We know there's enough doom and gloom going around these days, and not to make matters worse, but as the world braces for the looming concern of World War III and which country will likely launch its nuclear arsenal first, scientists are apparently ready to record our end of days. Oh, how joyous.
It's not just mystics like Baba Vanga and Nostradamus predicting that 2025 will be another tough year for the human race as war rages on, with the Doomsday Clock edging closer to midnight than it's ever been before.
Aside from many thinking we're already in the midst of WWIII without even knowing it, there’s the threat of global warming extinguishing the planet, or what about being wiped out by a harbinger of fate asteroid? All of that's before we even get to continued concerns that AI will go rogue and destroy us all? Well, at least our robot overlords will have something interesting to watch, because scientists have constructed the Earth's very own 'black box' to record our end of days.
What is the Earth's Black Box?
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According to ABC News, a 32-ft 'black box' has been constructed to outlive us all. For those who don't know, a black box is a term typically associated with airplanes and is a somewhat outdated name referring to flight recorders. Recording data and helping investigation crews find out what happened during a crash, or helping locate a crashed plane, black boxes are actually painted bright orange to make them stand out from potential wreckages.
As for humanity's own black box, the project is (unimaginatively) named Earth's Black Box and is a giant steel structure that's supposed to record our lives for future civilizations.
The project is a joint effort between researchers at the University of Tasmania, a marketing agency known as Clemenger BBDO, and a creative agency called The Glue Society.
The official site reads: "Earth's Black Box will record every step we take toward 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."
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Explaining how it's designed to outlive us all, The Glue Society co-founder Jonathan Kneebone says the box is made from 7.5-centimetre-thick steel and cantilevered off granite.
It's filled with storage drives that have internet connectivity, while the whole thing is run on solar panels with batteries for backup power. As long as the sun is shining, Earth's Black Box will be downloading scientific data and climate-change-related materials from the internet.
Where is Earth's Black Box?
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Clemenger BBDO's Jim Curtis reiterates that the whole thing is non-commercial, adding: "Obviously it's really a powerful concept when you say to someone, 'Earth's got a black box'. Because they're like, 'Why does it need a black box?' But first and foremost, it's a tool."
Earth's Black Box records climate data such as CO2 levels, sea temperatures, and energy consumption, but as it scans the web, it gains further context from news headlines and social media posts.
If the University of Tasmania part didn't give it away, Earth's Black Box is located on a rocky outcrop on Tasmania's west coast. Tasmania itself is an island to the south of Australia's mainland.
The area was specifically chosen due to its geopolitical and geological stability, putting it ahead of other choices, including Malta, Norway, and Qatar.
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Now, the Tasmanian site is expected to 'cradle' Earth's Black Box long after the rest of us are dust.
As construction was completed back in 2022, it's bizarre to think that there's a giant box out there in Tasmania, slowly recording the downfall of the human race.