Built to outlive us all: Earth is getting an indestructible ‘black box’ to record the end of human civilisation
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Built to outlive us all: Earth is getting an indestructible ‘black box’ to record the end of human civilisation")
Earth is getting a black box—and we are the pilots crashing the plane Photograph: (Earth Black Box website)
What if humanity disappeared tomorrow? A giant steel 'Black Box' being built in Tasmania aims to preserve the story of how civilisation changed the planet and possibly destroyed itself. Scroll down to find out why the project exists, what it will record, and who it's really meant for.
How will humanity tell the story of its self-manufactured destruction? The answer lies in a striking, angular steel monolith known as "Earth's Black Box." Hidden away on Tasmania's rugged, isolated West Coast, this silent witness is being constructed to stand as an apocalyptic archive. Amid climate change, rising temperatures and an increasingly divisive world, representatives of our species have decided to set up a box that will record and keep safe the story of humans for whatever civilisation comes next. The so-called Earth's Black Box was contructed in 2022, and would be up and running by the end of this year, if all goes to plan. But, why does humanity need such a sinister thing? All you need to know.
'History is written by the victors' but humans will be the losers
Named after the black box flight recorder, an almost indestructible device on airplanes that stores flight data, including pilots’ decisions, and helps investigators reconstruct accidents, this historical record would "provide an unbiased account of the events that lead to the demise of the planet".
In this dark metaphorical rewrite, for the purpose of this project, think of Earth as the plane and humanity the pilot, flying it toward a catastrophic system failure.
But, why does why does humanity need such a sinister record?
"Unless we dramatically transform our way of life, climate change and other man-made perils will cause our civilization to crash.
Earth’s Black Box will record every step we take towards this catastrophe," read's the project's website.
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According to CNN, the box is actually part art installation, part data repository, part time capsule and part a warning. The box's primary purpose, as per the people behind it, including ad agency Clemenger, environmental communications agency Rouser Lab and art collective Glue Society is to generate fear and snap people into action against the escalating climate crisis.
Inside the monolith engineered to outlast us: Where will humanity's tenebrous history rest for the next civilisation?
The Black Box will be housed on a disused airport in Tasmania. According to the project's website, it will roughly be the size of a city bus and will be made using 3-inch-steel. It will be surrounded by concrete panels and a roof of tough glass with solar panels, rendering it virtually indestructible, in case of a apocalyptic future.
The box will record everything that could potentially lead to humanity's demise, including climate data points and pieces of contextual information, everything from temperatures and sea level rise to political speeches and climate reports.
Rob Beamish, founder and creative director of Rouser Lab, called it "an almost indestructible, self-powered device for recording data."
The records are not just for future civilisations, people would also be able to access the findings via their phones once the box is up and running. However, the core idea is to create a historical record for future civilisations.
While the box aims to provoke fear, Beamish said there's still hope. "The plane’s still in the air … there is still hope to really avoid the very worst of climate change," he said.
