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Viggen

A new Dark Age

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This is very hypothetical but nevertheless could lead to an interesting discussion...

 

If you had asked a Roman in 7 AD what will the world be in 2006 he would most probably said "the world will be ruled by Romans" then just a few hundred years later... gone...

 

Now what will the world look like in 4006? Imagine a "new" Dark Age will come, how will archaeologists assess (and misinterpret) the 20th century? Thanks to endless stacks of books, digital archives etc.. Work might be easier then for scholars, or maybe not (we don`t know if in 4006, people will understand how to use a MP3 file, maybe because it is so backward, or maybe because it is so advanced)...

 

so, hows life for an archaeologist in 4006?

 

cheers

viggen

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The geography of 4006 will be very different, as the result of global warming the seas will have risen and many of our great cities will (like Alexandria) be submerged.

 

I suspect that there will have been huge population movements in the late C21st and early C22nd, because of shortages of foodstuffs, climate change and a demand for scarce resources. the nations, even the racial mix we know, may have changed beyond recognition.

 

Many of our archives will have been lost because the hardware required to play discs and databases no longer exists. (That is, I understand, even true of data collected in the 1980s already!) So effort may have to be put into rebuilding computers in an equivalent of decyphering the Rosetta Stone.

 

If the technological gulf between our world and that of the future, the USA might be regarded rather as Atlantis is today - how could a country have been "real" that possessed such weaponry, machines that flew and so much wealth etc etc?

 

I don't have time now - I'm about to leave for work, but I'll return to this anon. It'll give me something to think about on my journey to and from work.

 

Interesting topic.

 

Phil

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You've started something now, Viggen!

 

As well as history Phil is into sci-fi.

 

4006 will be identical to the Kevin Costner films Waterworld and The Postman.

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You've started something now, Viggen!

 

As well as history Phil is into sci-fi.

 

Hehe, this isn`t so much about sci-fi, but about what challenges historians and archaeologists will face in the future...

 

cheers

viggen

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An interesting question Viggen!

 

I would think that even if we were to meet the biggest experts on the 20/21st Century in the year 4006, their view of the our own world would be very bizzare indeed, just as our own view of the ancient world would seem strange to those who lived at that time.

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Hehe, this isn`t so much about sci-fi, but about what challenges historians and archaeologists will face in the future...

 

cheers

viggen

 

I know already with E-mail Historians are sweating bullets. We truly live in a brave new world, one where there is no hardcopy of people's correspondence

They find that the letters of historical figures are most telling about who they were as people.

So historians in the future might have ultra-realistic holograms of their politicians.

and yet they will only see their public face.

 

such a pity

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The World as We know it would need to be totally destroyed if the World is to enter a New Dark Age. The human drama cannot co-exist with the knowledge that the present advances in tools and ideas if those things of the material experience are to become archeologist finds. The archeologist of 4006 will find few clues. Either the World advances or begins a New Age Not a Dark one.

 

regards,

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The World as We know it would need to be totally destroyed if the World is to enter a New Dark Age. The human drama cannot co-exist with the knowledge that the present advances in tools and ideas if those things of the material experience are to become archeologist finds. The archeologist of 4006 will find few clues. Either the World advances or begins a New Age Not a Dark one.

 

regards,

 

i suspect that if you asked a roman a similar question in say 350, he would have found it dificult to belive that aqueducts, baths and all other engineering would be lost for centuries...

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Guest Riklon
This is very hypothetical but nevertheless could lead to an interesting discussion...

 

If you had asked a Roman in 7 AD what will the world be in 2006 he would most probably said "the world will be ruled by Romans" then just a few hundred years later... gone...

 

Now what will the world look like in 4006? Imagine a "new" Dark Age will come, how will archaeologists assess (and misinterpret) the 20th century? Thanks to endless stacks of books, digital archives etc.. Work might be easier then for scholars, or maybe not (we don`t know if in 4006, people will understand how to use a MP3 file, maybe because it is so backward, or maybe because it is so advanced)...

 

so, hows life for an archaeologist in 4006?

 

cheers

viggen

 

 

A new dark age an interesting topic. The way I see it 2000 years from today many things will change, but not all will be lost. Who knows maybe the human body and our life span might change radically due to unhealthy diet. This might trigger the future folks to try and find out how we managed to live for 60 years or so.

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This is very hypothetical but nevertheless could lead to an interesting discussion...

 

If you had asked a Roman in 7 AD what will the world be in 2006 he would most probably said "the world will be ruled by Romans" then just a few hundred years later... gone...

 

Now what will the world look like in 4006? Imagine a "new" Dark Age will come, how will archaeologists assess (and misinterpret) the 20th century? Thanks to endless stacks of books, digital archives etc.. Work might be easier then for scholars, or maybe not (we don`t know if in 4006, people will understand how to use a MP3 file, maybe because it is so backward, or maybe because it is so advanced)...

 

so, hows life for an archaeologist in 4006?

 

cheers

viggen

 

Perhaps it will be somethng like this....

 

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalo...leNumber=690599

 

The review gives you a pretty good idea of what the book is like. A great read, although it's mostly illustrations. I was first introduced to it in middle school.

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It seems to be a humorous satire on the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Although this time round it's us that's being dug up. I imagine that some archaeologists of the future might make many of the mistakes that we make about the past. It looks like a good read, are there any similar books of this type?

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I imagine that some archaeologists of the future might make many of the mistakes that we make about the past.

 

I hope I'm never dug up and ground into dust for "health potions"...! :P

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It seems to be a humorous satire on the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Although this time round it's us that's being dug up. I imagine that some archaeologists of the future might make many of the mistakes that we make about the past. It looks like a good read, are there any similar books of this type?

 

I don't know of any other books in the same vein.

 

The funny thing about it is everything he finds he ascribes to some sort of religious ceremony. At one point he determines that a toilet seat is ceremonial headdress! He also found a McDonald's sign - I think he figures the golden arches represented salvation, although I can't remember for sure.

 

Everytime I read about something recently unearthed that archaeologists believe has religious signifigance, I think about that book. Especially when it's something from ancient Native American societies from which little or no writing exists today.

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