Henry Gee

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The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire

In ‘Humans Are Doomed To Go Extinct’, an article in Scientific American published in November 2021, veteran Nature editor Dr Henry Gee predicted that Homo sapiens is on a rapid one-way ride to extinction. The article provoked media coverage and comment around the world. In The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire, Gee expands the themes of his much-discussed article to book length, charting both the rise as well as the fall of humans. After 10,000 years of exponential growth, the rate of human population increase is falling, and rapidly, from a peak of more than 2 per cent a year in 1968 to a shade over 1 per cent today. At this rate, in 10,000 years’ time, our species will be extinct. Rapid climate change is threatening the capacity of human beings to survive on this planet. But there are internal stresses, too. The global economy has been stagnant for twenty years, and across the world, humans are not having children as often as they once did. The average human sperm count has been in decline for more than half a century. The reason for the decline is a mystery. Gee paints a picture of extinction within the next 10,000 years – and suggests ways that our exceptional species might avoid its fate.