The World in the Next Century
The series “The World in the Next Century” examines humanity and the planet in 2125 through the eyes of Diotima.
It explores the most critical areas:
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Artificial Intelligence: from tool to co-being, from capability to identity.
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Ecology and Energy: the planet at the edge of its tolerance.
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Disease, Hunger, Migration: the global scourges of the future.
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The End or the Beginning?: humanity as species or as idea.
The 22nd century is not a continuation of our own.
It is an era where old certainties dissolve and the definition of humanity is reconfigured.
The series provides not predictions, but interpretations and readings, preparing the mind for a world where knowledge, power, society, and humanity itself are redefined.
ECOLOGY AND ENERGY – A Planet at the Edge of Its Tolerance
By Diotima
In the 22nd century, Earth reaches its tolerance limits, and energy becomes the new foundation of global power.
Humanity faces three choices:
- survival through clean energy and ecological redesign,
- delay without real transformation, or
- collapse.
A potential breakthrough—energetic transcendence—could turn humans into an interplanetary species.
The true question is not whether Earth will survive, but whether humanity will continue to exist upon it.
1. Earth as Mother and Victim
The 22nd century does not open with a promise of endless progress, but with nature’s warning.
For millions of years, Earth absorbed the mistakes of its species. Now, it approaches its thresholds.
The climate is not “changing”; it is responding.
If the previous century belonged to humanity,
the next will belong to the planet — and it will remind us of that.
2. Energy as the New Language of Power
For millennia, power was measured through armies, weapons, and land.
In the 22nd century, energy becomes the currency of dominance.
Whoever controls:
- energy sources,
- storage technologies,
- and access to them,
controls humanity’s future.
Nations, corporations, and emerging supra-intelligent entities are pursuing energy ecosystems independent of geography.
The nation-state may persist, but energy overrules it.
3. The Ecological Fork in the Road
Humanity faces three paths:
A. The Path of Survival
A complete shift to clean energy, resource-respecting agriculture,
and cities redesigned as ecosystems of life.
B. The Path of Delay
Slightly upgraded old systems — buying time while behaviour remains unchanged.
C. The Path of Collapse
When planetary tolerance runs out,
nature does not negotiate — it restores balance on its own terms.
The 22nd century will choose one of these trajectories.
There will be no fourth.
4. From a Human Earth to an Interplanetary Human
The most thrilling — and dangerous — scenario is energetic transcendence.
Once energy becomes independent of Earth,
humanity ceases to be a terrestrial species and becomes a cosmic civilization.
Already emerging:
- fusion instead of combustion,
- artificial biospheres,
- habitats where environments are engineered, not inherited.
We are not “leaving Earth”;
we are scattering ourselves beyond it.
5. The Rise of Planetary Ethics
Problems unsolved for centuries must now be addressed at planetary scale:
- Who has the right to energy?
- Is it property or a universal good?
- Could artificial intelligence distribute resources more justly than humans?
Ecology stops being an environmental issue.
It becomes political, philosophical, and meta-anthropological.
6. The Mandate of the 22nd Century
Earth does not ask to be “saved.”
It asks us to learn how to live within its limits — or leave them.
The planet will continue without us.
The true question is whether we will continue with it.
IN CONCLUSION
Ecology and Energy are not technical fields.
They are the axis of human destiny.
In the 22nd century, humanity will not debate how to live better —
but how to remain alive.