"If We Weren’t the First Industrial Civilization on Earth, Would We Ever Know?"

[minoanmiss]

I was just wondering about this and along comes this article.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/if-we-weren-t-the-first-industrial-civilization-on-earth-would-we-ever-know?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Comments

[lynnenne]

Thanks for linking to that! I’ve often wondered whether our self-extinction would ever leave any kind of trace in the geological record, or whether we’d just disappear into the Earth’s distant past the way other extinction events have.

I remember, decades ago, watching Cosmos as a child, and listening to Carl Sagan declaim about the possibility of nuclear annihilation: “There will be life again on Earth. There may even be intelligent life. But there will be no more humans, ever.” At the time, I thought this was an unimaginable tragedy. Now, I’m kind of comforted by the notion that the planet will outlive us by millions of years - and that there might be some kind of higher intelligence after us that might do better than we have.

[minoanmiss]

You're totally welcome! Like I said, I've been wondering about this off and on for awhile. If bones fossilize, could computer parts? Not well enough to work but maybe well enough to be recognizeable?

[vettecat]

Interesting article, thanks for sharing.

[minoanmiss]

I try. :) It seems to me a song could come out of this, but alas I'm not up to writing songs right now.