Hacker News Reader

Comment by noobermin | Hacker News Reader

An aside but generally reading about archaeology makes me somewhat sad about the focus in modern society, so much of what we must use and interact with to live is in fact intended not to last more than a few years to keep people's money incoming, yet the people who made these structures had things that survived even their own civilization. It would be great if we even had a modicrum of sustainability in our focus when we make or sell things.

View on HN

I'm actually not sure that is the case. What we are seeing in these ancient civilizations is only the portion that has survived. A great deal, most of it, has not survived at all. When you look at places like Macchi Picchu, it wasn't a city that regular people lived in. It was built as more of a palace or estate for the king.

If our civilization mostly disappeared, then things like large stone buildings, metal and stone statues would survive just the same and all of our disposable junk will have mostly disappeared leaving that skeleton of steel and stone.

I suspect we would even leave quite a bit more than civilizations past considering all of our roads, bridges, dams, and other enormous concrete and steel structures that we have created.

All those things breakdown in the presence of Mother Nature. If there is anything our future selves are going to find it's plastic.

My own melancholy about the past mostly is about what we do not observe today but only hear ancient references about. For example, reading about what had already been achieved in Ancient Greece [1] but was lost afterwards is pretty depressing for me.

The vast majority of what those who came before us created has been just as transient as what our own society creates. The answer to why most of what we focus on when it comes to archaelogy seems pretty obvious: Survivorship bias.

I am sure - however our own age turns out to end - people will look at some of the monuments we have created in marvel. But luckily, they will not have to look at Twitter or Snapchat.

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Alexandria-Birthplace-Moder...

You think the earlier civilizations gave focus on the fact that their structures should last long after they are gone ?

And you also think after our civilizations is wiped out all the structures we have built would disappear in a matter of few years and no trace would be left after maybe say a 1000 years ?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com