when there is no Earth, and you can't have astronomy when there are no stars. Serendi^podous 20:10, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

And history when there are no humans. But the fact is, some events appear below later events. I'm just saying we should try and fix this.

24.59.254.203 (talk) 21:00, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I can't see any.Serendi^podous 21:17, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The humanity list goes from 10,000 to 1,000,000,000, and is followed by the space list which goes from 3000 to 100,000,000,000,000,000.

24.59.254.203 (talk) 22:38, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah. They're different lists. I suppose this page would be better named "Timelines of the far future" if that bothers you so much. Serendi^podous 23:40, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

• I vaguely remember this list having been fully linear in the past. I have no clue whether or not that would be an improvement. I can say that some of the categories feel very arbitrary right now. In particular "Technological projects" and "Human constructs" (both contain lifespans of things humans made), and the larger "Humanity." If we were to have a split with human-centered lists, perhaps the only logical split would be between "things that will almost certainly happen" vs "long projects humans might do"; that distinction in certainty is more meaningful than the distinctions we have in there right now. I will note that both the first long list and the humanity lists have a bunch of "thing is eroded away completely" on it. Recovery of the coral reef should maybe even be under "humanity" too? The longer I look at what is categorized where, the weirder it gets. ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 07:30, 25 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]
• On a larger point, one advantage of just putting everything in one big list, is that you get a better sense of the scale of different subjects. I like getting a feel for where humanity's longest impacts fit within Big History, and would argue this is one of the most interesting aspects of this list. ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 07:30, 25 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I can see most of the smaller lists (the half lives of useful radioactive elements probably not) merged but what would uou call such a list? Serendi^podous 10:52, 25 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Well, it all falls under "the Earth, the Solar System, and the Universe"! – But it can be reasonable to keep human-related and non-human-related lists split. The destinction between the two just gets really unclear. Alternatively, if you want a split list, you could split it between more certain and less certain events. ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 11:07, 25 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

How can you distinguish between more or less certain? And no I do not think that combining the human world with the natural one makes sense. It would be like incorporating the timeline of McDonalds into the timeline of the evolution of the cow. Serendi^podous 16:46, 25 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

With "less certain", I specifically intended to refer to human plans for the far future. Completion of long-term construction projects, opening of time capsules, etc. You're right, though, those lines do get too blurry: "Time required to terraform Mars with an oxygen-rich breathable atmosphere" and "Estimated time by which humanity could colonize our Milky Way" are more math/physics things. ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 08:25, 27 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I often have trouble locating the events about the erosion of Giza and Mt. Rushmore, because they're not lumped with similar geological events for natural features. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 08:49, 27 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I've revised it. Serendi^podous 14:13, 27 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I like this change; I think it looks very good :) ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 09:14, 28 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Me too. I am also the IP that first suggested this. (I moved to a new location, and thus, a new address.) 24.59.115.147 (talk) 19:38, 20 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hey People I am Ben you crazily wanted to merge all human histories and forget the nuclear stuff people should focus on nuclear power and doing this will save the enviroemnt so please revert the history to my old revision — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:CD:4101:5520:7875:5EB7:7A08:44B1 (talk) 20:38, 5 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Highlighting nuclear as a separate category when everything else goes into one of two big lists would probably be WP:UNDUE; we can't "focus" on nuclear power on this page out of proportion to its prominence in mainstream sources that talk about the far future. Rolf H Nelson (talk) 20:47, 6 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

We can keep nuclear content if we move it into one the big lists; are there specific items that you want to save from the nuclear list, or are you asking to save the whole list? Rolf H Nelson (talk) 20:47, 6 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I added a link to List of radioactive nuclides by half-life Serendi^podous 10:06, 11 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

At 2.8 billion years, the list states that this is the "High estimate until all remaining life goes extinct.". I suggest a change to "High estimate until all remaining Earth life goes extinct.". סשס Grimmchild. He/him, probably 10:36, 18 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Good point. Serendi^podous 11:12, 18 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Been wondering how to break this list up for a while. I'm a little wary of this because I had to invent the term "solar era" to prevent the list from becoming lopsided. Let me know what you think. Serendi^podous 18:17, 20 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

"Solar Era" is really the same as "Stelliferous Era" (which we're currently in). If it really needs to be broken up I would just make it "Stelliferous Era (<10 billion years from now)" and "Stelliferous Era (>10 billion years from now)". –CWenger (^ • @) 18:48, 20 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

This represents the time by which the event will most probably have happened. It may occur randomly at any time from the present.

Define "most probably". The most meaningful figure, I think, would be the present half-life. —Tamfang (talk) 02:42, 17 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

can someone add List of numbers together with "For other uses, see[...]"? several numbers redirect here. I would add myself but I can't understand how exactly. Xdtp (talk) 17:35, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Xdtp: I'm not sure if that would really fit there. The other links are also articles about timelines or eras. Can you imagine a scenario when somebody would search for a number, get redirected here, and instead want to go to List of numbers?–CWenger (^ • @) 18:03, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's because some numbers don't have an article for themselves (i.e. 7000 and 7,000 have, but 7,777or7777). List of numbers is just as useful as list of years. Xdtp (talk) 18:08, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

To be honest I think those redirects should be deleted, because I can't see anybody typing that number and wanting to be redirected here. And then clicking a link to go to List of numbersorList of years instead. But if you really want to add it, in visual editing mode click on the hatnote, then click the edit button on the template popup. Check the first number checkbox not already checked on the side, and then enter the link you want added (without square brackets). In source editing mode, you just add the link you want added (again, without square brackets) after a vertical pipe (|). –CWenger (^ • @) 18:27, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

There are also several random number redirects here: 5670; 3646; 3647; 3648; 3003; 3004; 3007; 3009; 3467; 8001; 7546; 5964; 7603; 6009; 3650; 8009; 3101; 3201; 3401; 3501; 3601; 3901; 3113; 3114; 3115; 3116; 3117; 3013; 3014; 3118; 3121 (year); 3122; 3123; 3124; 3127; 3126; 3128; 3161; 3162; 3163; 3164; 3165; 3166; 3167; 3168; 3169; 3171; 3172; 3173; 3174; 3175; 3176; 3177; 3178; 3179; 3181; 3182; 3184; 3185; 3186. The reason I posted it here is that I wanted to edit this template:

Several terms like "4th millennium" redirect here. For other uses, see Timeline of prehistory and Epoch § Pre-modern eras.

. Please see the source code, it's complicated, to add a comma and link to list of numbers Xdtp (talk) 18:46, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Change the template code to

{{redirect-several|dab=no|text=like "4th millennium"|Timeline of prehistory|Epoch#Pre-modern eras{{!}}Epoch § Pre-modern eras|List of numbers}}

which generates

Several terms like "4th millennium" redirect here. For other uses, see Timeline of prehistory, Epoch § Pre-modern eras, and List of numbers.

–CWenger (^ • @) 19:04, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks a lot. It worked. Xdtp (talk) 19:17, 1 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Understanding of this article's contents and their implications can directly harm the reader. In Bostrom's categorization^[1], it is an attention hazard, meaning that while all information is public, amalgamating and drawing attention to it can present a hazard. Personally, understanding of this subject, largely from this article, has resulted in years of debilitating depression, complete destruction of my ethical system, and required multiple major philosophical shifts over years to even start to overcome. (I have a Ph.D. in particle physics; the amalgamation in this article is the most severe and potent presentation I know of.) If the reasons for this hazard are not clear to you, and you don't mind risking your own sanity, please direct message me about it rather than posting publicly. In any case, this article should not be promoted, featured, or otherwise have attention drawn to it. Pulu (talk) 13:58, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think we have any guidelines on how to treat infohazards. It wasn't a big aspect of the Roko's basilisk conversation either, and I don't think we have any guidelines on seizure-inducing imagery. I would be interested to read up on such thing. I think it all just falls under WP:NOTCENSORED. Either way, as someone who learned about the heat death of the universe around age 10, this isn't the most traumatic infohazard on the website. ~Maplestrip/Mable (chat) 14:19, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I used to provide a link to a copy of The Last Question to assuage such existential vertigo, but it got deleted because of copyright. Serendi^podous 20:59, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Serendipodous it does not scare me, these things are just theories, you know 92.24.83.192 (talk) 15:45, 8 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Pulu there are no policies or guidelines on infohazard 92.24.83.192 (talk) 15:49, 8 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I had to read the article for info hazards and I didn't see any. Your reaction is your own. I hope you got the support you needed. Personally the information here wouldn't change my ethical system or outlook on the world. If your ethical system is predicated on humans or the Earth existing literally forever, then you probably _should_ rethink it. Nothing lasts forever. Curiouskiwicat (talk) 14:45, 21 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]