Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future

Cover.

Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future (1990) is a speculative book written by Scottish geologist Dougal Dixon and illustrated by Philip Hood. The theme of the book is a science fiction body horror exploration of the possibilities of the future evolution of humans. Unlike his previous two books, his story context focuses on individuals rather than entire species, even giving them human names.

Plot Summary

The book begins with the impact of genetic engineering. For 200 years, modern humans morphed the genetics of other humans to create genetically-altered creatures. The Aquamorphs and Aquatics are marine humans with gills instead of lungs. One species, the Vacuumorph, has been engineered for life in the airless vacuum of space. Its skin and eyes carry shields of skin to keep its body stable even without pressure. Civilization eventually collapses, with a few select humans escaping to colonize space. The humans that manufactured these species degrade to simple farmers and following a magnetic reversal, were driven to extinction. Other humans, such as the Hitek, became almost totally dependant on cybernetic technology. With magnetic reversal imminent, the Hitek built genetically altered humans to occupy niches: Genetically-altered humans include a temperate woodland species, a prairie species, a jungle species, and a tundra-dwelling species.

Since then, the genetically-altered humans must face a new phenomenon. They can no longer be tweaked in a lab, so all modifications must naturally evolve. Many new forms resulted from natural selection. Socials, colonial humans with a single reproductive parent, Fish-eaters, otter-like fishing humans, Slothmen, sloth-like humans, Spiketooths, saber-toothed predatory humans, and even parasitic humans developed through natural changes.

After 5 million years of uninterrupted evolution, the descendants of modern humans that retreated into space has returned to Earth. Then the world changes dramatically. Earth was xenoformed and covered in vast alien-like cities. The humans and other life forms in this new Earth must breathe air with low oxygen content. Thus the "alien invaders" use cyborg-technology to fuse the bodies of the few human species they find useful on the planet with air tanks and respiration systems. Genetic modification has also returned and giant human buildings and tiny connection humans were bred to aid city construction. Genetically created horse-like men serve as mounts for the "invaders". Some engineered human species even became farmed like pigs or cattle. As with all civilization, this new era of man fell apart once again.

Eventually, the space-faring humans left, the Earth was in ruins. With barely any oxygen left in the Earth's atmosphere, all terrestrial life on the planet perished. At the bottom of the world's oceans, at the oases that were underwater hot springs, life continues. In the abyss, was Piscanthropus profundus, a deep-sea descendant of the now extinct Aquatic evolved. It is implied that Piscanthropus profundus would eventually recolonize Earth's surface.

Human Species Included

300 Years Hence

Aquatic - Piscanthropus submarinus, dugong-like humans with gills instead of lungs. The hind legs are fused together to form a paddle-like fluke, but the arms and hands are still human-like, the only engineered sentient species with the exception of the Vacuumorphs and Aquamorphs. It can move itself on dry land encased in a tough sphere of gel with its own saltwater environment inside it.

Hitek - Homo sapiens machinadiumentum, a Homo sapiens subspecies that is the result of inbreeding and medical technologies that allow people with deformities and other medical problems to survive and reproduce. Homo sapiens evolved into this subspecies of its own that is now almost totally dependant on cybernetic technology to survive.

500 Years Hence

Tundra-Dweller - Homo glacis fabricatus, Yeti-like humans that fill the ecological niches of Musk Oxen and Caribou. Migratory creatures with thick rolls of blubber with ice-hooks on their hind feet. Capable of reproducing fertile offspring.

Plains-Dweller - Homo campis fabricatus, Troll-like humans that fill the roles of Gazelles, Water Buffalo, and Wildebeests. These humans have modified appendages for scything grass. Capable of growing new teeth through their life and have pot bellies filled with specially-engineered bacteria for digesting grass. Capable of reproducing fertile offspring.

Forest-Dweller - Homo silvis fabricatus, Orangutan-like humans that fill the roles of Apes, Monkeys and Sloths. Long arms with thick claws allow these creatures to move faster through the trees than on the ground. They have thick jaws for cracking nuts and are capable of reproducing fertile offspring.

Temperate Woodlands-Dweller - Homo virgultis fabricatus, Australopithecus-like humans designed to fill the roles of Deer, Bears and Wolves. They walk on all four legs because the shape of the big toes prevent bipedal locomotion. Omnivorous creatures who are designed to be immune to most natural poisons. Capable of reproducing fertile offspring.

1,000 Years Hence

Tic - Homo sapiens accessiomembrum, the Hitek eventually found the process of diagnosing newborn babies, then creating a mechanical cradle impractical, eventually designed a human subspecies that required a biological cradle/cocoon. However, the fingers are used primarily for touching. The shape of, and number of limbs, on these bodies of often dependent on fashion.

2,000 Years Hence

Homo sapiens has gone extinct due to a magnetic reversal.

5,000 Years Hence

Memory People - Homo mensproavodorum, a descendant of the Temperate Woodland-Dweller that can inherit memories from their parents and possess a form of ancestral memory. They were not engineered sentient but re-evolved intelligence and can make rudimentary structures.

Migrant - A migratory descendant of the Plains-Dweller.

Tropical Tree-Dweller - A strictly arboreal descendant of the Forest-Dweller with the ability to hang upside down.