How long after man is gone...

[Nerys Ghemor]

Consider a tungsten carbide drill bit. It won't corrode.

Future archaeologists will probably think they served ritual purposes. Past civilizations made them of tungsten carbide, because they knew they wouldn't corrode, which symbolized a long fertility.

They'll also find random bits of stone with holes in them, that exactly match the diameter of these metal penises, and those stones were no doubt where the sticks were placed during sun worship, where they would harness the sun's rays during the solstice and be invigorated.

If that was a serious or even half-serious post, I think you seriously underestimate archaeologists and science.

I'm betting she got the idea from this book. I remember this SO well from when I was little!

http://www.amazon.com/Motel-Mysteri...3QBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308229524&sr=8-1

 

[Silvercrest]

Ah yes... good old Howard Carson and his toilet seat.

 

[MLJames]

Some years ago a friend loaned me a book with time travel into the distant past and distant future as the driving force of the plot. One of the things that stuck in my mind was that people traveling 50 million years into the future found evidence of humanity in the form of fossilized paved roads. They even had a name for the stuff: asphaltite. Wish I could remember the title and the author, but I can't.

 

[Deckerd]

You can't have a fossil of something that wasn't originally organic.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

The reason that fossils are only of living things is that living things were the only thing that existed that had a complex structure to be preserved and could be in some way distinguished from regular rocks. If dinosaurs had cell phones, their fossils would also be called fossils. We're the first on this planet to construct complex objects ourselves, we're the first to create something that would stand out when dug up. And because we're the first, you can't have fossils of anything but living organisms - such thing doesn't exist. But if we weren't the first, the word fossil would include those objects too.

And that's arguing semantics now...

 

[farmkid]

^ And besides, the asphalt in roads is organic. It's a carbon-based substance, and a derivative of crude oil.

 

[Vendikarr]

Life after People talks about this.

While many small items like the drill bit will be with us forever, the most outward signs of our being here will be the Pyramids, although they will be swallowed by the sands without man's intervention.

The most lasting outward sign would be Mount Rushmore. Provided the carved face doesn't slide off the mountain, it will be there a long time.

Imagine a new sentient species evolving and a member of that race staring up at those four carved faces in wonder.

 

[Distorted Humor]

You can't have a fossil of something that wasn't originally organic.

Trace fossils can be inorganic...(I know, I am splinting hairs, but I am sure humans would leave odd trace fossils...)

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The stuff on the moon will last until there is no more moon.

True. OTOH, our hypothetical successors could evolve to our current level and type of intelligence and depending upon the vagaries of their own technological innovations not yet be aware of those artifacts. They're not actually "left behind on this planet" per the OP, any more than the Voyager probes.

 

[Shatnertage]

Every time I read this thread, I can't get "In the Year 2525" out of my head, for some reason.

 

[TemporalFlux]

The most lasting outward sign would be Mount Rushmore. Provided the carved face doesn't slide off the mountain, it will be there a long time.

"Why is that man's nose missing?"

"The ancient texts say that it grew when he lied, so he became spiteful of his face and chopped it off."

 

[YellowSubmarine]

No, I think the elephants that inherit us would be wondering why human beings had no noses at all.

 

[AdAstra]

I recommend The world without us, as well. It's a very entertaining read and goes into details that I cannot remember or reproduce.

Glass will basically be around forever. Sure, it will be ground to small particles, but if it's protected a bit from impacts, it won't really decay.

 

[Cutter John]

We've gotten this far and nobodies mentioned Twinkies? Fail.


So what about things like nuclear waste sites? And wouldn't the stuff in landfills eventually start to fossilize?

 

[Samurai8472]

The stuff on the moon will last until there is no more moon.

That's no moon.

It's Lord Cheney's secret base

 

[Squiggy]

I recommend The world without us, as well. It's a very entertaining read and goes into details that I cannot remember or reproduce.

Glass will basically be around forever. Sure, it will be ground to small particles, but if it's protected a bit from impacts, it won't really decay.

Archeologists in the distant future will also find a rich layer of copper, the remains of the wiring of today.

I second the suggestion of The World Without Us. It may seem a little preachy at times, but it's a good read. If you want a more Michael Baysian approach to the subject, please do enjoy History's Life After People.

 

[arch101]

Every time I read this thread, I can't get "In the Year 2525" out of my head, for some reason.

...and I keep thinking 802,701

 

[Buddy Peabody]

Well, from a solipsistic point of view, as soon as I die the question will be rendered moot.

But really, I am fascinated more with whether or not the earth will have another sentient species on it before the sun extinguishes life on the planet--if we die out, that is. If so, assuming they're anything like us at all, I would imagine anything they found from our civilization would become a religious artifact.

 

[farmkid]

^ I see a potentially interesting idea for a movie or TV series. It could be either hard sci fi or a comedy or anything in between. I'd watch it if done right.

 

[Saquist]

I think you're going to have to wait for the end of the Earth itself. While we make a lot of stuff that breaks and crumbles in only a few years -- skyscrapers might last a few centuries -- a lot of the little things we make might last forever. Consider a tungsten carbide drill bit. It won't corrode. The workbench on which it sits might rot and the drill in which it's mounted might fall apart, but the drill bit itself and many of the components won't be appreciably affected by time.

I imagine a lot of jewelry will withstand eons, too. Buried in the ground by the passage of time, these things would have to be subducted under a continental plate before they'd be destroyed, but there are places on this planet that are billions of years old.

We'll leave, at the very least, a nice thick layer of abandoned technology strata behind for future archaeologists to find.

I think you're right...
The whole idea of a Saurian race evolving and leaving for the stars is unlikely as they too would left some sort of sign.