# Any decent books or films about humans in the far future **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177 "2016-02-04T21:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/1 "2016-02-04T21:49:10Z")
Most futuristic Sci fi happens a few dozen to a few hundred years in the future, and involve homo sapiens with advanced technology. Are there any good media worth looking into that talk about intelligent life thousands or millions, or billions and trillions of years from now? Or is that so far that it would basically be pointless (like asking a fly to explain the large hadron collider). Granted, I’m sure intelligent life will be beyond our comprehension someday, but I’m also sure some good writers can make up interesting stories about life as an intelligent post human. I read asimovs the last question for the first time a few months ago and have reread it a half dozen times since then because I enjoyed it so much, but it was one of the few stories that discussed life far into the future, and I think that was a reason I liked it. I’m looking for Sci fi that goes past the common trope of (biological humans with better technology) to something more post human. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/2 "2016-02-04T21:57:51Z")
Olaf Stapleton: Last and First Men, The Starmaker. Stephen Baxter: Evolution ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/3 "2016-02-04T22:05:23Z")
I can (and have) highly recommend Hannu Rajaniem’s _Jean le Flambeur_ series:[ul]The Quantum Thief[/ul][ul]The Fractal Prince[/ul][ul]The Causal Angel[/ul]Post-human but set within our solar system. The story follows the titular character being broken out of a prison and set on a task/quest. He incorporates his own task into his endeavours, but this is made difficult because he has forgotten most of what he once knew and who he once was; he must solve his own riddles to know himself once again. It’s only fair to say that these novels will not be for everyone as the show-don’t-tell narrative style makes it somewhat difficult to follow the story, until the reader can piece together enough of what is going on (in this way the reader mirrors the protagonist, which I thought was cool as hell). I can also highly recommend Richard K. Morgan’s _Takeshi Kovacs_ novels:[ul]Altered Carbon[/ul][ul]Broken Angels[/ul][ul]Woken Furies[/ul]The setting is a post-human galaxy where consciousness can be recorded and stored in a device called a “cortical stack”, allowing people to be “re-sleeved” in new and/or artificial bodies. Coupled with VR and a transmission method, travel between solar systems is possible. The first book is a detective story, the second is set during a planetary war and features an attempt to retrieve artifacts from an ancient alien civilization and the third is about a crime spree-cum-rebellion on Kovacs’ original home planet. These are among my favorite novels of the last 15 years. Lastly, I’m sure I won’t be the only person to recommend Iain M. Banks’ _Culture_ novels, also set in a post-human universe. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/4 "2016-02-04T22:14:30Z")
For Larry Niven’s writing, although the various Belter stories occurred up to about the 24th century (so, a few centuries from now), the Neutron Star/Ringworld series of stories were set in the 27th century and beyond. The stories of the Man-Kzin Wars bridge the gap between the two series. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/5 "2016-02-04T22:24:39Z")
**Galapagos** by Kurt Vonnegut, although possibly not quite what you had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/6 "2016-02-04T23:49:57Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > For Larry Niven’s writing, although the various Belter stories occurred up to about the 24th century (so, a few centuries from now), the Neutron Star/Ringworld series of stories were set in the 27th century and beyond. The stories of the Man-Kzin Wars bridge the gap between the two series. Yes, but for all their technology the humans of Known Space are still humans, not posthuman. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/7 "2016-02-05T00:03:36Z")
Spoilers for a book much newer (2015) than the ones being mentioned so far here, but Neal Stephenson’s _Seveneves_… …even though it comes up a bit short in the “far future” sense (approximately 5000 years), does pretty well in the “post-human” sense, as the descendants of the titular seven Eves (and the Diggers and Pingers) are genetically divergent and appear to be well on their way to speciation. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/8 "2016-02-05T00:07:53Z")
How about the original The Time Machine set in the year 802,701. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/9 "2016-02-05T00:23:59Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Lastly, I’m sure I won’t be the only person to recommend Iain M. Banks’ _Culture_ novels, also set in a post-human universe. Not a post Earth-human one though. The main events in the books range from a few hundred years in our past to a few hundred in our future. A bit nitpicky, I know… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/10 "2016-02-05T00:37:44Z")
In Vernor Vinge’s _A Fire Upon The Deep_, the humans are around way into the future, but share the universe with dozens of other races and aren’t really dominant at all. The ones we first meet were descended from, IIRC Norwegian asteroid miners from Old Earth. There’s billions of humans that live in a new system of planets that all speak some sort of Norwegian, but the plot doesn’t really interact with them. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/11 "2016-02-05T03:37:20Z")
Not narrative fiction, really, but Dougal Dixon’s _Man After Man_ tries to speculate about human evolution (natural or “assisted”) into the millions of years from the present. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/12 "2016-02-05T03:55:15Z")
A lot of [Jack McDevitt’s books](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_7?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=jack+mcdevitt+books&sprefix=Jack+Mc%2Cstripbooks%2C168) are set in a future thousands of years from now. You might also try Kevin O’Donnell’s [Fire on the Border](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451450302/ref=kinw_rke_tl_1) and Glen Cook’s [A Passage at Arms](http://www.amazon.com/Passage-at-Arms-Glen-Cook-ebook/dp/B006NZAWYK/ref=la_B000AQ26ZQ_1_28?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1454644536&sr=1-28&refinements=p_82%3AB000AQ26ZQ) and [the Starfisher Trilogy](http://www.amazon.com/Shadowline-Starfishers-Trilogy-Glen-Cook/dp/1597801674/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51il94dw5jL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=0EK8W5CCYJQR49S5WPNZ). ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/13 "2016-02-05T05:55:56Z")
I hope it isn’t trite, but have you ever read the Hugh Howey “Wool” books? Post-apocalyptic, to be sure, but you aren’t certain for ages how long into the future they are. It’s part of the charm. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/14 "2016-02-05T11:59:03Z")
Michael Moorcock’s _Dancers at the End of Time_ series. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/15 "2016-02-05T12:43:32Z")
Thundar The Barbarian? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/16 "2016-02-05T12:48:31Z")
Peter F. Hamilton’s series that start’s with “Pandora’s Star” are really fun and far-future, though IIRC it’s thousand of years rather than millions in the future. In my opinion, it does the best job of the books I’ve read of making the future sound _friggin’ awesome_ to live in (aside from alien attacks, of course). ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/17 "2016-02-05T13:32:43Z")
_The Omega Project_ by Steve Alten. A man is accidentally frozen and appears 100 million years into the future. This is one of Steve’s later books so there’s a lot of weirdness (Hindu soulmate tantra stuff) in it, but it fits your bill. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/18 "2016-02-05T13:35:00Z")
Arthur Clarke’s short story, “Exile of the Eons”. The last part of the story takes place in the far future, “when the Sun is entering its red giant phase, and Earth is a parched, virtually lifeless desert”. (As with a few other of his stories, he told this one twice, with variations. The companion piece is, “The Awakening”.) ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/19 "2016-02-05T13:40:23Z")
I would be remiss (see my user name) if I didn’t recommend Gene Wolfe’s [Book of the New Sun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun), a tetralogy set in the far, far future, on an Earth which has run out of resources with a sun that has cooled considerably. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-decent-books-or-films-about-humans-in-the-far-future/745177/20 "2016-02-05T14:49:57Z")
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