# What are the odds that humans have been “reset” in the past **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 31, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825 "2019-03-31T23:28:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mrdeals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/1 "2019-03-31T23:28:41Z")
I have discovered and am thoroughly enjoying Youtuber Bright Insight. One of his main focuses is trying to prove humanity is much older than we think and used to have technology more advanced than we think they had. He proposes that humanity goes through resets once in a while, the last one being 11,600 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/2 "2019-03-31T23:33:24Z")
eh according to my whacked out theory I recently posted there was tons of advanced tech but none of it human wouldn’t that be right around the flood of noah tho? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/3 "2019-03-31T23:37:31Z")
Where are the remains of that tech? We manage to find fossils 10s of millions of years old yet all this past tech has vanished without a trace? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/4 "2019-03-31T23:39:04Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Where are the remains of that tech? We manage to find fossils 10s of millions of years old yet all this past tech has vanished without a trace? They were so advanced that all their artifacts were fully bio-degradable. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/5 "2019-03-31T23:41:24Z")
> [@Mrdeals](#): > > He proposes that humanity goes through resets once in a while, the last one being 11,600 years ago. Absurd. The earth is less than 10,000 years old. That guy has really dumb ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/6 "2019-03-31T23:42:10Z")
We can tell how old a species is by things like mutations in their DNA and mitochondrial DNA. That way we can tell when species break off from each other. Also we know human brains tripled in size in the last 2 million years. How far back are you thinking humanity existed? ---
**Author:** ![Mrdeals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/7 "2019-03-31T23:49:28Z")
I think I have heard him propose that civilization is around 30,000. As far as no trace being left over. If we disappeared, how much evidence would be left for someone to find in 12,000 years? Not much, maybe plastic? But by then something may have adapted to eat it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2019, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/8 "2019-03-31T23:51:19Z")
Spent nuclear reactor fuel and granite quarries will be recognizable artifacts for quite some time. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/9 "2019-04-01T00:04:03Z")
Utter bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/10 "2019-04-01T00:04:21Z")
> [@Mrdeals](#): > > I think I have heard him propose that civilization is around 30,000. > As far as no trace being left over. If we disappeared, how much evidence would be left for someone to find in 12,000 years? Not much, maybe plastic? But by then something may have adapted to eat it. The Pyramids are around 5,000 years old - do you think they will crumble to dust in twice that time? There is Chinese pottery in excellent condition that is \>3,000 years old. No reason to think that it wouldn’t last another 10,000 years. I have teflon-insulated wire that would likely survive many tens of thousands of years buried in the ground. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/11 "2019-04-01T00:25:29Z")
> [@Mrdeals](#): > > As far as no trace being left over. If we disappeared, how much evidence would be left for someone to find in 12,000 years? Not much, maybe plastic? But by then something may have adapted to eat it. In 12,000 years? Lots. Even if all our other building materials eroded away, we make plenty of buildings of hard stone. They’ll be as permanent as Stonehenge. Not to mention the materials that do erode won’t evaporate and will leave rather traces rather obviously the result of a large civilization. And if that fails to convince everyone, the world is full of road cuts and tunnels that are quite obviously not natural erosion. Building road tunnels and road cuts in places where there could naturally be lots of running water is generally a thing to avoid. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/12 "2019-04-01T00:46:38Z")
Gobekli Tepe is 12,000 years old. Any megalithic structure will last many times that. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/13 "2019-04-01T01:24:01Z")
> [@Mrdeals](#): > > As far as no trace being left over. If we disappeared, how much evidence would be left for someone to find in 12,000 years? Not much, maybe plastic? But by then something may have adapted to eat it. We have evidence of human activity significantly older than 12000 years now. Why would evidence of an advanced civilizations be harder to find? And your evidence of the steady progress of human development that goes back a few 100,000 years. There’s no gap to insert an advanced civilization that magically disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/14 "2019-04-01T01:34:09Z")
> [@Mrdeals](#): > > I think I have heard him propose that civilization is around 30,000. > > As far as no trace being left over. If we disappeared, how much evidence would be left for someone to find in 12,000 years? Not much, maybe plastic? But by then something may have adapted to eat it. Tunnels, stripped coal measures, many elements (such as gold) in geologically impossible deposits. Orbital debris. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/15 "2019-04-01T01:34:38Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > We have evidence of human activity significantly older than 12000 years now. Why would evidence of an advanced civilizations be harder to find? And your evidence of the steady progress of human development that goes back a few 100,000 years. There’s no gap to insert an advanced civilization that magically disappeared. Well, but the lost civilization was on a large island that sunk, you know it was called Númenor or maybe Atlantis. Yeah, that’s the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/16 "2019-04-01T01:36:02Z")
See before mankind even existed there was a omnipotent power on the earth that had land air and sea travel mastered …… that helped foster peace and understanding through out the world and had advanced sciences and even world wide sport that wouldn’t be discovered for millions of years They had such concepts as conservation inter racial peace and harmony we cant even get back to today Sadly their greatest invention was lost because there astronomy hadn’t advanced enough to catch the big rock that would doom them all …. The time tunnel! Even though it took millions of years for humans to understand their ruins and notes when the ancients finally figured it out… it took us out of the mud and caves and started us on a path of enlightenment It was the trolodons and the benevolent and omnipotent dinosaur train industries! I mean it makes more sense that the worlds smartest beings until the human race formed all of this before we even existed and all the ancients did was evolve until their intelligence could comprehend such advanced learning …… All the other theories are space gods and other disproven junk So what does my fellow compatriots of the dope think ? ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/17 "2019-04-01T01:57:16Z")
If any prior civilization existed, they were super considerate, only mining the really hard-to-get ores and only pumping the really deep crude, leaving the easy stuff for our 18th/19th century ancestors to find and use to start this most recent industrial civilization. Anyway, they didn’t. The dinosaur one double-didnt. Exist that is. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/18 "2019-04-01T02:18:40Z")
Not to mention, chemical residue from industrial processes would be left in the geological record. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/19 "2019-04-01T02:28:29Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > So what does my fellow compatriots of the dope think ? Put down the bong, dude. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825/20 "2019-04-01T02:35:53Z")
I would say that the odds are so close to nil as to not warrant discussion except in a “what if” sense. Is it possible some past civilizations were more advanced/complex and adapted than we give them credit for? That one I will not just buy but believe. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-odds-that-humans-have-been-reset-in-the-past/831825.md?page=2)