Secrets of the City

Did anyone else watch. Life After People on the History Channel?

They thought that possibly the last thing remaining on Earth produced by humans would possibly be Mount Rushmore. They reasoned that it is located on the stable craton of North America, made of dense granite and is an area away from corrosive sea salt.

Anyone else think it might be a little creepy to think in 10,000 years everything will be gone except for Mount Rushmore? Also I think this is the best argument for never adding an additional president.

I’m of the opinion that Keith Richards and anything made out of plastic will outlast Mount Rushmore.

I watched it for a little while, but it quickly lost my interest. I hear there’s a book on the topic that’s much better.

The chance of earth after humans is something I often wonder about. Sometimes I see things and wonder, “What if 10,000 years from now a new civilization finds that and it’s all that’s left from our time?” What conclusions will they come to? If it’s Mount Rushmore, maybe they’ll look at it like that statue of the foot on LOST. But I think a more likely candidate is Crazy Horse monument. That’ll just take 10,000 years to finish.

What conclusions will they come to?

1) We drank a lot of bottled water
2) We lived near the ocean
3) We watched a lot of porn on these primative computing devices

Mpls Simpleton: “Anyone else think it might be a little creepy to think in 10,000 years everything will be gone except for Mount Rushmore?”

Most likely there will be ample evidence of our existence on the earth other than Rushmore. Stone age earthworks have left an impression on the landscape for 4,000 years. I would suggest that concrete foundations will leave a more lasting one, even after the concrete has crumbled. Sure, the alien archaeologists will have to do a bit of digging, but they’d probably work it out.

I would guess that it would take several hundreds of thousands of years to expunge most of the record of our existence.

Of more concern to me is the transferral of almost our entire cultural records onto digital media. If someone ever uses an EMP weapon, we could lose almost everything that transcends our current society, quite aside from the total collapse of civilization as we know it. At least the monks and scribes of the dark ages had hard copies to work from.

They did address concrete foundations but there is a difference between stone work and cocrete. Also we use metal rebar in most of our concrete that actually hastens the break down of concrete by forcing it apart from the inside as it rusts. We don’t make much from actual stone anymore that isn’t reinforced with steel or concrete.

It also talked about the storage of media and that likely all of that will be list within 1000 years. The SETI people have shown that the waves emanating from the earth lose coherence before they even reach the next star system. I don’t think most of humans have created is really worth saving.

There was a much better show on the history of the earth last night. That is if you don’t think woman was made from a rib of adam 8000 years ago.

We have equipment/storage out there that resists EMP, tuecer. Maz could tell you more (seriously!).

No, I am aware of EMP hardening but that’s not going to protect the world’s MP3 collections, is it?

No, I am aware of EMP hardening but that’s not going to protect the world’s MP3 collections, is it?

All your iTunes are belong to us!

No, I am aware of EMP hardening but that’s not going to protect the world’s MP3 collections, is it?

If you’re really worried about it, keep your computer and/or mp3 player in a Faraday cage.

Someone Set Us Up the iTunes 7!!

Mpls Simpleton: “Also we use metal rebar in most of our concrete that actually hastens the break down of concrete by forcing it apart from the inside as it rusts. We don’t make much from actual stone anymore that isn’t reinforced with steel or concrete.”

I was assuming that concrete would have crumbled long before 10,000 years – it doesn’t survive well underground and is very vulnerable to water leaching. But foundations for big building are dug deep, so I would guess that subsidence will leave visible traces for thousands of years.

After all, the stone and bronze age earthworks I’m talking about aren’t made out of stone, they’re just ditches and earth ramparts. Sometimes the walls have rubble cores, often they don’t. But they’re still readily visible.

Once you start getting into the hundreds of thousands of years, all bets are off though. Erosion, tectonics and time are without mercy.

Aw, Jeez. I thought time was on our side. Oh yes it was.

Elizabeth: “If you’re really worried about it, keep your computer and/or mp3 player in a Faraday cage.”

I really don’t think that Zombie Faradays are going to be that much of a threat to my MP3 collection, no matter how dystopic the future is.

I’m sure there will be some things such as the great wall of China that are still around. Although there was another scary show about the top 7 threats to civilization on yesterday. Number 6 or something like that was Yellowstone Park Caldera becoming active again and blotting out the sun for decades.

We have equipment/storage out there that resists EMP, tuecer. Maz could tell you more (seriously!).

I could, but then I’d have to kill ya.

Also we use metal rebar in most of our concrete that actually hastens the break down of concrete by forcing it apart from the inside as it rusts.

I blame MNDOT.

This is totally Planet of the Apes.