Construction on Earth’s Black Box is set to be complete early 2022 but has already started to record the potential downfall of humanity.
Made of 7.5-centimetre-thick steel, solar powered and 10 metres long the monolith is being constructed to outlast almost any major catastrophe the earth may face. The monolith is being built in Tasmania and has begun recording different types of data including climate data, energy consumption, human population as well as contextual data like news, social media posts and key events.
The project is a collaboration between the University of Tasmania, communications firm Clemenger BBDO and art collective Glue Society. According to the Earth’s Black Box website “the purpose of the device is to provide an unbiased account of the events that lead to the demise of the planet, hold accountability for future generations, and inspire urgent action”.
Executive Creator Director of Clemenger BBDO Jim Curtis told the ABC that if the world does go downhill the Black Box will be helpful for those who manages to survive.
“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,” he said.
He went on further to state that accessing the information might come with some challenges but believes any intelligent being or life would have the ability.
“It can be assumed that it will not be of any use unless it is discovered by someone or something … with the capability of understanding and interpreting basic symbolism,” he said.
“Like the Rosetta Stone, we would look to use multiple formats of encoding.”
While Earth’s Black Box may be in a way safekeeping the future of the planet, real action needs to be taken now and especially with climate change. Professor of Sustainability at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) Tim Smith told NewsCop that the world and especially Australia needs to rethink their strategy towards the climate crisis.
“We are faced with a situation where climate science has been spectacularly successful while policy action has been spectacularly unsuccessful,” he said.
“Each year more evidence is provided on the need to act, and how to act, but the significant transformative actions are not apparent,”
“Australia needs to place climate action at the front of the policy agenda,”
“Also, by addressing climate issues we have an opportunity to also address a range of synergistic problems such as inequity and biodiversity loss.”
Mr Smith predicts that in the next 10 years Australia is expected to have increased affects of climate change.
“Apart from slow onset events such as continued sea level rise, we are likely to experience more intense and frequent rapid onset events such as extreme storms, heatwaves and flooding,” he said.
