Introduction

The story of humans began a long time ago.

Three and a half billion years ago protein molecules floated around the ooze called the primordial soup. Then something happened and a molecule made a copy of itself.

And then another copy and another. Soon these molecules arranged themselves into something called a cell.

Then cells clumped together and multiplied. Organisms were created. Over the next three billion years, the organisms became more complicated and more diverse.

375 million years ago one of those organisms crawled out of the sea.

4 million years ago hominids emerged. Hominids had large brains and advanced cognitive abilities. They could reason, communicate and cooperate.

200,000 years ago, homo sapiens, modern humans appeared. They developed agriculture, organized into civilizations and became masters of the planet.

The story of humans began a long time ago. But all stories end.

And according to many leaders in business, science and technology: we're in the final chapter. The part of our story where we finally go extinct.

And there's nothing we can do to stop it.