When our species has become extinct, is there anything that would survive long enough to tell the next intelligent species to arise that we were a technological civilization? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by Crackhappy@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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[-] Geek_King@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago

I watched a special years ago about what would happen to our infrastructure, buildings, etc if humans just blinked out of existence. The show start off advancing time, touching on events as they might occur. The very last thing to withstand the test of time was Mount Rushmore, due to be carved from granite. Mount Rushmore would stick around for a very very very long time and would be the last trace of us. But that's just that one TV show special's opinion, but it sounds pretty.....solid to me.

[-] idiomaddict@feddit.de 1 points 9 months ago

I wonder if Mt. Rushmore would be obvious if you’ve never seen a primate. If a super alien species is investigating, I can imagine them not realizing that it was designed by sapient life.

[-] Geek_King@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

I'd think that any alien species advanced enough to travel the stars would see a row of consistent shapes etched into the rock and realize it couldn't be nature. Maybe one face like rock sure, but 4 faces etched would be too big a coincidence and I think aliens would pick up on that. Now they wouldn't be able to tell much about us as a species other then we could work rock pretty well. They'd have no idea of what our bodies look like, or that the hair carved into the stone were soft strains of protein instead of a hard helmet like carapace. But I think they'd get intelligent life created the carvings on Mount Rushmore.

[-] fenwickrysen@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

but it sounds pretty.....solid to me.

I see what you did there. I, for one, think it's a rock solid pun that most will take for granite.

[-] Mossheart@lemmy.ca 1 points 9 months ago

This pun really magma day.

this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2024

91 points (94.2% liked)

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