How much will be remembered 2000 or 5000 years from now?

[Mihalik]

We have a lot of threads that pop up here about ancient alien and long lost ancient civilization conspiracies as there seem to be something of an obsession around that.

What I find more interesting tho, is the question how much of the modern history (past maybe 2500 years) will be remembered 2 or 5 thousand years down the road.

One of my favorite book series growing up was Frank Herbert's Dune. Dune is set at some indeterminate point in the future by which most of what we consider modern history is largely forgotten or is spoken of and understood much the way we speak of the Trojan War today, mostly myths and conjucture and few reliable sources.

Recently I got into Warframe again, another game which is seemingly set so far in the future that there aren't even passing mentions to anything we consider modern history.

Considering how increasingly almost all the information we record and generate is stored digitally much could be lost either due to storage format obsolescence or due to things like cyber warfare, data corruption etc.

Not to mention the problem of the reliability of sources. What if the only things that would accidentally be preserved about an event would come from sources like Breitbart and Info Wars?

What will be remembered about the Holocaust or the Cold War in thousand years?

[PC2]

Basically everything non-trivial will be remembered from now on. Assuming no nuclear war, massive solar flare, or whatever else.

[Independent voter]

Well, the Holocaust will be remembered if Israel is still around since the Holocaust created Israel. All those millions of European Jews fled the genocide in Europe and wound up in Palestine.

Not much else though. Maybe the creation of the internet will be remembered a thousand years from now too.

[PC2]

Well, the Holocaust will be remembered if Israel is still around since the Holocaust created Israel. All those millions of European Jews fled the genocide in Europe and wound up in Palestine.

Not much else though. Maybe the creation of the internet will be remembered a thousand years from now too.

Digital storage is getting cheaper and cheaper though. The only reason people wouldn't remember everything is if they decided to erase all the digital files or if future people had no interest in history.

[Jorlen]

Not to mention the problem of the reliability of sources. What if the only things that would accidentally be preserved about an event would come from sources like Breitbart and Info Wars?

Umm, or the reliability of EVERY MAJOR media source for the last 2 years. I'm fine with you bashing the sources you mentioned but somehow you forgot that ALL media sources are horribly broken.

[Thelxi]

It's hard to think 2000 years ahead let alone 5000 and there will almost certainly be an enormous difference between the memory of us between those two.

My guess would be our dependence on petroleum for pretty much everything, from plastic to fuel. Hitler would probably still be very much alive in people's memories too, at least I would hope so. I imagine thousands of years from now we won't be as splintered into hundreds of nations and cultures either, so probably that too.

Our age will also for sure be remembered in history as the birth of the internet and cell phone, and whatever those things might lead to.

[draynay]

Most of these fictional accounts of the future include some form of 'dark ages' interregnum between now and then, the nature of that period would be what shapes future accounts of current history. If civilization maintained the majority of its continuity then little should be lost.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the internet, and the moon landing are probably the only noteworthy things that have happened in the last 2000 years. Although once telepathy/hivemind is invented no one will care about the internet. I doubt the first atomic weapon will be forgotten. Hitler will definitely be forgotten, or will be a sidenote to the bombings.

[Has lost its way]

In theory every major event would be though I imagine much of the trivial data would eventually be lost to time.

[Mihalik]

Umm, or the reliability of EVERY MAJOR media source for the last 2 years. I'm fine with you bashing the sources you mentioned but somehow you forgot that ALL media sources are horribly broken.

There's a huge difference between putting a spin on something (almost all recorded history is written with a spin, historians just expect that they have to dig through the spin) and just making shit up.

[Goldielocks]

I'd say a lot. Even though each era of technological evolution builds on the last, the invention of the personal computer will mark the beginning of humanity's true technological stride that will be remembered thousands of years from now. With how AI is progressing as well, that will probably be remembered when it comes full circle, though that might be decades from now.

A lot of science fiction is based in the idea that because we can barely remember our past it means the future will barely remember us too, but we've made great leaps in advancements since 1965 when Dune was written (though they're more grounded and less exciting in comparison to what science fiction wrote about for the coming turn of the century). I wonder how Herbert would have written the book if it were written today.

[Mihalik]

Most of these fictional accounts of the future include some form of 'dark ages' interregnum between now and then, the nature of that period would be what shapes future accounts of current history. If civilization maintained the majority of its continuity then little should be lost.

Well, surprisingly we are already struggling quite a bit with storage obsolescence.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_obsolescence

It really doesn't take much to lose massive amounts of data.

- - - Updated - - -

I'd say a lot. Even though each era of technological evolution builds on the last, the invention of the personal computer will mark the beginning of humanity's true technological stride that will be remembered thousands of years from now. With how AI is progressing as well, that will probably be remembered when it comes full circle, though that might be decades from now.

A lot of science fiction is based in the idea that because we can barely remember our past it means the future will barely remember us too, but we've made great leaps in advancements since 1965 when Dune was written (though they're more grounded and less exciting in comparison to what science fiction wrote about for the coming turn of the century). I wonder how Herbert would have written the book if it were written today.

I doubt he would change much. Humanity has developed perfect storage methods in his universe. First in the "Other Memory" than in the form of the No-Spheres, but the point was that neither was or meant to be widely accessible and knowledge was hoarded as form of power by factions that drew their strength from it.

Dune is more of a cultural/political/spiritual scifi than it is a technology driven scifi.

[Incitatus]

Well, according to many movies and television shows, the year 5000 will be playing a lot of Bob Seger, Rolling Stones, and The Who. Anything from the 1970's, according to what I have seen.

[Sliske]

Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the internet, and the moon landing are probably the only noteworthy things that have happened in the last 2000 years. Although once telepathy/hivemind is invented no one will care about the internet. I doubt the first atomic weapon will be forgotten. Hitler will definitely be forgotten, or will be a sidenote to the bombings.

idk, Hitler is definitely one of those characters that will survive as long as the history surrounding WW2 is interesting. He will be for sure included in any discussion about fascism or authoritarianism or genocide and he will be for sure remembered as a trivia point like most other really bloodthirsty characters like Genghis Khan for instance.

Speaking of Genghis Khan, he is very rarely actually discussed in a negative tone. Usually all that is said about him is that he was a great conqueror and warlord and that a lot of people are related to him because of how much he fucked. Makes me wonder if in 1000 years time Hitler will be remembered as a genius who saved Germany and took on the world by himself and he will be placed alongside Leonidas of Sparta as one of those mythical characters.

[Alvito]

Basically everything non-trivial will be remembered from now on. Assuming no nuclear war, massive solar flare, or whatever else.

I bet people thought they same things once they started writing down records and keeping various logs of what was going on in the world. As far as 5000 years into the future I doubt they care much for almost all of what is going on now or have accurate records of it. Look at how much false information there is out there now, many struggle to get accurate information now, much less a year from now. Say they can only find some satire piece from the onion or some shitty tweet from some idiot and use that as proof. Short of big mistakes most of the things done now just wont matter at all to people down the line much less matter to enough people for the next few thousand years to keep accurate records and keep passing that information on.

[Stormspellz]

depends on the outcome of WW3

[Boricha]

All the quality memes we shared.

[Jonnusthegreat]

idk, Hitler is definitely one of those characters that will survive as long as the history surrounding WW2 is interesting. He will be for sure included in any discussion about fascism or authoritarianism or genocide and he will be for sure remembered as a trivia point like most other really bloodthirsty characters like Genghis Khan for instance.

Speaking of Genghis Khan, he is very rarely actually discussed in a negative tone. Usually all that is said about him is that he was a great conqueror and warlord and that a lot of people are related to him because of how much he fucked. Makes me wonder if in 1000 years time Hitler will be remembered as a genius who saved Germany and took on the world by himself and he will be placed alongside Leonidas of Sparta as one of those mythical characters.

But Germany WW2 was a failed state. Genghis Khanate owned shit tons of land and people for a while. To be honest, killing a few million people is almost meaningless when you're talking about civilization's deeds and mishaps. What did Hitler bring to the world? Nothing, except the motivation to create the Destroyer of Worlds. The USA will likely only be remembered because of the atomic bomb.

[Powerogue]

Thinking that far into the future I'm pretty pessimistic anything will be remembered. The possibility of total human destruction by our own hands, or at least destruction of all higher societies in favour of barbarism, weighs pretty heavily on me. I drown it out with video games...

We've created weapons capable of eradicating humanity. We still have people on earth who are religiously convinced that would be a good idea.

[beanman12345]

next to nothing is my guess, if humanity even exists in that time.