Extinction timeline

By 2025 biotechnology and nanotechnology are in full swing, everything appears to be going well, new revolutions in efficiency and access to natural resources makes it possible for the increasing demand to be met. The last nation classified as third world becomes fully industrialized, one of the many new members of an unofficial ad-hock world government comprised of banks, multinational corporations and world leaders. Ironically it's the lack of research into the long-term effects of the nano and GMO products that simultaneously allow the second industrial revolution to take place, elevating the quality of life and economic prosperity of people worldwide and dooming our entire race to its slow poison. Of course there really wasn't any way to predict the unexpected side effects and interactions of the various technologies without at least 100 years of research.

By 2050 the last pockets of indigenous and primitive peoples will have been eclipsed by the new industrial civilization. A combination of deforestation and the privatization of wild land combined with the expansion of modernized populations and their urban centers will either squeeze out or assimilate all isolated first tier technology (passive energy dependency) cultures. Safe renewable energy systems will have become archaic at this point thanks to the advent of nano and bio based power sources that will effectively begin to replace or augment non-modular power, they will be designed however to expire after a predetermined period of time, requiring expensive replacement parts. This will create a cycle of industrial dependency that keeps the vestigial economy on life support, it is a good indication of things to come.

By 2075 the last generation of humans capable of self-sufficient living without the augmentation of second tier technology (external energy dependency) will be in social decline. While historical records will be available for posterity they will slowly lose relevance as the essential language and identity of key elements are phased out or transformed by the next generation of like-minded industrial practices. In a stupid yet inevitable move the intellectual property for producing the basic necessities of life will become impossible for individuals to license effectively cutting off the last reluctant hold outs of independent living. Thanks to decades of advancement in high-definition audio and video acting as a vehicle for relentless multimedia brainwashing no one will really care, as long as they get what they need at a price they can afford and feel that they have relative social value.

By 2100 it will be impossible to ignore the damage done to earth's ecosystem but it will also be too late to do anything about it. Natural disasters will have increased in frequency to the point that a new process of resource reclamation will need to be implemented just to keep up with the demand for raw building materials. Still remarkably the corporate structure and bureaucracy will remain mostly intact thanks to the global wireless multimedia mesh network. Replacement cities for the workforce and corporate citizens will be constructed mostly out of concrete and composite materials (laminates of shredded fibers and particles of aseptic garbage) Ironically the leading cause of death will be suicide, mostly young people who live without any visible hope for the future. The last large populations of human beings will hold out in monumental gray cities like dark urban fortresses linked by miles of naked freeway on which very few vehicles will be moving. Food will be manufactured completely in on demand factories; nano particle and bio contaminant free water will be readily available due to reduced populations but it will also be absurdly expensive supposedly due to the filtration process, once again this is a corporate ploy to create an economy. In an interesting political parallel water will be the oil of the 22 century.

By 2125 the last golden age of human civilization will begin, it will be an age of active denial, it will be obvious to everyone that nothing can be done to avert the collapse of the new empire but we have at least managed to rebuild and survive. We will place the last of our faith into the final lightning round of emergent technology designed to reverse the effects of the last industrial revolution and restore ecological balance. Unfortunately we just don't get it, all the rational ideas will be discarded for a compromise solution that will allow backwards compatibility with the archaic energy production and consumption infrastructure, why? Because its all we have left and we wont have the energy to reinvent ourselves for a third time, even if it's the only way for us to survive in the long term, of course global society by this point will not be intellectually organized enough to make rational decisions so it is at least understandable.

By 2150 over 2/3s of humans will be totally dependent on third tier technology (waste products and environmental contaminants from inefficient energy production processes converted in real-time into a limited amount of supplemental energy). Tragically the same corporations that caused the first collapse will be the only ones left with enough manpower to attempt an environmental reconciliation, they will be corrupt to the core, headed by boards and comities of certified psychopaths, even thought it has become impossible to deny the damage they've done, they won't care or accept the facts, their only objective is to maintain the bottom line and that means doing whatever it takes to engineer a product dependant economy, they will of course do this in the name of the survivors of the previous cataclysm, the official P.R. will be something to the effect of; without an economy society will collapse. Which would have been really funny in retrospect, because it's the engineered economy that ultimately destroys everything.

By 2175 there is no sign of ecological restoration, virtually all non-human life on earth has become extinct due to the lack of habitat and fractured food chain. People have stopped having children either by their own will or because of sterility. Corporations begin to close one by one, the unemployed simply die, the surface of the earth is like a skeleton, the cities are its bleached concrete bones, the roads are its dry cement veins.

By 2200 the last humans have died from contamination or committed suicide.