Newt Tech

Human history on the geologic time scale

May 16th, 2006

A quote from A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson(Amazon.com/ Amazon.ca).”.. effective way of grasping our extreme recentness as part of this 4.5-billion-year-old picture is to stretch your arms to their fullest extent and imagine that width as the entire history of the Earth.

On this scale, according to John McPhee in Basin and Range, the distance from the fingertips of one hand to the wrist of the other is Precambrian. 

All complex life is in one hand, ‘and in a single stroke with a medium-grained nail file you could eradicate human history‘

Makes you think about the significance of human history and accomplishments on a geologic time scale..

Entry Filed under: Nature and Science