This signposts document consists of two separate but closely related works: this timeline and perspectives on the future.

Perspectives takes up where the timeline leaves off, offering up a heftier dose of speculation about what the future may bring than is suitable in the timeline. Perspectives helps illustrate some of the possibilities implied by the timeline, as well as how certain select personalities of various periods might perceive (and exploit or respond to) their circumstances. Perspectives also includes facts and speculation about mankind's past. Virtually all credible historians and archaeologists agree that there's many puzzles and mysteries regarding our past that have yet to be resolved.

Both the timeline and perspectives take an optimistic view of humanity's possible future. Therefore, they largely ignore or heavily discount the many threats to humanity's survival and prosperity which currently exist, and appear to be mounting almost by the day. Not the least of the risks sidestepped here stem from the latest findings of SETI and related astronomical research. For it appears most (perhaps even all) technological civilizations in our galaxy destroy themselves not long after they reach our current stage of development (and well before they could ever experience a Vinge technological singularity). The references supporting this conclusion may be found in my separate study The rise and fall of star faring civilizations. For my current best recommendations as to how we might avoid a similar fate, please see Civilization's best defenses against war, terrorism, technological stagnation, and economic ruin. For a somewhat philosophical perspective, please see The war for our destiny.

The present through 2049 AD: Human civilization is rocked by technological upheaval and growing uncertainties...

2018 AD-2025 AD: Consumer robotics and personal virtual realities go mainstream Personal virtual realities are taking marketshare from TV, radio, films, and other media; near paperless offices, wireless appliances becoming the norm; consumer robotics go mainstream; do-it-yourself medical care becoming ever more practical and effective for many ailments; adequate hardware to support human level intelligence at consumer level prices becomes available (but suitable software remains elusive). The true source of this page is

2026 AD-2049 AD: Accelerated environmental decline, increased religious conflict, and a wholesale plunge into VR by citizens in the developed nations (to escape mounting stresses)

The emergence of the 'Bounty Economy'; rampant identity theft and other cybercrimes lead to the first and most important privacy vs. security issues being resolved; substantial religion-related conflict erupts; budgetary priorities undergo fierce turf fights in the developed nations, with education and other consumer services usually winning; the human senses are technologically expanded in wondrous new ways; the final elements fall into place to allow software-based human level intelligence to become widely available; 98% of all cancers become curable; mini-subs and STOL/VTOL warplanes (both unmanned) are the cutting edge of warfare; tactical nuclear, biological, and space-based weapons use in conflicts not uncommon; traditional aircraft carriers now obsolete; troops enjoy numerous micromachine-based aids and supplements; environmental decline due to pollution, accidents, terrorism, war, and excessive harvests becomes alarmingly obvious now, but business continues to actively lobby governments for minimal regulatory remedies.

Once upon a time there was a science fiction story. A story so ambitious in scope it required substantial research just to define its boundaries: the ultimate limits of technology, and human potential. This timeline is the result of that research project. The Chance of a Realtime is the story. Now available for Amazon Kindles and Kindle apps: To see the larger context from which the story springs, you can examine this illustrated index.

ATTENTION science fiction writers: One of the reasons I created the signposts document in the first place was to help nurture the creation of 'hard' science fiction across-the-board. Nothing so ruins a science fiction novel for many readers as a glaring implausibility, either in terms of technology or a reasonable historical order to events. Even small errors of this sort tend to get magnified with the passage of time-- as can be witnessed today in much science fiction written five, ten, and twenty years ago. Plus, the 'harder' or more grounded in real science and history your fiction is, the more truly educational it will be for both yourself and your readers, thus possibly offering us all much more than momentary entertainment, in the form of knowledge and ideas which might aid us all in our own lives and pursuits. So I encourage writers to use this chronology as a springboard from which to launch their own speculative fiction, with perhaps inclusion of a note acknowledging me and my web site where appropriate. Any caveats? Yes. Please respect my own fictional efforts by avoiding more than passing references to my Perspectives characters (J. Staute, Kerri, Cluke, the Pearsalls, etc., etc.). And if such references to my characters are included in your work, please do not make any significant changes to the course of those events or actions specifically ascribed to them here (unless of course your story explicitly describes an alternate or parallel universe or dimension(s), distinct and separate from that portrayed on my site). If you feel strongly that a particular event in the signposts document requires correction or improvement of some sort, please email me about it. Second caveat? The signposts document may be updated or expanded as warranted by breaking news and ideas and thus is always subject to significant change without warning (though I always strive to maintain as much consistency and feasibility as possible throughout). -- J.R.M.