Stranger Than Fiction Roundtable: The Silurian Hypothesis

Introducing a new monthly discussion group where we learn about strange and fascinating ideas in the world of science!

This month we'll be reading about The Silurian hypothesis, a scientific thought experiment exploring whether it would be possible to detect a technologically advanced, industrial civilization that existed on Earth millions of years before humans.

Proposed by astrophysicist Adam Frank and NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, the hypothesis does not claim that such a civilization actually existed. Instead, it uses our own modern footprint to analyze how time, geological activity, and erosion erase evidence of advanced life.

You can pick up the reading beforehand at the Circulation Desk.