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Message
Will there be another dark age?
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:20 am
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:20 am
At the end of the bronze age, there was a major collapse of society. This has been blamed on a multitude of reasons, but humanity in general took at least a step back after making large strides forward.
At the end of the roman empire, again the world was plunged into a second dark age. I find it difficult to believe that people would see these things that were built by the romans and used there as recently as 100 years ago or less and they had no idea how the thing was built.
The amount of knowledge lost during these times was vast considering the amount of knowledge that they had.
Considering the massive amounts of knowledge that is now collected by humanity, and the way it is stored on digital media and print, will there be another dark age?
And I am not referring to the so called digital dark ages where historical data is simply not retrievable except at a cost because the file formats are no longer usable. Examples of which include all the data that for the most part is not accessible on various disk media.
So, will there be one? If not why and if so why? What will cause it? Zombie apocalypse? Viral infection? Nuclear war?
Obviously the potential information lost during a new dark age could be exponentially larger than anything that has ever been seen on this planet in the past?
For you history buffs...
Bronze age collapse
LINK
Sorry for the easy wiki link, but I don't feel like looking for one of the many interesting articles about this collapse...
European dark ages I figure I don't need to link.
Example news article on a coming digital dark age (not a really a dark age, but interesting nonetheless...)
LINK /
Obviously you can look any of these up on wikipedia...
Anyways, what are the thoughts here other than Obama will cause it?
At the end of the roman empire, again the world was plunged into a second dark age. I find it difficult to believe that people would see these things that were built by the romans and used there as recently as 100 years ago or less and they had no idea how the thing was built.
The amount of knowledge lost during these times was vast considering the amount of knowledge that they had.
Considering the massive amounts of knowledge that is now collected by humanity, and the way it is stored on digital media and print, will there be another dark age?
And I am not referring to the so called digital dark ages where historical data is simply not retrievable except at a cost because the file formats are no longer usable. Examples of which include all the data that for the most part is not accessible on various disk media.
quote:
A famous real example is with NASA, whose early space records have suffered from a Dark Age issue more than once. For over a decade, magnetic tapes from the 1976 Viking Mars landing were unprocessed. When later analyzed, the data was unreadable as it was in an unknown format and the original programmers had either died or left NASA. The images were eventually extracted following many months of puzzling through the data and examining how the recording machines functioned
So, will there be one? If not why and if so why? What will cause it? Zombie apocalypse? Viral infection? Nuclear war?
Obviously the potential information lost during a new dark age could be exponentially larger than anything that has ever been seen on this planet in the past?
For you history buffs...
Bronze age collapse
LINK
Sorry for the easy wiki link, but I don't feel like looking for one of the many interesting articles about this collapse...
European dark ages I figure I don't need to link.
Example news article on a coming digital dark age (not a really a dark age, but interesting nonetheless...)
LINK /
Obviously you can look any of these up on wikipedia...
Anyways, what are the thoughts here other than Obama will cause it?
18
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:30 am to thetempleowl
Knowledge can easily be lost even when it is well stored. We're not going to have a burning of the library at Alexandria type loss again I think, too much knowledge is redundantly stored these days.
I do however think we will lose knowledge because we lose the context to understand what is recorded like your Viking example or the recent "discovery" of how Egyptians moved large blocks over sand. A "discovery" that was very obviously recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Best chance for a dark age will be some kind of mass EMP event, whether solar or nuclear in origin.
I do however think we will lose knowledge because we lose the context to understand what is recorded like your Viking example or the recent "discovery" of how Egyptians moved large blocks over sand. A "discovery" that was very obviously recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Best chance for a dark age will be some kind of mass EMP event, whether solar or nuclear in origin.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:31 am to thetempleowl
I hope it's just like Game of Thrones.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:33 am to thetempleowl
Peak Oil, Total Collapse, and the Road to the Olduvai.
Just move his dates back 20 years IMO.
Just move his dates back 20 years IMO.
This post was edited on 5/3/14 at 10:35 am
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:35 am to thetempleowl
quote:
Considering the massive amounts of knowledge that is now collected by humanity, and the way it is stored on digital media and print, will there be another dark age?
First one has to assume that people would have access to this computer information which is not a given if there was some type of world war where EMP's or computer sabotage by hackers made this unavailable.
Second, if the education system continues to be dumbed down, even with this knowledge available, there could be a shortage of people available to apply such knowledge and cause regression.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:35 am to Bunk Moreland
I saw you were the last response and I knew your post would have to do with Peak OilPosted on 5/3/14 at 10:37 am to boosiebadazz
Congrats on the bar. You'll be a depressed, alcoholic like me in about ten years. 
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:39 am to Bunk Moreland
thanksPosted on 5/3/14 at 10:50 am to thetempleowl
The only way I see it happening is a global societal collapse and loss of life.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 10:56 am to Scruffy
quote:
The only way I see it happening is a global societal collapse and loss of life.
And what would be the cause of that?
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:00 am to Revelator
quote:
Second, if the education system continues to be dumbed down, even with this knowledge available, there could be a shortage of people available to apply such knowledge and cause regression.
I don't think so. What might happen is a separation of society like in original time machine by Wells.
I could see something like that happening. The haves get tired and separate off and then you have a gradual widening.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:10 am to thetempleowl
quote:
And what would be the cause of that?
EMP
duh
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:20 am to thetempleowl
quote:
And what would be the cause of that?
Asteroid, mega volcano, or some other massive natural disaster. That is the only way I see it happening.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:26 am to thetempleowl
Possibly but I don't think a dark age could COMPLETELY come about.
But look at large populations JUST in America, it is easy to think that.
There are tons of libraries in the US alone. Many thousand more are scattered all over the world.
Then you have to factor in the Internet, it has completely revolutioned how the world gets news, general info, entertainment, business...
These libraries would have to be destroyed, the Internet would have to be shut down completely
I have a lot of books that my great-grandmother had well over 100 years ago.
I have lots of books that cover a wide array of subjects. Literature, first aid, Christian themes, farming, gunsmithing, hunting...
But I am one of these 'nutty' preppers that a lot of people rolls their eyes.
I have just seen too many bad & horrible things happen to good people not too be.
And in case of a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI situation, my family and I are going to miles ahead of the rest of the populace.
But look at large populations JUST in America, it is easy to think that.
There are tons of libraries in the US alone. Many thousand more are scattered all over the world.
Then you have to factor in the Internet, it has completely revolutioned how the world gets news, general info, entertainment, business...
These libraries would have to be destroyed, the Internet would have to be shut down completely
I have a lot of books that my great-grandmother had well over 100 years ago.
I have lots of books that cover a wide array of subjects. Literature, first aid, Christian themes, farming, gunsmithing, hunting...
But I am one of these 'nutty' preppers that a lot of people rolls their eyes.
I have just seen too many bad & horrible things happen to good people not too be.
And in case of a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI situation, my family and I are going to miles ahead of the rest of the populace.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:29 am to thetempleowl
quote:
Will there be another dark age?
We are in one now.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:35 am to thetempleowl
quote:Couldn't say.
And what would be the cause of that?
Could be anything from global plague to nuclear war to massive solar flare.
A significant global economic collapse could be the initiating factor of a world war.
Who knows. It could be caused by any number of things.
This post was edited on 5/3/14 at 11:37 am
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:40 am to Bunk Moreland
Bunk, the only problem with the wacko's is sooner or later their dates come to pass and nothing happens. Does not matter if its peak oil or global warming, hell wern't all the polar bears supposed to be dead by now and no ice left on the polls? seems like every day some silly a-hole is coming up with a new dreaded situation that we can not avoid. In 20 years sombody will be trying to move it back gasp: 20 more years.
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:42 am to thetempleowl
racist
Posted on 5/3/14 at 11:42 am to thetempleowl
quote:
At the end of the roman empire, again the world was plunged into a second dark age.
That's actually kind of a myth just the western roman empire fell. The eastern empire was still going strong. Hence the entire world was not plunged into a dark age, just western europe.
This post was edited on 5/3/14 at 11:45 am
Posted on 5/3/14 at 12:03 pm to GeauxxxTigers23
quote:
I hope it's just like Game of Thrones.
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