The Silurian Hypothesis: Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record?

The Silurian Hypothesis: Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record? (2019) https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.03748

mncharityNov 11, 2024View on HNParent context

If they were as advanced as we are now, we would have seen that the atmospheric CO2 levels had been higher back then, no? This paper draws the conclusions that such a civilization would be visible in the geological record. https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748

noslenwerdnaMay 16, 2024View on HNParent context

The concept of prior industrial civilizations was explored in a 2018 paper https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.03748. If you exclude industry, it could be exceedingly improbable that we would find fossil evidence of such creatures unless the species existed for several million years.

lumostMay 4, 2024View on HNParent context

That's a question in geology and archaeology called the Silurian Hypothesis: Could we even detect a millions-of-years old civilization in the geological record? 1. https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748

VHRangerAug 17, 2023View on HNParent context

I recommend Schmidt and Frank’s article on the Silurian hypothesis [1] for a surprisingly different take on this. The full text is on arXiv [2]. “We summarize the likely geological fingerprint of the Anthropocene, and demonstrate that while clear, it will not differ greatly in…

sjyJan 21, 2021View on HNParent context

Depends how long dead we’re talking about. You might like this paper[1] which asks what evidence would be left if there had been a pre-human industrial civilisation. [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748

aardvark179Jan 12, 2021View on HNParent context

https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748 If an industrial civilization had existed on Earth many millions of years prior to our own era, what traces would it have left and would they be detectable today? We summarize the likely geological fingerprint of the Anthropocene, and demonstrate…

hprotagonistAug 18, 2020View on HNParent context

You mean like https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/are-we-e... which links to https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748 ?

LargoLasskhyfvAug 19, 2020View on HNParent context

"We name the hypothesis after a 1970 episode of the British science fiction TV series Doctor Who" - The Silurian Hypothesis: Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record? https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748

mklJun 27, 2020View on HNParent context

Most likely it is nonsense. The carbon and nitrogen composition of sedimentary layers will show anomalies in case of intelligent civilizations. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1804.03748.pdf

namirezOct 15, 2019View on HNParent context

Some recent, informed speculation about such possibilities: https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748

HuShifangAug 31, 2019View on HNParent context

Yes, this has been investigated before - e.g. https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748 https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/are-we-e... But the evidence we have (as per prior comments) is that a human-level intelligence civilisation has arisen only once on Earth.

mellosoulsJul 10, 2019View on HNParent context

Maybe it was this? Gavin A. Schmidt, Adam Frank: The Silurian Hypothesis: Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record?, https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748 I found it through an article in The Atlantic that may or may not have been linked on…

heskJun 18, 2019View on HNParent context