What if humanity evolved into worm-like creatures or living water treatment systems?
In short: In the speculative evolution book All Tomorrows, artist C. M. Kösemen imagines a billion-year future where humanity is shattered, genetically engineered by alien overlords, and forced to evolve into bizarre, unrecognizable forms. It is a haunting, archaeological history of our species, told from the perspective of an alien researcher.
Published as a free PDF in 2006, All Tomorrows explores the trajectory of mankind from the near future to a billion years ahead. Inspired by the works of Olaf Stapledon and Edward Gibbon’s historical accounts of Rome, the book adopts an academic, detached tone. Kösemen, writing under the pseudonym Nemo Ramjet, frames the narrative as a historical record compiled by an extraterrestrial observer, complete with textured, faded illustrations designed to avoid the pitfalls of caricature.
The story begins with humanity’s expansion into the Milky Way, only to be interrupted by the Qu, a malevolent alien race that views genetic manipulation as a religious mandate. After a crushing defeat, the Qu transform the surviving humans into a menagerie of exotic, often animalistic, species—ranging from insectivores to sentient, living water-purification units. These remnants of humanity are left to evolve through natural selection for 40,000,000 years, eventually leading to a complex web of posthuman civilizations, including the robotic Gravitals and the liberated Asteromorphs.
The work has gained significant cultural traction, particularly after a 2021 surge in popularity driven by online retellings. While Kösemen once considered the work 'cringey' and nearly disowned it, he has since embraced its legacy, working on an expanded version that has grown to over 300 pages. The book concludes with a somber reflection: all posthuman species eventually vanish a billion years into the future, leaving behind only the remnants of a history that was always about the individual lives of humans, rather than the grand, abstract wars that defined their evolution.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: All Tomorrows
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