The Third Millennium: A History of the World AD 2000–3000
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| Author | Brian Stableford and David Langford |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | A fictional historical account, from the perspective of the year 3000, |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | 1985 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | 978-0283992117 |
The Third Millennium: A History of the World AD 2000-3000 is a 1985 book by Brian Stableford and David Langford. It is a fictional historical account, from the perspective of the year 3000, giving a future history of humanity and its technological and sociological developments.
Plot
Some of the developments mentioned include:
- Implementation of fusion power.
- Genetic engineering, including life extension and transhumanism as some humans become engineered to live in extreme environments such as cold, zero-g, and even water-breathing humans for aquatic communities.
- Geopolitical events such as war, famine, pestilence, and terrorism (as well as the "Sinking of Japan" by an earthquake).
- Bioengineered foods including whimiscal items such as the Jack Spratt Grass Chop, photosynthetic suits grafted to human skin meant to provide a means of sustinance without eating.
- Self-driving automobiles (the "Tiger-Dream Machine" from Ford Autocar).
- L5 (Lagrange Point) space colonies such as those proposed by scientist Gerard K. O'Neill.
- Asteroid mining (such as the "Cracking of Ceres").
- Artificial intelligence.
- Extreme cosmetic body modification such as skin with pockets, flashing irises, fur, claws, and fingernails which function as timepieces.
- Sublight starships such as the Bussard Ramjet.
- Terraforming.
- Interstellar colonization, and eventual extraterrestrial contact.
As this book was written in the 1980s, some predictions for the near future were off - for example, the Soviet Union was predicted to exist as late as the year 2800.
Later Stableford works set in the same history
Stableford commented in a 2001 interview that a number of his stories were set in updated versions of the future history imagined in The Third Millennium, such as the story ...And He Not Busy Being Born, the novellas Les Fleurs du Mall, Inherit the Earth, and Mortimer Gray's History of Death, as well as the novels of his Emortality series, four of which were expanded versions of the previously-mentioned stories.