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Even the sigmoid is a somewhat optimistic picture. Another possibility is a bell curve, where due to resource depletion we eventually end up back near where we
by c1ccccc1 6y ago
Even the sigmoid is a somewhat optimistic picture. Another possibility is a bell curve, where due to resource depletion we eventually end up back near where we started. It's interesting to imagine how over time the scientific knowledge we've obtained with our particle accelerators and space telescopes and electron microscopes would decay in the absence of high technology. If it has been 800 years since anyone has directly observed a Higgs particle or a molecule of DNA, what reason would there be to remember accurately what it was, or even to remember it at all? People of the future might end up thinking that the Higgs was a deity worshipped by us people of the past, given all of our references to the "God particle".
- tetris11 6y agoYou assume we will lose all record of our discoveries so far, which has some precedence with Roman sewage treatment being forgotten, but we are much better at keeping records and we have too many artefacts from this period that will naturally prompt curiosity to future generations. Even if some unforseen solar event disables our electronics for a millennia, and we devolve into infighting, the winners will still be those with the technological superiority, mechanically gas-powered or otherwise. The only threat I can envision is a wild asteroid, but then it's game over for all of us.