Every commercial flight you have ever taken has been recorded. Every tug on the yoke and every adjustment of the throttle has been recorded by a small device tucked away in the tail of the aircraft. Search and rescue crews use the "black box" to find the crash site when there is an aviation incident. The observations give a clear account of how the whole thing went down.
Our planet will get a disaster recorder next year.
The project is called Earth's Black Box and is meant to record every step of the way to our demise.
Climate change and other man-made perils will cause our civilization to crash unless we dramatically transform our way of life, according to Earth's Black Box website.
There are real ways Earth could end.
The solar-powered vault will be roughly the length of a school bus and the shape of an upside-down curb stop, and the entire thing will be encased in 3-inch-thick steel designed to endure catastrophe. The most secure location on Earth will be where the Earth's Black Box will be placed. The Earth's Black Box will be filled with hard drives that will record and store climate-related information, according to ABC News Australia.
The Glue Society and the University of Tasmania are collaborating on a project that will begin construction in early 2022.
The box will collect data on temperature, ocean acidification, land use, military spending, energy consumption and human population growth.
It will get news headlines, social media posts, and information from key climate change conferences between heads of state.
It is a striking piece of art. The images show a structure lined with solar panels on a rocky outcrop in the desert. Its angles suggest something strange that will contrast the weathered rock of the landscape. Its goal is to be a silent observer, constantly absorbing information, 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. "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," said Jim Curtis, executive creative director at the agency. To make sure their action is recorded, it's also there to hold leaders to account.
It is an open question if it is useful to post- apocalyptic humanity. Despite the fact that construction on the project has yet to begin, the project's algorithms are already hard at work in a test that can be seen on the project's website.
The data contained in Earth's Black Box will be made public at all times.
It comes to us at a time when the planet is on track to face a 2.7 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures over pre-industrial levels. A record number of species are going extinct due to the lack of fresh water and ice sheets destabilizing.
The creators of the project say that the purpose of the black box is not to record our doom, but to help steer us away from it. Even if it only gives us a hint in the right direction.
Live Science published the original article.
