Evolution: a future Earth

The 2002 'The Future is Wild' TV programme by ZDF Enterprises (see 2003^1,) is a science fiction dramatization about life on Earth at different times in the future. The dramatization is most interesting because of its use of scientific knowledge in portraying the evolution of Earth and life. Unfortunately, it does not emphasize well enough that it is just science fiction: science does not have the keys to answer how the future will develop, and the authority of eminent scientists does not necessarily improve such outcome. All in all, the dramatization is an entertaining example of pseudoscience, even when it may also help educate people on some key scientific concepts, such as plate tectonics and evolution.

Scientific key concepts underlying the dramatization:
- plate tectonics
- evolution
- mass extinctions
- simulation (eg, of weather and geography) as a modelling tool

Main pseudo-scientific issues:
- environments portrayed not as science fiction but as experiments in the imagination
- reliance on the 'authority' of eminent scientists to portray scientific plausibility
- initial extinction of humans only, by an unknown phenomenon not affecting other species
- extinction of species, especially mammals, for no good reason
- emphasis on the evolution of 'creatures the Earth has never seen', but over-reliance on portraying recognizable species: birds, reptiles, insects, mammals (rodents, monkeys…), fish, cephalopods…
- emphasis on evolution as strategic decision-making