What will be the legacy of human beings once we're extinct?

Question

What will we be known for? How will we permanently be remembered by future intelligent species?

Answer 1

The question has a hidden, but implied, frame. That is this: what kind of creature would be perceptive enough to notice our previous existence and interested enough to pursue further knowledge about it?

This suggests a not unsophisticated species. And perhaps one wise enough to separate the prejudices and values of their own species from those of our own. Hopefully I don't flatter too much when I say that they would probably be not unlike our own archaeologists, then.

I know of archaeologists who have spent their entire careers digging through a single heap of trash, putting pieces together, and considered it an absolutely fantastic pursuit. Why should future species be vastly different? If they are curious enough to want to know about us... well, there's certainly plenty to know. And we've left no dearth of trash lying around for them to find.

Such beings aren't too likely to be fooled by superficial appearances. They'll know that we strove for peace, even though we often fell short of our ideals. They'll probably see in our many competitive games an instinct for dominance that was never completely squashed, in our structures the inherent love of vertical trees that still lingers in our genes, and in our art how fertile were our imaginations.

I think they'll see much the same things we have always seen in ourselves from ages past: not perfect, but a certain nobility in spite (or perhaps because) of this; maybe a shortfall of ability but an abundance of hope.

That, I think, will be enough.

Answer 2

Oh come on!!! the place do you get those notions that there is almost no evidence?! Who informed you that? There bundles of evidence!!! The fossil checklist, DNA... How is that only approximately no evidence? in case you elect to forget approximately approximately that evidence, that's diverse to their being no evidence! that's extinct in the way that maximum issues have become extinct. the ambience replaced so the animals replaced to in good shape the hot ecosystem. Why might the old, unsuited element stay to tell the tale? this is straightforward experience! You of course have not got any theory what evolution certainly says do you? Why do no longer you a minimum of study approximately something in the past you initiate criticising it? or you purely are available the time of as an fool.

Answer 3

Perhaps before we can address that question we should consider whether there will be anyone to perceive a legacy of the human race. A legacy is nothing more than the way a person or thing is remembered after it is gone or has changed its status. What existent species is intelligent enough to judge us after we're gone? (If you're suggesting that maybe aliens will remember us, it's not really possible for us to make an educated guess how they do or will see us, because we would first have to understand how they think, and as yet we don't even know whether they exist.)

If what you mean is, "How will we as a race appear to ourselves in hindsight (if in fact there can be hindsight after death)?", then I suspect it will be much the same as now- we probably won't judge our entire race as a whole, but rather in groups (by century, race, religion, sex, or whatever else distinguishes us from one another).

Answer 4

I think that will depend on how we all go and also by how 'future intelligent species' put the pieces together of our history. If we all died today and left behind everything (say a global pandemic of deadly bird flu) they would see intelligence but would see that we didn't focus on the right things. They would see that as advanced as our society seems we are still hedonistic in nature, doing what brings us pleasure more than caring about others as a whole.

Answer 5

They will look back upon us and think that we worshipped the square and rectangle. They will see our square TVs, Windows, and doorways, and notice how everything revolves around the same geometric shape and assume we worship its power.

Then they will be like, "the sony playstation 3 cost them 600 dollars? This is ridiculous. This society failed because they could not manage money. Any fool who buys a toy for over 1% of yearly income is a complete tool. The previous alien invaders that annihilated them must have laughed that they could only fight back with joysticks and by throwing toys."

Nah but for real...

They will probably look back on us and see that we were very multi-faceted, and that despite our differences and such, that there were a lot of us that tried to work towards the better... they will see us as a huge disappointment, where their historians will fall in love with our noblest of leaders and grandest of ideals, and be disheartened by the failure of such, whether it came from within or without.

Very much how we can look back on greece and rome, and see how each had beautiful ideas and functional regimens, but, how they both crumbled...

Anyway, that's how I see it, funny and serious :).

Answer 6

Probably known as the Creatures that Paved the way for them
If these are future intelligent creatures, then they might know that Humanity destroyed its own habitat, ands likely made the world suitable for the creatures in the different climate.
Of Course, if Jerry Falwell is right ... :-)

Answer 7

Nobody will be around to remember us. We only think we are making a huge impact but we are nothing in the grand scheme of things. All remnants of our society will eventually wash away. The poet Percy Shelly gives us a great illustration of this in his poem Ozymandias.

OZYMANDIAS
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:—Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Our works are infinitesimal.

Answer 8

It depends on whether we were observed prior to our extinction. If those writing the legacy watched our expiration then it will be an "accurate" account most probably with what ever spin their particular intellect puts on it. If not it will be all spin by the other intellect.

Answer 9

Assuming there is a future intelligent species that replaces us, we'll probably be remembered about like we remember Neanderthals. We were afraid of atomic energy, and superstitious about the environment. Probably all that will be on display in a museum with the skeleton of our species will be a small placard that reads "Their brains were small, and they died."

Answer 10

The next intelligent species will probably evolve from house cats. Once we genetically modify them to have opposable thumbs, they will quickly evolve ever more intelligence. Once they learn to operate the can openers themselves, they will be unstoppable.

They will revile us as brutal dictators who kept them as virtual prisoners and slaves, although a small, secret sect will worship us for discovering tuna fish flavored treats.