What Would Future Humans Assume About Us if the Internet Vanished?

Would it be like losing the Library of Alexandria?

Photo by Designecologist from Pexels

This article was originally published in the author’s paid Newsletter, Curious Life.

Imagine with me, if you will, that thousands of years from now, an alien or future civilization stumbles upon the remains of our modern society — much the way we discovered Pompeii and Ancient Egyptian artifacts.

Let’s say we don’t stop climate change, and it wipes out life as we know it within the next 100 years, as some experts predict. Then, in 4021, a new intelligent species, or maybe a futuristic human civilization, discovers the remnants of our lives today. What conclusions would they make about us?

Initial Curiosity

I was thinking about this the other day whilst recalling a memory from seventh grade. During a large school project, my task was to imagine unusual explanations for ordinary, everyday objects. Like when the Little Mermaid combs her hair with a fork because that’s what she thinks it’s for.

We can learn a lot about how advanced ancient civilizations were using current scientific means. Then combine this information with what we already know to gain a fractionally less vague understanding. Finally, we use our…