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I'm just learning that we think there were large civilizations before what we considered the birth of civilization.
Additionally our entire modern civilization would have basically no trace left after a couple hundred years, estimated.
Humans could have already had a technological civilization that collapsed back to the stone age and we are doing it again!
LAGEOS-1 will remain in orbit for estimated 8 million years, a civillization between now in 8 million years might discover that satellite when they reach the space age, or if they don't, it'll crash back down and they'll think its alien lol
If a civilization existed before human civilization as we know it, they never reached the space age since we never found anything just orbiting in space other than our stuff. If the next era of civilization ever reached the space age they might discover LAGEOS-1 and know about the existence of our era of civilizations. Also remnants of the moon landing can be seen.
If there had been a technological civilization before ours we would notice the depletion of natural resources, especially metal ore and fossil fuels.
The sad truth is we only have this one shot. If we collapse, there is no way another civilization reaches our technological level. All the easy to access fuel and resources have been pumped and used, so they wouldn't have the energy and materials required to start industrializing. They'd be stuck on a depleted planet with no realistic way to escape it.
No traces of modern civilization left after a couple hundred years? Are the mountains of plastic in the planets testicles going to degrade in less time than the USA has existed? What of the monolithic concrete structures, millions of metallic motor vehicles, the snaking networks of asphalt roads, and the mountains of explosive devices still left in the soil across many parts of the world? How about the radioactive materials that's trapped in burial sites packed beneath structures of concrete and leaded shielding? (Materials with half-lives longer than humanity has existed) Are those going to be completely wiped from existence in the time it took us to go from making the first petrol engine to creating dial-up internet?
We're STILL unearthing ruined cities, skeletons, and every day possessions from civilizations that existed for hundreds or thousands of years longer than the United States of America has existed for. Please link what sources made the claims you're regurgitating.
Edit: Fun profile name, by the way.
That's exactly what I'm saying. Humans have been genetically human for around 300,000 years.
This article mentions that plastic might take 1000 years to decompose in the ocean if we stop dumping it https://www.whoi.edu/ocean-learning-hub/ocean-facts/does-plastic-last-for-thousands-of-years-in-the-environment/
There are huge, almost geological time scales, that we have been human, and everywhere we look we find more evidence of earlier people, possibly even what we would call a civilization.
Also concrete doesn't last that long. That is why it was a big deal when we figured out roman "self healing" concrete.
Radioactive materials is the big one. That might be the only evidence of a civilization if it was old enough.
We don't have any evidence of organized civilizations older than around 5000bc I think, with gobekli tepe being an earlier potential civilization candidate.
Oh yeah, Mount Rushmore is totally just gonna be weathered away in a couple hundred years, and the pyramids have had extensive preservation efforts over the millennia...
Please engage your critical thinking skills.
We don't build with stone anymore. Mt Rushmore is a good point, but I'd bet the pyramids last longer than our skyscrapers
Edit: https://www.ecotravellerguide.com/the-erosion-of-mount-rushmore-a-new-study-shows-the-iconic-monument-could-be-gone-in-a-few-hundred-years/
This is a secondary source but apparently My Rushmore only has a few hundred years left.
Sure, we don't build with stone anymore, but there are an incredibly large amount of buildings and monuments built with stone that would last thousands of years, not merely hundreds. That's really good news about Mt Rushmore though, I'm glad that eyesore won't be around for many years to come.