I find it hard to believe any civilization can surpass 100,000 years.

I use that number as an estimate not an exact, I base this is idea on history.
What have we learned?

1.Money = Power, greed, corruption

2. Different opinions = War

This is why humanity is an inevitable downfall. I feel there's always gonna be more powerful people doing wrong then good.

What do you think?

-100,000 years may be over exaggerated but you get the point hopefully.

reply to post by iKnowWhatISeen


i tend to agree. the faults of civilization seem to outweigh the advantages, increasing exponentially over time. perhaps history is just a feedback loop of risen and fallen human civilizations.

Sorry but just because you have low confidence inyourself dont allow it to run off on the rest of humanity

reply to post by iKnowWhatISeen


100,000?
That's longer than written historical record.
10,000 is longer than written historical record.
10,000 (in most cases) is longer than "civilization" itself has existed.

Originally posted by Kushaholic
Sorry but just because you have low confidence inyourself dont allow it to run off on the rest of humanity

Im very confident, false assumption on your account. & you must be retarded to not see I have a point here.

Originally posted by Druscilla
reply to post by iKnowWhatISeen

 

100,000?
That's longer than written historical record.
10,000 is longer than written historical record.
10,000 (in most cases) is longer than "civilization" itself has existed.

That's why I made the edit, I was just giving a timeframe to work with. The focus of this topic is civilization is an inevitable downfall. Please stick with that.

reply to post by iKnowWhatISeen

What do you think?

Where are your sources for this information, or are you just speculating? If speculating, at least provide a paragraph or so of ideas to read through. Minimal posts are boring to read.

Your title led me to believe you had proof of a civilization older than 100,000 years.

Where exactly, do you denote that civilization began? Early Indus valley? The Nile Delta? Africa?

Are you asking about the civilizations that ended due to global catastrophe?

Need. More. Info.

A civilization can leave the bush, build skyscrapers, reach space and have it all wiped out in a couple thousand years leaving no trace. This is a flash in the pan considering that many forms of humans have lived on this planet for over 1 million years.

The proof exists all around. We find pyramids shrouded in mystery, who built them, why, how, we also are finding 'lost' or forgotten cities like gobekli tepe and the scores of structures yet to be found in North and South America and around the world. They became lost, their builders all but a mystery. This has happened before, it can happen again.

reply to post by iKnowWhatISeen


There have been many discoveries of artifacts dating back past 100 000 years those people ARE OUR ancestors which means that we can and have lasted over 100 000 years. You dont even state any older civilizations you know why because there are no older ones there is just us.

We are always advancing or changing how we live. That is the only fact in this thread. there is no past civilizations because we are still in this world civilization on earth were all connected

The longest-lived civilization on Earth is the Chinese, which has survived about 3,000 years through many ups and downs. Modern Western civilization is less than a thousand years old. Most civilizations only last a few hundred years.

reply to post by iKnowWhatISeen


While I understand your point I think we are missing a larger point.

While its not likely any single civilization can last that long I do believe as a complete civilization we have already passed that mark and I dont see us stopping anytime soon.

What I mean in terms of single civilization is not American or European or African or Chinese etc etc etc but as humanity as a whole. Eventually we will leave this planet and explore the universe - as a single untied species.

Until we reach that point we can view the individual civilizations that have come and gone over the years on this planet as nothing more than practice when dealing with not only ourselves but other civilizations we will meet. We can also view each and take the best while avoiding the worst each had / has to offer.

The oldest continuous civilization is the Chinese Civilization.
its been around for 5000 years.
But cultures dating back beyond that have existed in china, but have been transformed into the Chinese civilization.
There is a difference between Civilization and Culture.

According to anthropologists of 19th century, Culture is earlier and Civilization is later. Everything created by man is culture, civilization is an advanced state of cultural development.

Source

Chinese "Civilization" is 5000 years old.
Pre-neolithic cultures have existed in China for close to 9011 years (give or take)


The Bushmen culture of South Africa/ Kalahari are said to exist since 100,000 years.
Or more precisely, tools looking identical to the ones used the modern day Bushmen have been found at Border Cave in KwaZulu-Natal in 2012 dating to 44,000 years BP.
That would beat it all.

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by iKnowWhatISeen

 

While I understand your point I think we are missing a larger point.

While its not likely any single civilization can last that long I do believe as a complete civilization we have already passed that mark and I dont see us stopping anytime soon.

What I mean in terms of single civilization is not American or European or African or Chinese etc etc etc but as humanity as a whole. Eventually we will leave this planet and explore the universe - as a single untied species.

Until we reach that point we can view the individual civilizations that have come and gone over the years on this planet as nothing more than practice when dealing with not only ourselves but other civilizations we will meet. We can also view each and take the best while avoiding the worst each had / has to offer.

edit on 5-9-2012 by Xcathdra because: (no reason given)

Thankyou, I was talking about an indivual civilization.

We are grouped together by our DNA by our consciousness. You might not agree with me but I think we are still in the same civilization that has been as far as I can tell passed down to us from the sumerians who we have learned from. sure we havent exactly accepted their beliefs and teachings publicly because of the repercussions but we know they were there and that they were our ancestors. You can believe what the bible tells you, or you can believe their history and old archaeological discoveries that have been carbon dated past 100k years. Sure you can say those humans never came in contact with one another but like I said this is just my view and If you provide enough evidence I will change it, unfortunately there isnt

In 100.000 years the human race will have long gone...........
to the stars.

Originally posted by Kushaholic
reply to post by iKnowWhatISeen

 

There have been many discoveries of artifacts dating back past 100 000 years those people ARE OUR ancestors which means that we can and have lasted over 100 000 years. You dont even state any older civilizations you know why because there are no older ones there is just us.

You are misusing the term "civilization" here.

What you're talking about here isn't even a culture. You're talking about species here, something entirely different from civilization or culture.

There are many definitions for "civilization." Wiki provides one that is good enough for the purposes of this thread:

Civilization (or civilisation) is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally hierarchical and urbanized. In a classical context, people were called "civilized" to set them apart from barbarians, while in a modern-day context, "civilized peoples" have been contrasted with primitive peoples.

There is a tendency to use the term in a less strict way, to mean approximately the same thing as "culture" and therefore, the term can more broadly refer to any important and clearly defined human society.[1] Still, even when used in this second sense, the word is often restricted to apply only to societies that have attained a particular level of advancement — especially the founding of cities.

Source

You can read more there for the differing views on the details.

People first have to agree on what the term actually means before anything like a logical discussion can ensue on the subject.

Harte

Our civilization might last much less than 100,000 years but I'm sure our breed will last as long as the world geography allow us to live. Finally, there nothing last forever because there no the immortal. Even the world will die someday.

If this is the first time we have come this far technologically and interconnected as a global society then we might stand a chance at making it past 100 000 years but we need to make drastic changes soon.

If in the next 100 years we colonize some of our own solar system we would now have extended human life beyond our planet and that will be our biggest triumph as a species imo. The more we spread and seed the more our chances to continue will increase but thats me dreaming and we have a long way to go before thats a reality but you cant deny its not possible.

With a little luck and some better changes in leadership I am sure we would do great things in the years to come.