More recently, many involved in futures studies and transhumanism have remarked upon the accelerating rate of scientific progress and anticipate a technological singularity in the 21st century that would profoundly and unpredictably change the course of human history, and result in Homo sapiens no longer being the dominant life form on earth. The statistical methodology for inferring a single or multiple near-simultaneous technological singularities has been criticised for being quasi-empirical at best, using questionable statistical methodology.[citation needed] Part of the argument can be categorized as rationalist, not merely empirical, as the conclusions are nearly tautological, similar to early rationalist arguments for evolution by natural selection.[citation needed]
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The Sun at the centre of the Solar System will turn into a red giant in about 5 billion years (see the section on the Sun's Life cycle). As a red giant, the Sun will have a maximum radius beyond the Earth's current orbit. A second strand of rationalist based eschatology is founded on this scientifically well grounded observation. The Sun's expansion will obviously not lead to the end of the Universe. Its effects will be limited to our Solar System. It will inevitably lead to the disappearance of our planet. Life on Earth will become impossible due to a rise in temperature long before the planet is actually swallowed up by the Sun.
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