Deep Future

by Stephen Baxter

DEEP FUTURE takes you on dazzling ride to the limits of time and space. Along the way Stephen Baxter looks at our place in the universe, considers the possibility that we are in fact alone, and wonders whether that fact gives us the right to inherit everything. He also looks at how we might strive to overcome the limitations of the physical universe and win the deepest future. Stephen Baxter has brought his trademark narrative flair and imaginative brilliance to the latest ideas in physics and cosmology and produced a breathtaking guide to our possible futures.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Stephen Baxter is a trained engineer with degrees from Cambridge (mathematics) and Southampton Universities (doctorate in aeroengineering research). Baxter is the winner of the British Science Fiction Award and the Locus Award, as well as being a nominee for an Arthur C. Clarke Award, most recently for Manifold: Time. His novel Voyage won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History Novel of the Year; he also won the John W. Campbell Award and the Philip K. Dick Award for his novel The Time Ships. He is currently working on his next novel, a collaboration with Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Mr. Baxter lives in Prestwood, England.

Reviews

[Greg Goodale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baxter's little futurology book skips ahead millennia to look at key problems that will face humanity in our deep future, such as the dying of our sun, interstellar colonisation and the depletion of the energy resources of our universe.
This book is more than ten years old now, and I suppose those who hang out on nerdy forums will be way ahead of the curve on these ideas. For me, this is still an eye-opening read with ideas communicated with a wonderful economy and clarity. If you have ever read the convoluted ramblings of Raymond Kurzweil, Baxter is the opposite of that.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stephen Baxter should stick to fiction.

"Deep Future" is Baxter's attempt, from the perspective of the year 2001, to predict possible futures for the human race, as far out as the heat death of the universe. And despite his incredible talents as a captivating author of speculative fiction, he fails miserably in his role as a prophet. Granted, many of the scenarios he offers up are scientifically plausible, and would make -- indeed, have made -- wonderful fodder for far-future fiction. But in trying to predict the actual future of our species, I think it is fair to hold the author to a higher standard. Instead of concerning himself with the possible future of the human race millions, even billions, of years into the future, Baxter would have been better served by focusing on the perils of the immediate future, perils which should have been self-evident to him at the time of writing.

Baxter does, in fact, suggest at more than one point in this book that the human race could experience extinction for any number of reasons, even within the relatively near future. But his insistence on depicting us as a resilient, scrappy, can-do sort of race comes off, in 2020, as quaint and naive. To say this collection of short essays is a disappointment would be an understatement: Baxter exemplifies the sort of complacency which has prevented us from taking any meaningful, significant action in the ensuing two decades to avert disaster. He should probably have cut this book down to about 50 to 80 pages and ended it with a dire warning, perhaps a statement such as: "While there are many plausible scenarios for the long-term survival of the species, they all assume that we'll live out the next century without destroying ourselves, a premise which is, itself, increasingly dubious." Instead he just merrily plows through any such concerns with nothing more than a perfunctory nod, and assumes that we will overcome all obstacles, even ourselves.

This cuts to the heart of the arrogance which is often embodied, unwittingly, by scientists, especially those who make it their business to popularize science. They like to belittle -- for example -- religion as the root cause of most of our problems. Yet without science there would be no climate change, no overpopulation, no nuclear weapons. In short, Baxter, like so many others before and since, wants to divorce science from human nature. The results are predictably meager, and this book has become tragically, ludicrously, dated in a matter of less than 20 years. It would be heartening to see him publish a retraction.

Don't get me wrong: I generally really love Stephen Baxter's work. He has written some of my very favorite science fiction books. But this is laughably weak. Absolutely pathetic.

[Bill Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A view of the future of life on Earth from 2000, by a well known Science Fiction Writer. This takes us from the near future of 2100, in which politics has been assumed to remain relatively stable, and the European Union survives to become a significant world power, up to the far future when the universe eventually dies and becomes a cold dark void. Interesting!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. This book was pretty interesting. It's all you ever wanted to know about the future of our Universe, and more. I actually liked that the first few chapters were more focused on our past and what accomplishments we've completed so far. Of course the inevitable 'colonizing' space argument and the question of "Are we alone?" comes up often.

I believe that Baxter is ordinarily a science-fiction writer, so it was curious that he was able to pull off such a great non-fiction book. I actually loved his writing. He was descriptive and, surprisingly, lyrical--as lyrical as one can get when writing a science book. I also really loved the quotes that previewed each chapter and thought they were well chosen, and beautiful.

You will like this book if you're interested in science, it gets a bit technical in some parts and, while I wished I could say I was able to follow all the science in this book, I would be lying. There is something fascinating, however, about our drive--as a species--to survive and the solidarity that this commonality brings to all our cultures.

I have a copy if you want to borrow. It was actually hard to find. I found it in England for 50 cents (or whatever they call it there--it was about one US dollar, plus shipping).

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book for nerds, and for boys who want to write science fiction novels. That's because it tells you what spaceships your space-heroes can fly around space in, and it tells you other stuff like, "We used to think teleportation was impossible...But it may be there is a way. Quantum mechanics allows for the long-range correlation of particles. Once they've been in contact, they're never truly separated, their future evolution commingled. This is called 'Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlation.'"

[Nadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look into possible futures, explored starting from that science knows or can speculate today. As far as the truly deep future is concerned, the science gives way to rather philosophical speculations on what the universe may become (billions of billions of billion years into the future) and on what form the human may still take by that time. A book to keep and read again in twenty years perhaps, to see how the near future unfolded (against what Baxter thought might happen). Always assuming, of course, we are lucky enough and smart enough to still be around.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sort of expected more than a summary of existing ideas and themes, so I was disappointed.