End of humanity may sound dismal but is possible given climate change and in order to record it, somewhere on the island of Tasmania, a peculiar edifice is coming up which will record humankind’s journey towards the end.
Called Earth’s Black Box, the project is a giant steel installation which will be filled with hard drives that are powered by solar panels. Each of these drives will document and preserve all real-time updates on the scientific front and will also store the analysis of the worst issues that the world is facing, according to a report in sciencealert.com.
The vault will contain details about changes in the climate, extinction of species, pollution of the ecology and how the health of the people was impacted. The objective is to help future beings or society know what exactly happened to humankind.
The Earth’s Black Box website states: "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. Hundreds of data sets, measurements and interactions relating to the health of our planet will be continuously collected and safely stored for future generations."
While the Norwegian island-based Svalbard Global Seed Vault has been made to protect the vital backup of the world's seeds in anticipation of the worst scenario, Earth's Black Box is conceptualised to record on a continuous basis world’s movement to the ultimate destruction.
Expected to be completed in 2022, the project is a collaboration between Clemenger BBDO, creative agency The Glue Society, and researchers at the University of Tasmania. Meanwhile its systems are already partially active, as they are 'live recording' environmental updates in a beta test.
Jim Curtis, Executive Creative Director at Clemenger BBDO speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said: "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.”