Our time lost

Sometimes I think about what it would take for our current civilization to become lost. and possibly rediscovered by a future civilization.

If we underwent some major event (natural or manmade)killing most of the world population to end knowledge of how to rebuild communication, travel, or other types of infostructure, I dont find it inconceivable that our buildings would collapse, metals would rust. organic materials would decay. We could disapear as large societys have in the past.

Well I was just starting this to see what other people think may be left behind and how future people may interprit it.

Unless a massive global disaster occur, not much threaten our civilization so much it could become "lost". Keep in mind, our society today is *ALOT* bigger than it was in the past. We are talking like a million to one in comparison.

Something that's important to keep in mind is that the "base" of a civilisation is always increased. By base I mean that if everything got wiped out and a few survive, they still have more basic knowledge than all the past civilisations combined.

If the world went bang today, then sure it would be a severe set back. I dont know how to build a car or make asphalt, send radio transmissions or make a computer work (THAT would be a real disaster ).
But I do know math, geometry and a ton of basic stuff like how to write and read, so I can do more than what a surviving peasant could 1000bc. In a rough comparison, I would be the eqvivalent of a ancient "priest" or "engineer". And basicly every other survivor too.

The main thing you have to consider is that we dont really need all that to remain a society. Even today, people nearly live like they did 2000 years ago!!! Take away 99% of all technology countries/people, and you'd still have like a billion people left with little visible damage to their society.

[edit on 20-1-2006 by merka]

If there was a cataclysm that big (worldwide scale), everybody would be too busy trying to gather bits of food and shelter to keep up with their former civilized interests. The next generation would start from scratch just about.

Originally posted by that1prsn

Well I was just starting this to see what other people think may be left behind and how future people may interprit it.

Quarries and mines would still be discernible for millions of years, especially in temperate zones. And I guess the geological record would also show millions of miles of narrow stretches of asphalt just below the topsoil.

If future people recognized our roads as being something manmade, maybe they would go in such a different direction, the few bits they find would be dismissed as unimportant or worse, hoaxes....
It would not be long before quarries and mines would look natural. Cities may last for a few millenia, but none of our structures is as durable as the great pyramid was, but is no longer, thanks to us. It still is the best bet to last longest. Maybe satellites could re-enter and crash far enough in the future to be a relic of our times. I see very little we have made which has a very good chance of being here, say, 12 000 years from now.