A team of scientists has decided to build a huge, indestructible box that will save the records of scientific data for future civilisations to discover in case humanity falls.
The ambitious project called, Earth's Black Box, will consist of a steel monolith that will be installed in a remote location in Tasmania. The aim is that the box will be strong enough to resist damage caused by airplane crashes and to carry valuable data on what led humanity to go extinct.
The project is carried out by researchers at the University of Tasmania along with Clemenger BBDO marketing agency and The Glue Society creative agency.
The box is designed to record climate data including, atmospheric CO2 levels, sea temperatures, and energy consumption levels. It is also designed to collect contextual data such as, social media posts and news headlines.
Jim Curtis, executive creative director at Clemenger BBDO, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):
"The idea is if the Earth does crash as a result of climate change, this indestructible recording device will be there for whoever's left to learn from that."
The box will be built using steel and cantilevered off graphite and will be three inches thick. It will contain storage drivers connected to the internet which will be powered by solar panels placed at the box's roof.
Jonathan Kneebone, cofounder of the Glue Society, told ABC:
"It's built to outlive us all. If the worst does happen, just because the power grids go down, this thing will still be there."
The only issue, it seems, is for the scientists to figure out how future civilisations could be led to the box and access the information it will contain.
[Based on reporting by: Futurism]
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