There is a strange structure in a far place of the Australian island of Tasmania that will record how our world would end.
The project is called Earth’s Black Box and it comprises a giant steel installation that will be filled with hard drives powered by solar panels. The hard drives will document and preserve a stream of real-time scientific updates and analysis on the gloomiest issues the world faces.
Climate change, species extinction, environmental pollution, and impacts on health will all be registered in it so they can be discovered by future generations.
“Unless we dramatically transform our way of life, climate change and other man-made perils will cause our civilization to crash,” the Earth’s Black Box website explains.
“Earth’s Black Box will record every step we take towards this catastrophe. Hundreds of data sets, measurements, and interactions relating to the health of our planet will be continuously collected and safely stored for future generations.”
“The idea is 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,” Jim Curtis, executive creative director at marketing agency Clemenger BBDO.
“It’s also there to hold leaders to account – to make sure their action or inaction is recorded.”
The project is a joint work between Clemenger BBDO, creative agency The Glue Society, and researchers at the University of Tasmania. The location will be revealed in early 2022. In a beta test, they are currently live recording the updates.
Scientists also hope that humans make better decisions knowing they are being recorded.
“When people know they’re being recorded, it does have an influence on what they do and say,” The Glue Society’s Jonathan Kneebone told the ABC.
“That’s our role if anything, to be something in the back of everyone’s mind.”
This will also bring the attention of people to the global issues that are degrading the earth.
“The purpose of the device is 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,” the Earth’s Black Box makers say.
“How the story ends is completely up to us.”