Category Archives: Futurism

Goodbye Outside

Japanese company Bauhutte has come up with the perfect solution to surviving a 14-day quarantine while the coronavirus outbreak is raging: a $1,200 gaming bed concept.

I wake up and move from my bed to my desk. Why is that so complicated? the website reads, as translated by Google. Gaming beds solve this problem.

First spotted by PC Gamer, the unconventional bed has enough room for a dual monitor setup, oversized cupholders, a desk lamp, and even a retractable phone holder so you dont have to go through the pain of holding your phone with your hand.

An Energy Wagon will store all the Mountain Dew and Doritos you could possibly need during your self-quarantine-slash-endless-gaming-session. An elevated headboard can store even more stuff.

And no, you literally will never have to leave this bed except for maybe going to the bathroom.

As soon as you get up, you can watch a game or anime and realize a life cycle of falling asleep without difficulty, reads the website.

READ MORE: This Japanese gamer bed is gamings final form [PC Gamer]

More on gaming: Yasssss Queen: Chess Is Finally Becoming the Next Big eSport

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You Literally Never Have to Get Out of This $1,200 Gaming Bed - Futurism

We are born, we live, and we die. For most, this is the expected life cycle of our complex human existence. However, there are idealists and hopefuls on the far end of the spectrum who beg to differ. Through the aid of progressive science and technology, scientists and experts have discovered unimaginable ways to enhance and elevate the human condition and the world we live in. From developing artificial intelligence, assistive technology, bioengineering, to pushing the boundaries of knowledge to find the antidote to mortality. With the proper tools and research, futurists believe that death shouldnt be the culmination of life, but rather a disease that is treatable and reversible.

RANDOM MEDIA

Filmmaker Johnny Boston had the privilege of meeting and developing a meaningful friendship with an extraordinary man beyond his years, FM-2030, at the tender age of ten. He ignited Bostons curiosity and shaped his critical thinking from then on. When the news broke out that scientists were on a mission to reanimate FM-2030s cryogenically preserved brain for the first time, he strips himself of all his fears and reservations, daringly crossing lines to capture the highly controversial and monumental event unfold through his sci-fi documentary entitled 2030 (2018).

One of the pioneers of this philosophy is renowned futurist and transhumanist, FM-2030. No, he is not a bionic man nor from outer space as his name suggests. He is very human, just like us. In the 70s, he changed his legal name from Fereidoun M. Esfandiary to FM-2030 to strongly reflect his revolutionary ideologies and confidence in a post-humanistic world.

In his own words, conventional names define a persons past: ancestry, ethnicity, nationality, religion. I am not who I was ten years ago and certainly not who I will be in twenty years. The name 2030 reflects my conviction that the years around 2030 will be a magical time. In 2030 we will be ageless and everyone will have an excellent chance to live forever. 2030 is a dream and a goal.

futurists believe that death shouldnt be the culmination of life, but rather a disease that is treatable and reversible.

His radical forward-thinking and belief in the technological advancements in medicine, engineering, and computer science enthused him to envisage a world that will be free from the norms, principles, and values that bound todays society, human limitations and adversities, scarcity of energy and resources, and the birth of a human race that will live on for eternity.

Unfortunately, FM-2030 succumbed to pancreatic cancer, but his death was only the beginning of his extraordinary journey to immortality. Since 2000, FM-2030s brain has been vitrified and cryogenically preserved at one of the worlds leading cryonic facilities, Alcor Life Extension Foundation, in hopes of being resurrected or reanimated in the future.

RANDOM MEDIA

2030 (2018) is a thought-provoking and enlightening narrative that explores the unconventional, liberal, and scientific approach to the fate of our existence. The documentary follows Boston as he embarks on an arduous journey to seek the true meaning of humanity and this innovation through the eyes of his loved ones, colleagues, and experts, while reflecting and preparing for FM-2030s reanimation, which if carried out successfully, would be the first case of cryonically-preserved human revival.

Boston enthusiastically brings up his bright idea of filming the process to FM-2030s life partner, Flora Schnall, only to find out that she vetoes his proposition and wants to keep the reanimation top secret despite FMs approval. At the cryonics lab, Schnall introduces Boston to Sebastian Smith, a doctor and student of FM at The New School who will lead the reanimation team. It was clearly established from the get-go that this endeavor would be strictly private. But being the ambitious and rebellious filmmaker that he is, he stops at nothing. Eager to document FMs return, he used covert body cameras to put all conversations, meetings, and interviews on record. This bold move revealed a plethora of classified information that only elevated and sustained the tension and conflict of the story.

As soon as the credits have rolled, I found myself ten open tabs deep into my research.

For people who are just learning about this concept, 2030 (2018) engagingly and effectively provided an in-depth and digestible understanding of the world of cryonics. It responsibly dissected and presented insightful opinions and perspectives of neuroscientists, cryonicists, robotics engineers, psychotherapists, transhumanists, and ethicists that are crucial in understanding the science behind this process. The most remarkable and fascinating part, that hints at the possibility for reanimation, was the trial of Cleon, a cryo-preserved pig who was successfully reanimated after six months.

While it does serve its purpose of being informative and educational, I must admit that this documentary was a tad bit dramatized and methodically structured. Instances such as Boston and Schnalls emotional falling out, Smiths animated character, a doctor turned whistleblower who mysteriously disappeared, and cryptic file transfers of confidential information. Towards the end, all hope was lost for Boston as Schnall pulled the plug on the project and forbids him to attend the reanimation. However, a plot twist ensues when Boston discovered Smiths illness and intention to use FM as a guinea pig for the main event Smiths eventual reanimation. Together, they confront Smith about this revelation and completely deauthorize FMs reanimation, putting a halt to this mission.

As someone who resolutely believes that everything has a beginning, middle, and end, I couldnt help but roll my eyes at the absurdity of restoring a frozen deceased body back to life, which cryonics indisputably claims to achieve. But Bostons documentary somehow effectively steers the skeptics in the right direction to give it the benefit of the doubt. As soon as the credits have rolled, I found myself ten open tabs deep into my research. No matter what its intended purpose, 2030 (2018) has succeeded in raising awareness and disclosing vital knowledge about a highly complex system that could change humankind forever.

The documentary at its core inspires us to reevaluate our purpose, beliefs, and hopes for the future. It imparts new wisdom and encourages us to have an open mind so that we are able to empathize with people who choose to walk this path.

2030 (2018) is distributed by Random Media and was released on multiple digital platforms and on-demand February 25th, 2020.

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Playing God: Did Futurist FM-2030 Crack the Code to Immortality? - LIVING LIFE FEARLESS

Mini-Moon

The Earth might have asecond Moon albeit a tiny and temporary one.

Earth has a new temporarily captured object/Possible mini-moon called 2020 CD3, wrote Kacper Wierzchos, astronomer and self-described comet hunter at the Catalina Sky Survey, in a Tuesday tweet. On the night of Feb. 15, my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Teddy Pruyne and I found a 20th magnitude object.

A team of astronomers at the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey near Tuscon, Arizona suspect theres a small asteroid that caught itself in our planets gravity, as CNET reports. The discovery was confirmed when The International Astronomical Unions Minor Planet Center (MPC) announced on Tuesday that Earth has a new temporary captured object.

According to Wierzchos, the comet entered Earths orbit about three years ago. Its diameter is between 1.9 and 3.5 meters (6.2 and 11.5 feet). Despite its tiny size, its a big deal as out of ~ 1 million known asteroids, this is just the second asteroid known to orbit Earth, Wierzchos noted in a follow-up tweet.

The first asteroid tobe discovered orbiting our planet was RH120, also discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in 2006. It featured a similar diameter, stayed in orbit for 18 months, and was later given minor planet designation in 2008.

Astronomers are now racing to find out more about the unusual space rock.

Further observations and dynamical studies are strongly encouraged, wrote the MPC in its announcement.

READ MORE: Astronomers say Earth might have a new mini-moon [CNET]

More on asteroids: Europes Space Agency Joins Mission to Deflect Killer Asteroids

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Astronomers: Our Planet Might Have Another Moon, Except It's Tiny - Futurism

Blood Snow

A Facebook post by Ukraines Ministry of Education and Science shows a research station on an island just off the coast of Antarcticas northernmost peninsula covered in blood snow.

The gory-looking scene is not the result of a seal hunt gone wrong its an astonishingly red-pigmented, microscopic algae called Chlamydomonas nivalis,which thrives in freezing water as the ice melts during Antarcticas record-breaking warm summer.

When summer hits the polar regions, the algae bloom, staining the snow and ice around it in blood-resembling red, as Live Science explains. The phenomenon was first noticed by Aristotle thousands of years ago and is often referred to as watermelon snow thanks to its subtly sweet scent and color.

What makes the blooming algae red is the same stuff that give carrots and watermelons their reddish tint carotenoids.

Its a stunning display of a natural phenomenon but it also creates a nasty feedback loop that causes the ice to melt faster. The red color causes less sunlight to be reflected off the snow, causing it to melt faster, as the Ukrainian team explains in its post. The accelerated melting then causes more algae to grow, completing the cycle.

Its not the only surreal display in the world caused by such a feedback loop, as Live Science points out. Blooming algae caused sea foam to swallow up the coast of a Spanish town in January. Similar algae blooms even caused shores around islands in the East China Sea to glow blue.

READ MORE: Spooky blood snow invades Antarctic island [Live Science]

More on algae: A New Bioreactor Captures as Much Carbon as an Acre of Trees

Link:
Bright-Red "Blood Snow" Is Falling From the Sky in Antarctica - Futurism

Fake News

According to a new report by digital rights group Access Now, dozens of world governments intentionally shut offthe internet more than 200 times last year, affecting tens of millions of people world wide.

This kind of harm may on its face look less damaging from the standpoint of scope, reads the report. Yet these silenced voices may be absolutely crucial for alerting the public to human rights violations and abuse, and for getting help to those impacted.

According to the new report, India had the most shutdowns in 2019: 121 occasions, the majority of which occurred in the disputed Kashmir region. Venezuela, the second on the list, only shut down the internet 12 times.

Access Now also found an increasing number of shutdowns were smaller, but targeting specific groups of people.

In 2019, there were at least 14 cases of internet providers significantly slowing down the connection, rather than a complete blackout. The idea is to stifle sharing of multimedia, particularly over social media. Most of these cases ended up in a complete blackout eventually.

The shutdowns often appeared to be responses to public protests, according to the report, which framed them as an overreaching method to stifle dissent.

It seems more and more countries are learning from one another and implementing the nuclear option of internet shutdowns to silence critics, or perpetrate other human rights violations with no oversight, Access Now told the BBC.

READ MORE: What happens when the internet vanishes? [BBC]

More on the internet: In the Face of Climate Change, the Internet Is Unsustainable

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Governments Shut Down the Internet Hundreds of Times in 2019 - Futurism

Futurism is worklessas explosion of smart technologies will eventually remove all laborious-routineworking manpower and exclusively seek out creatively tactical maneuveringhumanpower the new global-ageworkers worthy of special and advanced assignments demanding creative and critical thinking, complexproblem solving, and global age understanding of collaborations, withdiversity, tolerance and mental endurance to manage all such tactically as anentrepreneurial warrior The rest leftover manpower may be hired asslaves to robots. Currently, the rapid advancing power of technology not tabulatedagainst critical lack of skills of working citizenry created only calls for trade-warsand conflicts as proof of lack of productivity and required competence to matchglobal standards.

Technology is neverto blame; political leadership in most developed nation addicted to oil andhype of globalization forget the human inter-phase with cyber-electro-ergonomics;human-performance advancements on higher plateaus with support of technologies butnot replaced by dumb-down education absence of tactical training surrounded byfake media, therefore today, depression, stress and mental-health tops as majorproblem at work in Western economies, a perfect storm appears.

The March of Billion:

Come next 1000 daysthe global economic stress levels may force the march of the billions. Workless,jobless, and officeless, tired they marchnever ever in the history of mankind assembledsuch number of once mighty, highly skilled, educated and experienced subjected toreplacements by their own technological advances.

The power of artificial intelligence centric block-chaintechnologies over-taking most general office-routines and complex-procedural-decision-makingoptions transform into split second clicks and blinks and slowly replacing somebillion white collar workers, charted decade ago but now flooding skyscrapers,floor by floor. Billion horses ran on green pastures with advent of cars, nowbillion workers headed the same. However, in this chaos, lies some of the greatopportunities to create healthy sound communities to bring in local grassrootsprosperity.

Mankind has alwayssurvived; this is not the end this is a new beginning

Upskilling nation fast tracks- blueprint: small medium enterprise revolutions: Nations canavoid restless citizenry and blowing winds of populism;futurism of creating local grassroots prosperity divides intotwo distinct national mobilizations.Firstly, creating skilled citizenry capable to swing with global-agedemands and secondly, creating massive digitization of midsize economy toenable global-speed-performance to match trading with 100-200 nations. Nationswith acquired mastery will thrive and lead; generational transformation atmagical speed with full deployments of platform economy is a prerequisite.

Three Keys:

The Collaborative Microcosms;where economic progress comes around locally to ensure grassrootsprosperity in shapes of fertilizing regional SME to their fullest potentialswith massive use of free technologies.

The Population-Rich-Nations;once considered poor due to hungry mouths now each pair of legs with a mobiledevice is a potential enterprise center. Knowledge-Rich Nations have a toughclimb unless they adapt global collaborative thinking and understand diversityand tolerance.

The NationalMobilization of Entrepreneurialism; a world class global age strategy, as itstime to awaken to digital platform economies and mobilize national SME undermaster plans. This new thinking has serious opposition on old blocks

Three Gatekeepers:

The EnterprisesGroups: every nation is blessed with all sorts of founders, owners andentrepreneurs including senior management and therefore to thrive leadershipmust demonstrate expertise on digital platform economy because without beingsavvy how will they grow? This is where small and medium sizebusinesses stuck with internal digitization of operations challenges pushingdecade old methods to expansion.

The Trade Groups:TradeAssociations and Chambers of Commerce helping vertical sectors in theirown traditional ways spanning over decades but are such vertical trade groupsable to showcase their membership in a grand way across the nation and globalmarkets?

The Public SectorGroups: how government agencies not only fully digitized internally butalso offering to all sectors of vertical businesses and exporting communitieslarge scale options on Platform Economy thinking. If local governments wereactive and aggressive leaders they will not only boost national economies butalso calm restless citizenry and avoid windy storms of populism.

Imagine Upskillingand Reskilling of billion working citizenry of the world, in next 1000 days

Identify 1000 to1,000,000 SME in a region or nation need of global exposure or exportabilityStart national mobilization of entrepreneurialism on digital platforms toexpand globally Start a high level in-depth debate and discussion with authoritative knowledgeand solutionsThese are not new funding dependent, they are new-thinking hungry and executionstarved So whats stopping this?

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Futurism Is Workless - Thrive Global

An international team of neuroscientists scanned the brains of lifelong bullies and found something grim: Bullies brains appear to be physically smaller than other brains.

Our findings support the idea that, for the small proportion of individuals with life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour, there may be differences in their brain structure that make it difficult for them to develop social skills that prevent them from engaging in antisocial behaviour, said lead author Christina Carlisi, a researcher at the University College London.

For the study, published in prestigious journal The Lancet, the team used an MRI machine to examine the brains of 652 participants.

The study found that the brains of people with lifelong patterns of stealing, aggression and violence, bullying, lying, or repeated failure to take care of work or school responsibilities were different, physically, from those of the other participants.

To wit, bullies cortexes were substantially thinner and their entire brains had less surface area than the non-bully brains scanned by the scientists. Inverses concise summary: bullies have smaller brains.

A key exception: The brains of people who exhibited anti-social behavior as teenagers but not as adults showed no such abnormalities. Thats good news for reformed bullies, but bad news for the lifers.

Most people who exhibit antisocial behaviour primarily do so only in adolescence, likely as a result of navigating socially difficult years, and these individuals do not display structural brain differences, Carlisi said. It is also these individuals who are generally capable of reform and go on to become valuable members of society.

What remains hazy is the question of causation are the brains of bullies small because theyre bullies, or do they become bullies because of their small brains?

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Scientists Scanned Brains of Bullies and Found Something Grim - Futurism

PORTLAND, Ore. When you look a decade into the future, what do you see? Futurist Steve Brown sees a whole lot of change by 2030. And he makes a bold prediction.

"My expectation is that we're going to see more change in the workplace and more change in our lives in the next ten years than in the last forty. It's a bold statement to make, but I think it's accurate," said Brown.

Brown worked for 30 years with a small team of people at Intel, predicting the future of the world related to computer processing chips. He learned that the most important element to look at is the human one.

"I spent quite a bit of time in Intel's labs working for a cultural anthropologist and she taught me that everything starts with people. So I was looking at the world through the lens of people first, and that enables you to figure out how will technology through businesses help improve people's lives in the future."

Now Brown has his own consulting company, advising government entities, businesses and universities see what's coming ten or 15 years from now. He has a brand new book out on the subject called The Innovation Ultimatum. In it, Brown says dramatic change will happen in the 2020's due to six main technologies.

"And those technologies are artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, the internet of things and sensors, 5G networking and satellite networks, autonomous machines, and then ultimately augmented reality when we start to blend holograms into our field of view and see digital information in new ways," said Brown.

We'll let Brown explain exactly what those are later in this story.

All this week we will be featuring certain areas of interest in our look to the future. From Portland's skyline and urban infrastructure, to transportation, health care and even food.

Imagine autonomous air transports that move you from one city rooftop to another, or out to the airport. Or 3D printers creating your dinner and cooking it with laser technology, all with the touch of a button. Hang on, it's going to be a wild ride!

There are upsides and downsides to anything. One of the obvious examples: some jobs will become obsolete while others are created. But Brown says the changes coming in the future will be very positive, on balance.

"Think how exciting it's going to be when the way that we interact with doctors, the way that we shop, the way that we get educated, the way that we experience entertainment, the way we experience news, is transformed in the next decade," said Brown, who added that the future looks bright, especially if people embrace it.

"Think about the future that you want and then figure out how you can participate in that and get the future that you want to build because we build it together."

Here is his breakdown of the changes coming.

5G and Satellite networks

New fifth-generation cell networks, known as 5G, will speed our connection to the internet by between 10 and 100 times over current 4G LTE connections. Perhaps more importantly, 5G is the first cellular network designed to connect more than just mobile devices. Parking meters, traffic signals, connected cars, factory equipment, and billions of other machines will be connected with 5G. 5G will also start to compete with cable and fiber wired internet connections, providing consumers with an alternative to their cable companies for internet services. 5G technology is being rolled out now and will be available in all major cities around the world within the next few years.

For people living in rural or remote areas where cellular connections are poor or non-existent, there will soon be an alternative. Several companies are racing to build high-speed networks using constellations of low-earth-orbit satellites. The networks will bring high-speed internet to every corner of the earth by the end of the decade. The internet will become accessible to the next four billion people, and it will be possible to connect everyone and everything, everywhere.

Artificial intelligence

The term artificial intelligence (AI) was first coined in the 1950s, but it was in the early 2010s that AI took a giant leap forward with the advent of techniques known as machine learning, and deep learning. Rather than being programmed in the traditional way, these machines are able to learn by being trained with many, many examples. This has led to incredible breakthroughs in speech recognition, machine vision, self-driving cars, prediction, and many other fields. AI is a powerful tool that can help us to solve problems we dont know how to solve ourselves. AI will power a whole new generation of robot helpers, safely drive our cars, and may help researchers to discover new medicines that could save millions of lives.

Autonomous machines

Autonomous machines include smart robots, drones, self-driving cars, autonomous trucks, and even autonomous ships. These machines use sensors and AI to make their own decisions, based on rules that we have given them. Smart robots will help to build our homes, park our cars, and tend crops in our fields. Autonomous drones will help to replant forests and run detailed surveys of construction sites. Autonomous vehicles will change the way we get from A to B, allowing us to do other things while in transit, and turning many vehicles from a product we own into a shared service that we use. Globally, over 1.25 million people are killed in car accidents each year, with 93% of those accidents being caused by human error. With autonomous vehicles we may be able to save the lives of many millions of people in the coming decades.

Blockchain technology

Blockchain is a tricky technology to explain and to understand. Think of it as a fancy databasea place to store informationthat makes it impossible to change that information once its been entered. This fancy database can be used to record transactions, write smart contracts, and build trust digitally. The main uses of blockchains are to remove intermediaries from transactions, and make supply chains more transparent. For consumers, the benefits should be lower cost financial transactions (think the mortgage and house sale of the future), and a better understanding of where the things we buy come from, how they were made, how much energy and other resources were used to make them, so we can make more informed buying decisions.

Augmented Reality

Virtual reality (VR) is really cool. You slip on a VR headset and you are immersed in a totally different world. Great for gaming, simulations, and some types of training, but VR has its limitationsUsers are disconnected from the physical world when they are inside VR. Enter AR, or augmented reality. An AR headset blends digital objects and information into your view of the world. This makes it far more useful, particularly for use in the workplace. Think surgeons, construction workers, or retail workers that are either highly mobile or work with their hands. When its ready, AR is likely to become as big of a breakthrough as smartphones were before it. With AR, your next 150 television may not come on the back of a truck from CostCo; Instead it might be a 99-cent download from the app store for your AR glasses.

Internet of Things

Computers continue to get smaller and smaller, and cheaper and cheaper. The Internet of Things is the idea that objects and infrastructure become intelligent and connected to the internet. Connected traffic signals, wearable devices, smart toothbrushes and so on. By the end of this decade, the world could be filled with as many as 100 trillion sensors, and 100 billion connected devices. Sensors are used to measure whats happening in the physical worldtemperature, moisture, pollution, trafficand make that information available as data that can be used to make decisions. This will enable us to make better use of precious resources, and to make the world more responsive to human needs. A sprinkler would turn off once the soil has enough moisture, and a traffic signal will optimize the flow of traffic at a busy junction.

RELATED: Transportation in 2030: Flying cars maybe, but mainstream electric and shared ones for sure, some possibly self-driving

RELATED: Portland in 2030: Passenger drone pads atop skyscrapers, sensors citywide to make us more efficient with our lives

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Go here to read the rest:
Oregon futurist: More changes coming in next 10 years than the last 40 - KGW.com

Space Tourism 2021

SpaceX announced a partnership this week with space tourism Space Adventures to start launchingpassengers to orbit aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft starting as early as 2021, TechCrunch reports.

SpaceX says it will send four privately-paying space tourists to orbit the Earth for five days in its Crew Dragon capsule between late-2021 and mid-2022, according to CNBC.

This historic mission will forge a path to making spaceflight possible for all people who dream of it, and we are pleased to work with the Space Adventures team on the mission, SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement.

Space Adventures already sells seats on Russian Soyuz rockets.

SpaceXs passenger-carrying Crew Dragon capsule, developed as part of NASAs Commercial Crew Program, has so far completed a successful test trip and docking maneuver to the International Space Station last year, but has yet to make the journey with any passengers on board.

Earlier this year, SpaceX tested its space taxis emergency abort system in dramatic fashion, intentionally blowing up a Falcon 9 rocket in the process.

READ MORE: SpaceX and new partner announce space tourism launches on Dragon starting as early as 2021 [TechCrunch]

More on SpaceX: Watch a SpaceX Rocket Explode in Mid-Flight

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SpaceX Says It Will Launch Space Tourists as Soon as Next Year - Futurism

Angry Sun

Before it finally goes out, scientists say, our Sun will abruptly become so bright, itll grind the entire asteroid belt down into dust obliterating it with the ferociously bright light of a dying star.

Not only will our own asteroid belt be destroyed, but it will be done quickly and violently, said University of Warwick researcher Dimitri Veras, a lead author of the new research. And due solely to the light from our Sun.

Veras new paper in the prestigious journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, spotted by ScienceAlert, explores the fate of the solar system.

The effect wont be pronounced enough to disintegrate planets but it will herald the end for our dying system.

Fortunately, he says, we have about six billion years to prepare.

READ MORE: Just Before Our Sun Dies, Its Light Will Shatter The Asteroid Belt to Dust [ScienceAlert]

More on the asteroid belt: Scientists Detect the Smallest Dwarf Planet in Our Solar System

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In Its Dying Gasp, Our Sun Will Obliterate the Asteroid Belt - Futurism