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Humans

Are we really doomed? An entertaining guide to humanity's extinction

Few people could write so genially, even humorously, about our existential crisis. Henry Gee can, in his excellent new book The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire

By Rowan Hooper

12 March 2025

The surviving human beings in the abandoned city, digital illustration.; Shutterstock ID 1572040465; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

The future of Earth looks bleak, but we have the capacity to change course

Shutterstock/Liu zishan

The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire
Henry Gee Pan Macmillan (UK: Available now US: 18 March)

We’re doomed, says Henry Gee, doomed! Homo sapiens is reaching a crest, after which our global population size will start to drop. In his new book, The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why our species is on the edge of extinction, Gee’s mission is to trace the path from our genesis to our peak, then on to our quite possible annihilation.

When H. sapiens…

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