The Silurian Hypothesis (2020) • Hacker News Board

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#11

Post by nwah1 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 2:54 PM UTC

gorgoiler wrote: post #3

throw310822 wrote: post #2

So we have microbial fossils from 3.5 billion years ago, fossilised 300 million year old skin , bones from almost 200 my ago, even actually soft tissue inside a fossilised bone from 70 my ago. Ah, footprints too, the most unsubstantial matter of all: pure shape. That's in addition to all the million other fossils that are so common we hardly care: shells, small bones, etc. And someone is saying there could have been…

The counter argument: dinosaurs were around for a staggering amount of time, no pun intended. 165 million years is reasonably long enough to ensure they left behind some nests, bones, and a feather or two. Modern humans have been around for more like 0.02 million years. The counter-counter argument is that while we’ve been here for a comparative blink of an eye, we’ve left behind 4 orders of magnitude more stuff than…

Yea, but if humans went extinct tomorrow, very little human artifacts would remain after millions of years. Indeed, most would be gone well before that. How much stuff from the 18th century still remains, in percentage terms?

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#12

Post by Razengan » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 2:57 PM UTC

api wrote: post #7

This is a good thought experiment to show how time is as vast as space. 400 million years ago is as distant as the stars. The Earth was a different planet then, in a sense. It’s also yet another Fermi paradox answer. Even if our civilization lasts for millions of years, that’s a blip. We are searching both space and time and both are incomprehensibly vast.

> time is as vast as space.

This is what I always say to "Why haven't we found any aliens yet??"

Hell, we wouldn't even have known about the existence dinosaurs, lifeforms on THIS VERY PLANET, if we hadn't chanced upon their remains.

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#13

Post by markus_zhang » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 2:58 PM UTC

However, since we do have plenty of fossils from Silurian, it is hard to believe that none of the advanced technologies never left any hint. Any idea?

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#14

Post by zabzonk » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 2:59 PM UTC

Dr Who and the Silurians had this covered: https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Silurian

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#15

Post by delichon » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 3:03 PM UTC

jmclnx wrote: post #8

>The oldest place on the earth’s surface—a stretch of Israel’s Negev Desert I do not understand this statement, I thought an area in Quebec was around 3 - 4 billion years old. I looked, seems Australia may have the oldest area: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220126-is-the-pilbara-t... But I say the article could be true, but the only issue I have is the large dinos. I would think they could be an impediment to…

The claim isn't about the age of rock, but that the surface has churned almost everywhere. Israel does contain the oldest measured continuous surface at about 1.8M yo, but nobody claims to have looked everywhere.

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#16

Post by fnord77 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 3:04 PM UTC

throw310822 wrote: post #2

So we have microbial fossils from 3.5 billion years ago, fossilised 300 million year old skin , bones from almost 200 my ago, even actually soft tissue inside a fossilised bone from 70 my ago. Ah, footprints too, the most unsubstantial matter of all: pure shape. That's in addition to all the million other fossils that are so common we hardly care: shells, small bones, etc. And someone is saying there could have been…

> And someone is saying there could have been an entire advanced civilization 400 million years ago, large and powerful enough to cause climate change, and that no traces of it would possibly be left?

If humanity vanished today, in 1 million years almost all of our artifacts would be gone or burned under miles of subduction.

In 10 million years there would literally be nothing left.

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#17

Post by hliyan » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 3:05 PM UTC

I don't think we have to go that far back. Plate tectonics, submersion and weathering does a good enough job of wiping the slate clean off the surface of the Earth, that any evidence of earlier hominids developing pre-industrial, coastal civilizations say, a million years ago, would be now under the crust. What we consider civilization is about 5000 years old, so it's not inconceivable that the cycle might have occurred multiple times during geologic time spans. Perhaps this is the first time civilization was not interrupted and made its way through to a technological civilization.

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#18

Post by amazingamazing » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 3:07 PM UTC

if all dolphins were wiped out could we know that they were ever here from physical evidence?

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#19

Post by nkrisc » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 3:10 PM UTC

amazingamazing wrote: post #18

if all dolphins were wiped out could we know that they were ever here from physical evidence?

We’ll never know of the existence of most species that ever existed. Fossilization is rare.

Re: The Silurian Hypothesis (2020)

#20

Post by dash2 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 3:10 PM UTC

I can't speak to dinosaur people, but the population genetics of our own DNA reveals that there were never many humans on the planet till recently, so that rules out any very large human civilization. (Unless they genetically altered themselves to hide the evidence! Ahaaa...)