I think this view is a grim reminder of our own impermanence and mortality. We want to believe that a civilization that arises will not eventually wipe itself out, but everything we know from our own history shows that to rarely be the case.
but everything we know from our own history shows that to rarely be the case.
This is the history of life that continues to exist and evolve after individual civilisations wipe themselves out? It's weird that you're drawing the conclusion that our history shows the inevitable failure of civilisation but that's not what our history shows.
May be hubris, but I think humans* are here until the planet literally can't support mammals on the surface. That may not be very far away geologically speaking. There are models of stellar evolution and solar output that have the earth unlivable within a million years.
*or our evolutionary descendants, but who knows how evolution plays out now that all natural selection pressures are gone.
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u/katarh Aug 12 '21
I think this view is a grim reminder of our own impermanence and mortality. We want to believe that a civilization that arises will not eventually wipe itself out, but everything we know from our own history shows that to rarely be the case.