This is because we intentionally build them the way we do because we expect to replace most of them in a relatively short period of time so we use the least amount of materials and the materials we use do things like corrode and rust unlike the giant rocks that ancient societies used in the structures that stuck around. A lot of our structures are also near waterways, which increases the decay.
We will still leave behind a lot of earthen structures like highway overpass ramps, stuff cut into mountains, and the giant holes from strip mining.
archeologists of the future examining an on-ramp remnant: “We believe this was used for some sort of religious purpose, likely to bring people to a higher elevation to get them closer to the divine.”
True, however most of the materials they are made of can’t be maid naturally so even if our cities are taken back by nature, advanced civilizations would still be able to figure out that there was something built here from the atomic residues that these materials leave behind.
That may be the case but seems pretty unlikely. Sure there are a lot of manufactured components in modern buildings but they are mostly comprised of volatile elements that may cause isolated and wholly unrecognizable pockets of confusion rather than an understandable record. I don’t think they’d be noticeable among the other natural remnants, especially if we get the point that, say, NYC was reduced to a blip in an entire geological record.
For all we know, there were “intelligent” dinosaurs that had an entire civilization that got crushed into one little strata that had a little too much Iron or maybe Saurium.
It’s of course all based on the timescale. Horizon Zero Dawn does a good job; if memory serves it’s only a few hundred years so it made sense remnants of “modern” America were present—if that game was set, say, in 10,000 years (when love is illegal) it’d be much less believable that the USAF Academy chapel was still standing.
If we’re talking on the timescale of millennia then it becomes much less likely anything we’ve currently created would leave any sort of mark, except maybe some radioactive patches here and there (in which case the song Radioactivity will automatically play so that will keep people safe [we should all thank Think of Wyverns for their service]).
modern structures are far too fragile to last very long without continued maintenance so likely nothing.
This is because we intentionally build them the way we do because we expect to replace most of them in a relatively short period of time so we use the least amount of materials and the materials we use do things like corrode and rust unlike the giant rocks that ancient societies used in the structures that stuck around. A lot of our structures are also near waterways, which increases the decay.
We will still leave behind a lot of earthen structures like highway overpass ramps, stuff cut into mountains, and the giant holes from strip mining.
archeologists of the future examining an on-ramp remnant: “We believe this was used for some sort of religious purpose, likely to bring people to a higher elevation to get them closer to the divine.”
“You can yell by the slope that human sacrifices were practiced.”
True, however most of the materials they are made of can’t be maid naturally so even if our cities are taken back by nature, advanced civilizations would still be able to figure out that there was something built here from the atomic residues that these materials leave behind.
That may be the case but seems pretty unlikely. Sure there are a lot of manufactured components in modern buildings but they are mostly comprised of volatile elements that may cause isolated and wholly unrecognizable pockets of confusion rather than an understandable record. I don’t think they’d be noticeable among the other natural remnants, especially if we get the point that, say, NYC was reduced to a blip in an entire geological record.
For all we know, there were “intelligent” dinosaurs that had an entire civilization that got crushed into one little strata that had a little too much Iron or maybe Saurium.
It’s of course all based on the timescale. Horizon Zero Dawn does a good job; if memory serves it’s only a few hundred years so it made sense remnants of “modern” America were present—if that game was set, say, in 10,000 years (when love is illegal) it’d be much less believable that the USAF Academy chapel was still standing.
If we’re talking on the timescale of millennia then it becomes much less likely anything we’ve currently created would leave any sort of mark, except maybe some radioactive patches here and there (in which case the song Radioactivity will automatically play so that will keep people safe [we should all thank Think of Wyverns for their service]).