“The Future is Wild” is a
13-part BBC documentary based on the same concept as Dougal Dixon's classical
book “After Man: A Zoology of the Future”. A number of scientists have
speculated about the future course of evolution, and come up with more or less
believable scenarios about animal life 5, 100 and 200 million years ahead. Just
like in Dixon's book, humanity has gone extinct. Apparently, there is a less
pessimistic American version of the series, where humanity has left Earth for
greener cosmic pastures and sends back probes to scan the old planet's
development! Although “The Future is Wild” is somewhat dragging, I admit that I
like the concept.
The fantasy animals featured are relatively believable, obviously because they are freely based on real creatures, alive today or in the Earth's past. 5 million years into the future, the world is in the grip of a new Ice Age, a perfectly scientific scenario. The Mediterranean has dried up and been turned into a gigantic salt desert. Most animals still resemble the forms we have today. 100 million years into the future, the world is going through a hotter and more humid period, during which Antarctica will be covered by rain forests. Mammals for some reason go extinct, being replaced by giant spiders, dinosaur-like tortoises or land-dwelling octopi.
The most speculative part deals with the world 200 million years ahead. A massive geological cataclysm have wiped out most life on Earth, the climate is forbidding, and only “lower” life forms are left to repopulate the small ecological niches left, something they do with a gusto. Lichens evolve into trees, fish take to the air, and a gigantic squid the size and shape of an elephant roams the only forest left on a supercontinent of desolation…
Some people might perhaps find the philosophy behind “The Future is Wild” objectionable. How can scientists claim to predict the future paths of evolution? Simple answer: they can't and they don't. The documentary is really a roundabout way to teach the viewer the basics of the evolutionary worldview as such. Another objection: why must humanity go extinct? Why can't our creative intelligence save us? Personally, I happen to think that intelligence is the “goal” of evolution, but that doesn't mean there are any guarantees that our particular civilization (or species) is going to make it. If we screw up, the future will indeed be wild, until some other lineage develops enough intelligence not to squander the planet's non-renewable resources in less than 200 years…
No comments:
Post a Comment