4 ms·

Wondering about this as well. INAG, but I think fossils are extremely rare relative to population. And things like wedding rings will have disintegrated after j

Wondering about this as well. INAG, but I think fossils are extremely rare relative to population. And things like wedding rings will have disintegrated after just a few million years. But still, you'd think some of them would survive under conditions similar to those that preserved dino skeletons?

peatmoss 8y ago
That was my thinking as well, though apparently geologists are pretty pessimistic about both the survival of human artifacts and the probability that someone would find the rare oddballs that did survive. Plus, it’s possible that some hypothetical dino civilization mastered bio-degradable materials early on before taking to the stars ;-)
- y4mi 8y ago
  and settled the ...delta quadrant it was iirc? :)
  - rainbowmverse 8y ago
    Just a misread of the data by a well-intentioned scientist and some meddling humans.
- nkrisc 8y ago
  And now they're back, to reclaim what was once theirs. Invasion of the Space Dinos!
  - SideburnsOfDoom 8y ago
    That is more-or-less the plot of more than one episode of Dr Who: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Dinosaurs_on_a_Spaceship_(TV_story) http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Dinosaurs_on_a_Spaceship_(TV_st... http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Silurian http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Silurian
    - slavik81 8y ago
      "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" was mildly disappointing given the amazing ridiculousness of the title, but "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood" is a top-notch two-part episode. It feels so authentically human in both the highs and the lows.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Also reminiscent of an episode of Voyager where dinosaurs had evolved on earth millions of years before humans and started exploring space. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Distant_Origin_(episode) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Distant_Origin_(episode)
- Udik 8y ago
  How optimistic are geologists regarding the survival of bones? Or small insects?
ianai 8y ago
They discuss that in the article. Essentially everything would be turned asunder by the changing of the earths crust. The oldest part of the earths crust is something like 1.7 million years.
- 36bydesignBL 8y ago
  Then how would we have dinosaur bones from 65 million years ago +?
  - ianai 8y ago
    Fossils represent a very tiny portion of whatever was there at that time.
    - ceejayoz 8y ago
      Yes, but the point is the 1.7 M number for total crust turnover can't be valid, as none of that tiny portion would still exist.
    - aalleavitch 8y ago
      I find it hard to believe that there won't be at least some human fossils lying around 60 million years from now.
      - lostlogin 8y ago
        It’s an angle that a funeral directors could use as a selling point - Fossilisation.
        ahakki 8y ago
        see Ancient Egypt
        kabdib 8y ago
        In Gene Wolfe's SF/fantasy tetralogy The Book of the New Sun, set very far in the future, he refers to corpses preserved by extreme means and rendered essentially indestructible and basically just cluttering up the world.

peatmoss 8y ago

That was my thinking as well, though apparently geologists are pretty pessimistic about both the survival of human artifacts and the probability that someone would find the rare oddballs that did survive. Plus, it’s possible that some hypothetical dino civilization mastered bio-degradable materials early on before taking to the stars ;-)

y4mi 8y ago
and settled the ...delta quadrant it was iirc? :)
- rainbowmverse 8y ago
  Just a misread of the data by a well-intentioned scientist and some meddling humans.
nkrisc 8y ago
And now they're back, to reclaim what was once theirs. Invasion of the Space Dinos!
- SideburnsOfDoom 8y ago
  That is more-or-less the plot of more than one episode of Dr Who: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Dinosaurs_on_a_Spaceship_(TV_story) http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Dinosaurs_on_a_Spaceship_(TV_st... http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Silurian http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Silurian
  - slavik81 8y ago
    "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" was mildly disappointing given the amazing ridiculousness of the title, but "The Hungry Earth" / "Cold Blood" is a top-notch two-part episode. It feels so authentically human in both the highs and the lows.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Also reminiscent of an episode of Voyager where dinosaurs had evolved on earth millions of years before humans and started exploring space. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Distant_Origin_(episode) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Distant_Origin_(episode)
Udik 8y ago
How optimistic are geologists regarding the survival of bones? Or small insects?

ianai 8y ago

They discuss that in the article. Essentially everything would be turned asunder by the changing of the earths crust. The oldest part of the earths crust is something like 1.7 million years.

36bydesignBL 8y ago
Then how would we have dinosaur bones from 65 million years ago +?
- ianai 8y ago
  Fossils represent a very tiny portion of whatever was there at that time.
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    Yes, but the point is the 1.7 M number for total crust turnover can't be valid, as none of that tiny portion would still exist.
  - aalleavitch 8y ago
    I find it hard to believe that there won't be at least some human fossils lying around 60 million years from now.
    - lostlogin 8y ago
      It’s an angle that a funeral directors could use as a selling point - Fossilisation.
      - ahakki 8y ago
        see Ancient Egypt
      - kabdib 8y ago
        In Gene Wolfe's SF/fantasy tetralogy The Book of the New Sun, set very far in the future, he refers to corpses preserved by extreme means and rendered essentially indestructible and basically just cluttering up the world.