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Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

nautil.us

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Re: Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

#81

Post by analog31 »

DannyB2 wrote: post #4

If there were an industrial civilization here before us (modern humans) then it would be astonishing that in all of the fossils we have discovered, we've never yet discovered a single ancient nut, bolt, screwdriver, wrench, etc. Not one single wire or cast metal part. As per the article, that civilization would have to predate all of the vast history of evolution that we know of. Wouldn't some higher life forms from…

Any such civilization would have to have been configured to leave no traces for us to discover. Russell's Teapot comes to mind.

Re: Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

#82

Post by WalterBright »

tarikjn wrote: post #14
DannyB2 wrote: post #4

If there were an industrial civilization here before us (modern humans) then it would be astonishing that in all of the fossils we have discovered, we've never yet discovered a single ancient nut, bolt, screwdriver, wrench, etc. Not one single wire or cast metal part. As per the article, that civilization would have to predate all of the vast history of evolution that we know of. Wouldn't some higher life forms from…

Not pre-human but challenging the understood modern human timeline of industrialisation — We have not found the tools, but we may have found the products; in the form of stone-based vases that archeologists attribute to the Early Egyptian Period but are believed to be from much earlier, and would have required tools that have not been discovered yet. The channel UnchartedX make a compelling argument about this hypoth…

I recall TV shows saying that the Egyptian pyramids could not have been constructed with Egyptian technology, so it must have been space aliens. The same for the closely fitting stones in Inca buildings.

It doesn't take advanced technology to do either of those things.

My favorite one was pi is there in the relationship between the pyramid base length and its height, and the Egyptians had no notion of pi. Again, space aliens! But if the Egyptians used a wheel 1 cubit in diameter to mark out the base, and the height was in cubits, then there's pi.

(What's a cubit?)

Re: Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

#83

Post by jamiek88 »

blueflow wrote: post #30
barelysapient wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like to wonder what undiscovered fossils exist below the oceans that cover 70 percent of our planet.

Look up about continental vs ocean crust, ocean crust is younger and has a shorter lifetime. You have better chances finding maritime fossils on land.

Yeah subduction is the missing key that took a while for us to understand. Ocean crust is young.

In fact most earthly rock is relatively young.

Plate tectonics was such a clever idea. So obvious now, I mean just look at a map of the world of course continents were once one, you can see where they join, like a jigsaw puzzle.

It astonished early western explorers finding seashells on mountains!

Re: Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

#85

Post by Eisenstein »

I can think of one plausible way that this happened: the simulation theory.

Seeing as there are only a few logical options:

* We stop being able to advance computing power

* We somehow make it impossible or undesirable to create a realistic simulation

* We destroy ourselves

* We advance to the point where can and do create realistic simulations

Then there is a very good chance that we are in fact, living in a simulation.

Re: Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

#86

Post by chiefalchemist »

> a point that might be too subtle for some netizens in our age of Ancient Aliens memes.

Funny enough there are actually one or two Ancient Alients episodes on this topic. One asks the same question and draws the same conclusion (i.e., it's hard to say, but certainly not impossible). The other is about odd out of the ordinary artifacts. One of the more intriguing ones was a hammer type object found in sandstone (?), and evidently such rock requires millions of years to form.

Re: Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

#87

Post by flangola7 »

MR4D wrote: post #74
DannyB2 wrote: post #4

If there were an industrial civilization here before us (modern humans) then it would be astonishing that in all of the fossils we have discovered, we've never yet discovered a single ancient nut, bolt, screwdriver, wrench, etc. Not one single wire or cast metal part. As per the article, that civilization would have to predate all of the vast history of evolution that we know of. Wouldn't some higher life forms from…

If it were more than 65 million years ago there would be no evidence due to plate tectonics destroying all evidence. Still could be on the moon or another planet though.

We have fossils of cyanobacteria from 3 billion years ago. There's plenty of dinosaur fossils that are 100+ million years old. We definitely could have found something.

Re: Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

#88

Post by thrashh »

analog31 wrote: post #81
DannyB2 wrote: post #4

If there were an industrial civilization here before us (modern humans) then it would be astonishing that in all of the fossils we have discovered, we've never yet discovered a single ancient nut, bolt, screwdriver, wrench, etc. Not one single wire or cast metal part. As per the article, that civilization would have to predate all of the vast history of evolution that we know of. Wouldn't some higher life forms from…

Any such civilization would have to have been configured to leave no traces for us to discover. Russell's Teapot comes to mind.

That species would have to be completely united and able to collude without a single disagreement.

Not only that, they would have had to achieve complete perfection because we haven’t found a single trace.

Re: Could an industrial civilization have predated humans on Earth?

#89

Post by c22 »

blueflow wrote: post #34
getmeinrn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random thought, but if we extrapolate the path we're on in terms of biodegradability and sustainability, it's not ridiculous to assume that a very advanced version of us would have developed the technology and legislation to ensure that all products biodegrade safely within X years.

This doesn't undo all the stuff that already is in the ground and rivers everywhere.

Perhaps there could follow a movement to undo all prior impacts out of an ethical motivation.
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