We seldom envision something as cataclysmic as the collapse of human civilization to be anything but an extraordinary occurrence. But according to James Lovelock, in the million year history of humanity, there have been approximately 30 civilizations in the last 5000 years. “Humans are tough and will survive; civilizations are fragile.” Reflecting upon the possibility of a doomsday scenario, he suggests creating a “permanent record of our civilization” written as a book that encompasses all practical human knowledge. Indeed the situation he paints about any of us in the event of such a scenario is dire:
As individuals, we are amazingly ignorant and incapable. How many of us, alone in a wilderness, could make a flint knife? Is there anyone now alive who knows even a tenth of everything there is to know in science? How many of those employed in the electricity industry could make any of its components, such as wires or switches? The important difference that separates us from the social insects is that they carry the instructions for nest building in their genes. We have no permanent ubiquitous record of our civilization from which to restore it should it fail. We would have to start again at the beginning.
It is a frightening thought, but certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Just ask the Mayans, the Incas, the Assyrians, et al.
