Eschatology

== Analogies in science and philosophy ==
[[File:Solar Life Cycle.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.75|A diagram showing the life cycle of the [[Sun]]]]
{{Main|Global catastrophic risk}}

Researchers in [[futures studies]] and [[transhumanists]] investigate how the accelerating rate of scientific progress may lead to a "[[technological singularity]]" in the future that would profoundly and unpredictably change the course of human history, and result in ''Homo sapiens'' no longer being the dominant life form on Earth.<ref name="agi-conf">[[Anders Sandberg|Sandberg, Anders]]. [http://agi-conf.org/2010/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/agi10singmodels2.pdf An overview of models of technological singularity]</ref><ref name="hplusmagazine">{{cite web |url=http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/nano/singularity-nanotech-or-ai |title=h+ Magazine &#124; Covering technological, scientific, and cultural trends that are changing human beings in fundamental ways |publisher=Hplusmagazine.com |access-date=2011-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223170126/http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/nano/singularity-nanotech-or-ai |archive-date=2010-12-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{synthesis inline|reason=sources do not appear to have the word "Eschatology" in them|date=September 2016}}

Occasionally the term "physical eschatology" is applied to the long-term predictions of astrophysics about the [[future of Earth]] and [[ultimate fate of the universe]].<ref>Ćirković, Milan M. "Resource letter: PEs-1: physical eschatology." American Journal of Physics 71.2 (2003): 122–133.</ref><ref>Baum, Seth D. "Is humanity doomed? Insights from astrobiology." Sustainability 2.2 (2010): 591–603.</ref> The [[Sun#Life phases|Sun]] will turn into a [[red giant]] in approximately 6 billion years.  Life on Earth will become impossible due to a rise in temperature long before the planet is possibly actually swallowed up by the Sun or left charred.<ref name="zeilik">{{Cite book |last1=Zeilik |first1=M.A. |last2=Gregory |first2=S.A.|title=Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics |edition=4th |page=322 |publisher=Saunders College Publishing |year=1998 |isbn=0-03-006228-4}}</ref> Even later, the Sun will become a [[white dwarf]].