Could there have been previous equally technologically advanced civilizations on earth?

Joe Anonymous

New member
Based on some unexplained archaeological findings (Baghdad battery, antikythera mechanism) - Is it within reason to assume there may have been civilizations on earth long ago that were just as technologically advanced as we are today? What evidence is there to support this idea?
And if so, what might have happened to them?
 
It is entirely possible that there could have been, however if there were, they left very little real evidence of their own existence. Baghdad battery notwithstanding (the Baghdad battery is actually very primitive, though advanced for its time), there is no widespread evidence of a highly technological society. We would expect to see some kind of remnants of a technological society, such as a number of artifacts, lasting structures, etc.

A technological society might be expected to have discovered such rugged building materials as concrete, and metal would have almost certainly been used in some form. Even if they had not discovered concrete, they would have almost certainly had to discover some other form of hard and lasting building material to be able to maintain a technological society. Technological societies rely mainly on the transmission of information and knowledge from one generation to the next, and that requires some kind of stable society, stable societies are GREATLY aided by permanent cities and buildings. It's hard to teach engineering when you're living in a grass hut and your books are being blown away all the time.

We have a few artifacts from the past that show a great degree of sophistication, such as the antikythera mechanism. If there had been a widespread technological society, we would expect to have found more than a few remnants. We would also expect to have found a great deal of their garbage, unless they had some way of perfect disposal of the detritus of their everyday lives.

It's still possible that such a civilization could have existed, with a level of technology so high that they could reliably eradicate all or nearly all evidence of their own existence after the fact. According to Occam's Razor, this would take a far greater degree of complexity than their simply never having existed at all. Occam's Razor suggests that the least complex answer is the most likely one, which suggests that such a civilization did not exist.
 
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