Kurzgesagt did a great video on this:
Silurian Hypothesis
41–50 of 65 posts
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#42It’s true that only very few individuals would be fossilised and fewer if they found. Nevertheless we do generally find multiple fossils of the same or closely related species. We also find fossils of multiple stages in the evolution of many species. So it seems unlikely to me that we would find zero fossils of a species advanced enough to colonise the entire planet, as we have, nor any of their ancestral species. It…
In my will, I'm going to ask that I be buried in soft mud in a river delta, or some similar place likely to become sedimentary rock in the far future. But I also want to be buried with some relic that proves I was a member of a technically literate civilization. I surmise something like a wooden abacus. The wooden abacus would fossilize along with my remains. I hope my fossil, and the fossilized object I carry, will…
Cynically, with how much trash there is around rivers you're likely to be fossilized within a strata chock full of traces of our civilization.
Non-cynically, I would recommend having a stone abacus crafted if you wish to be buried this way - effectively mineralize the relic manually and don't leave its fossilization up to chance. You could also try encasing some objects into amber or resin and scattering them around your final resting place.
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#43I’ll just say it. The earth is around 4 billion years old. Due to the constant shifting of the surface and oceans, we don’t know what existed before. Fossils only form under very specific conditions. The Sahara for example were a forest before, so why haven’t we found trees and fossils there. What I’m basically getting at is, saying that we should be able to detect whether life existed by looking at sediment is speculation at best. Water and sand is extremely abrasive not to mention scavenger animals and insects that basically recycle waste. I’m not saying that there were advanced civilisations before us, but saying we’re are the first and only advanced civilisation that’s been on a planet for the last 4 billions years, is like saying there’s no intelligent life in the universe and earth is “special” because we can’t find alien life anywhere in our solar system.
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#44It’s true that only very few individuals would be fossilised and fewer if they found. Nevertheless we do generally find multiple fossils of the same or closely related species. We also find fossils of multiple stages in the evolution of many species. So it seems unlikely to me that we would find zero fossils of a species advanced enough to colonise the entire planet, as we have, nor any of their ancestral species. It…
The distribution of fossils between continents was one of the pieces of evidence used to support the hypothesis of continental drift and plate tectonics. It would make sense that any prior civilization would also be introducing species outside of their native ranges, or making several species show up in disparate parts of the globe with no good natural explanation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_exchange versus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Interchange
This species is particularly fascinating because it is only found in Japan and parts of Texas. No one has a good explanation for why, although no one is suggesting an ancient civilization did it.
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#45I wrote a novel, I know, every asshole has. About this. My theory, that is, either ridiculous or correct, the Silurians are the ancestors of the dolphin. The dolphin, or OK, the Orca, have a larger cerebral cortex than humans. What if, they were on once land dwellers, could it be? There is some science behind that. And say, they burned a bunch of hydrocarbons and caused a global warming, melted all the ice and they h…
> place an odalisque with an inscription on it obelisk?
> I’m sure the OP meant obelisk, and probably typed that originally, but it looks like their system changed it to odalisque, "a female slave or concubine in a harem, especially one in the seraglio of the Sultan of Turkey."
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#46I’ll just say it. The earth is around 4 billion years old. Due to the constant shifting of the surface and oceans, we don’t know what existed before. Fossils only form under very specific conditions. The Sahara for example were a forest before, so why haven’t we found trees and fossils there. What I’m basically getting at is, saying that we should be able to detect whether life existed by looking at sediment is specu…
There is a Kurzgesagt video on this subject.
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
> place an odalisque with an inscription on it obelisk?
> I’m sure the OP meant obelisk, and probably typed that originally, but it looks like their system changed it to odalisque, "a female slave or concubine in a harem, especially one in the seraglio of the Sultan of Turkey."
It’s funny how autocorrect changes real words to other words. Obelisk seems more common than odalisque so maybe OP just writes about odalisques quite a bit.
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#48I wrote a novel, I know, every asshole has. About this. My theory, that is, either ridiculous or correct, the Silurians are the ancestors of the dolphin. The dolphin, or OK, the Orca, have a larger cerebral cortex than humans. What if, they were on once land dwellers, could it be? There is some science behind that. And say, they burned a bunch of hydrocarbons and caused a global warming, melted all the ice and they h…
Dolphins, as mammals, descended from a land-walking mammal discovered in Pakistan.
As did the whales.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakicetus
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/when-whales-walked-on-four-le...
"Pakicetus, a goat-sized, four-legged creature that scientists recognise as one of the first cetaceans (the group of marine animals that includes dolphins and whales). [Discovered in 1981.]"
https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/on-exhibit-posts/the...
(I actually saw this in an aquarium/museum exhibit a few weeks ago in Clearwater, Florida.)
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#49Have these people not seen how much garbage we leave lying around!? A lot of artificial materials last far longer than natural materials. Pure metals especially can last a very long time, like gold jewellery, or even just aluminium. Not to mention "forever chemicals", large scale concrete construction, mining, etc... We'll be finding evidence of our presence on Earth for a billion years or more, whether we like it or…
Most evidence would be gone after a few million years. Any metal that oxidizes would go first, aluminium included. Concrete would disappear with weathering, earth quakes, and even just by the action of plants. Huge open pit mines or mountain top removal would be weathered away and filled in with sediments. Plastics decompose and chemicals are diluted and dispersed or consumed by microbes. Gold jewelry may last a long…
We’re finding organic remains like skeletons hundreds of millions of years later! Manufactured goods made of durable materials would certainly be just as easy to find. It’s simple logic.
Re: Silurian Hypothesis
#50The genius of this Silurian hypothesis and related ones is that they are theories of archeology where you start with an unfalsifiable premise, and then anything that fails to falsify it becomes evidence for the theory, hence "ancient astronaut theorists say 'yes'" I discovered that ancient aliens TV series just before the pandemic and have binged it as a kind of esoteric comedy, where every confirmation of the theory and their various hustles lands like a hypnotic joke. It's probably my guiltiest vice.
It is really plausible that ancient pre-cataclysm civilizations were so sophisticated that they used megalithic walled fortresses as a trans-solar biosecurity schemes, if you first accept the unfalsifiable premise that some proto-humans became spacefaring. It's brilliant.
I actually believe they're probably right in some coincidental way as well, but I enjoy the misdirection in the logic of their ideas because it's like a card trick. However, concretely, today there are two things we know: magic is a trick, and stories of parapsychological phenomena are not evidence of sophisticated extra-terrestrial life. The junk ideas challenge what other theories of everything we believe that are founded on similarly mysterious premises. Religions are fairly contained, but ideologies like the ancient astronaut theory evolve to incorporate whatever idea they encounter as new evidence of itself. Can you can do it for anything? "Ancient _X_ theorists say 'yes'"
It must be infuriating to some academic archeologists to get questions about aliens, but really, it's developing interest in the field, and I've probably said before that we could fund and promote a lot of real science by attaching entertainers to it. Not to go on, but AA is one of my favorite silly topics.