The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
theatlantic.com
The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
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Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#2[deleted]
Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#3>If, in the final 7,000 years of their reign, dinosaurs became hyperintelligent, built a civilization, started asteroid mining, and did so for centuries before forgetting to carry the one on an orbital calculation, thereby sending that famous valedictory six-mile space rock hurtling senselessly toward the Earth themselves—it would be virtually impossible to tell.
I consider this claim to be complete nonsense. Change my mind. There are 4 billion year old rocks still on the earth to be found. 7,000 years of civilization is not going to be completely erased in a few million.
Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#4As an addendum, the author, Peter Brannen, published another article with The Atlantic titled "What Made Me Reconsider the Anthropocene" four days ago.
In it, he responds to criticism and ultimately comes to the conclusion that - even if no trace of humanity is left (no civilization, tools, etc) in "deep time" - the biosphere itself has been changed by humanity, and that gives the concept of the Anthroprocene validity.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/10/anthropo...
Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#5>If, in the final 7,000 years of their reign, dinosaurs became hyperintelligent, built a civilization, started asteroid mining, and did so for centuries before forgetting to carry the one on an orbital calculation, thereby sending that famous valedictory six-mile space rock hurtling senselessly toward the Earth themselves—it would be virtually impossible to tell. I consider this claim to be complete nonsense. Change…
By some back of the napkin calculations I did once, I found that a couple billion years is enough for the tectonic plates to have completely recycled themselves into the mantle, erasing any structures built on them.
Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#6It seems to me this person is missing the point. When people talk about Anthropocene, they're not talking about geological or fossil evidence left behind by humans in million of years. Anthropocene refers to the Holocene or the sixth mass extinction on the planet.
Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#7>If, in the final 7,000 years of their reign, dinosaurs became hyperintelligent, built a civilization, started asteroid mining, and did so for centuries before forgetting to carry the one on an orbital calculation, thereby sending that famous valedictory six-mile space rock hurtling senselessly toward the Earth themselves—it would be virtually impossible to tell. I consider this claim to be complete nonsense. Change…
What about if dinosaurs got to the point of early hunter-gatherers - establishing communities, language, basic tools - but were then wiped out?
It's different from the case he cites, but tracks the general point that there are limits to what we can learn about prehistory / "deep time"
Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#8>If, in the final 7,000 years of their reign, dinosaurs became hyperintelligent, built a civilization, started asteroid mining, and did so for centuries before forgetting to carry the one on an orbital calculation, thereby sending that famous valedictory six-mile space rock hurtling senselessly toward the Earth themselves—it would be virtually impossible to tell. I consider this claim to be complete nonsense. Change…
By some back of the napkin calculations I did once, I found that a couple billion years is enough for the tectonic plates to have completely recycled themselves into the mantle, erasing any structures built on them.
Correct, the stratigraphic record is 3.5 billion years old. At least if this (https://xkcd.com/1194/) xkcd is to be truested.
Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#9>If, in the final 7,000 years of their reign, dinosaurs became hyperintelligent, built a civilization, started asteroid mining, and did so for centuries before forgetting to carry the one on an orbital calculation, thereby sending that famous valedictory six-mile space rock hurtling senselessly toward the Earth themselves—it would be virtually impossible to tell. I consider this claim to be complete nonsense. Change…
Most likely it is nonsense. The carbon and nitrogen composition of sedimentary layers will show anomalies in case of intelligent civilizations.
Re: The Arrogance of the Anthropocene
#10It seems to me this person is missing the point. When people talk about Anthropocene, they're not talking about geological or fossil evidence left behind by humans in million of years. Anthropocene refers to the Holocene or the sixth mass extinction on the planet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
My understanding is that the Anthropocene is definable because human gas emissions have created a visible layer in the rock strata that will be evident for millions of years. Geological time from now, there will be a black line in the rocks that will include the toxic chemicals coming from our industrial processes and tail pipes.