How long is humanity expected to last?

How long will the human species survive, according to science?

According to scientific estimates, the human species could survive for up to one billion more years before eventual extinction.

It’s a question that gets stuck in my head sometimes, usually at weird moments. I was at the American Museum of Natural History on October 14, 2019. Staring up at that giant Barosaurus skeleton protecting its young from the Allosaurus. It cost 28 dollars to see those bones.

And I just felt this deep confusion.

These creatures dominated everything, absolutely everything, for millions of years. Now they're just silent stone in a giant, air-conditioned room in New York City. We walk around them, take pictures, and then go get a hot dog. It’s so strange.

So how long will the human species survive.

After the museum, I read that some scientists figure we have a billion years left, if we play our cards right and the sun doesn't expand too fast. That number, a billion, it doesn't feel real. It's like Monopoly money. It's too much to even imagine, so my brain just... stops trying.

It makes me feel like my own life, my own worries about somthing as small as a deadline, is both completely meaningless and the only thing that actually matters. It’s a weird thing to get your head round. We are just a brief, noisy moment between two immense silences.