I guess the way I'd put it best in terms of what you've asked is: "what if we (humans) are on our second, third, or nth attempt to create a sustainable technol

I guess the way I'd put it best in terms of what you've asked is: "what if we (humans) are on our second, third, or nth attempt to create a sustainable technological culture, all previous attempts met with ruin or we were forced back into a 'pre-technological' hunter-gatherer lifestyle." It's hard to put into words because it goes against everything I know or believe, and yet there's this little thought in my head that won't go away: "this cannot be the first time." Normally with UFOs or other sorts of "pseudo-reality" I would just write the thought off as an interesting weirdness of our world, but for some reason I can't. Might just be a personal failing ;)