7 Best-Case Scenarios for the Future of Humanity Most science fictional and futurist visions of the future tend towards the negative -- and for good reason. Our environment is a mess, we have a nasty tendency to misuse technologies, and we're becoming increasingly capable of destroying ourselves. But civilizational demise is by no means guaranteed. Should we find a way to manage the risks and avoid dystopic outcomes, our far future looks astonishingly bright. Here are seven best-case scenarios for the future of humanity. Before we get started it's worth noting that many of the scenarios listed here are not mutually exclusive. If things go really well, our civilization will continue to evolve and diversify, leading to many different types of futures. 1. Status quo While this is hardly the most exciting outcome for humanity, it is still an outcome. Given the dire warnings of Sir Martin Rees , Nick Bostrom , Stephen Hawking , and many others, we may not be around to see the next century. Our ongoing survival -- even if it's under our current state of technological development -- could be considered a positive outcome. Many have suggested that we've already reached our pinnacle as a species. Back in 1992, political scientist Francis Fukuyama wrote The End of History and the Last Man in which he argued that our current political, technological, and economic mode was the final stop on our journey. He was wrong, of course; Fukuyama's book will forever be remembered as a neoconservative's