Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia

by Gregory Benford

States how the human race is sending strong messages about itself into the cosmos in the form of nuclear waste, global warming, and the extinction of species, considering the legacy we are constructing for future generations and the next occupants of the planet.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, Technology, Psychology, Sociology

240 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1999

About the author

Gregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.

As a science fiction author, Benford is best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.

Reviews

[Hollowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Benford is known for his hard sci-fi, but THIS non-fiction title may be his best project. It is as engaging and entertaining as GOOD narrative fiction. And considerably more SATISFYING ... IMO. No, I haven't read most Benford books ... but I liked this book well above his highest-rated title, _Timescape_ from 1980.

[Ushan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our civilization's nuclear waste will be dangerous for tens of thousands of years. How do we communicate "This site contains dangerous radioactive nuclear waste" to civilizations that will exist then? The first and the most chapter of the book is about the author's service on a commission that tried to answer this question for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico; it is a difficult question given that, for example, we cannot read the writings of the Harappan civilization that only existed 4000 years ago. The second chapter is about making a plaque for the Cassini mission similar to the Pioneer Plaque and the Voyager Golden Record; ultimately it didn't fly. The third is about preserving Earth's biodiversity; it is obsolete now with widespread genetic sequencing.

[Christy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because of my interest in nuclear semiotics.

If I were to judge this book by its cover, I would have assumed it was cheesy sci-fi.

This book should have really been two separate books. The first two thirds pertained to nuclear semiotics and communication with beings on other worlds, but the last third could have been a different book entirely. I can see how environmentalism is relevant to communicating with future generations, if I squint a bit, but it doesn't fit well with the first part of the book.

[Pádraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fluke find at a library sale; exactly the topic I've been interested in lately. This is a very interesting and always engaging book about how we communicate across spans of time so large we cannot hold them properly in our minds. The first section is the strongest, drawing from Benford's experience as part of panels to set-up nuclear waste site warning systems.

This is a fascinating cross-discipline problem, and one they seemed to be able to find no clear answer to. I don't mean this as a criticism of them--it's genuinely extremely difficult. The various options discussed, the atomic priesthood, the great monument, the hostile environment, the layers of signage, all have their benefits and drawbacks. None are perfect. There seems to be no easy way out of this mess we've created for ourselves, no way to treat our descendants safely. Perhaps we have doomed them to the same hell we've doomed ourselves to.

The other sections of the book, on sending messages into space, on preserving genetic samples of soon-to-be-extinct species, and climate change, I found less interesting. The first seems largely pointless to me, and the latter two, while full of admirable suggestions, can't help but feel, in the light of how the state of the world's developed since Benford wrote this, a little like trying to empty the oceans with the 1/3rd cup from your kitchen drawer. Nevertheless, lots of great stuff here to ruminate over.

[Scott Kardel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up recently at a used book store. Benford's Deep Time, published in 1999, certainly feels a bit dated now, but there are important messages here. His essays on hot to communicate the dangers of a nuclear waste storage facility across thousands of years and of the message disk that was intended to launch aboard the Cassini mission to Saturn were of the most interest to me. Reading about the environmental issues were somewhat frustrating as the problems he was talking about have only gotten worse in the last 25 years.

[Yazzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

some cool ideas in here. pretty good writing too. kept me engaged and interested throughout, and I learned a decent amount about some neat ideas and concepts.

[Eugene Kernes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Communication with the distant future is not as easy as anyone would like. As history shows, messages of the past can become forgotten or get destroyed or even misinterpreted. This book does an extraordinarily good job at identifying a myriad of things that could go right and wrong when making and sending messages to future generations. The communication difficulties described have a lot do to with providing warnings and storing messages. Warnings have to do with how we deal with waste sites. The warnings could take many different shapes but all have grave consequences should the future generation not interpret them properly. Given enough time, everything can see an end, even the human race. Saving information about human beings in space brings into question how the message will be interpreted as future humans or other beings may not, or will not, share our cultural values which would make it hard to understand what was sent. It is also difficult to identify a technology that can allow future generations to read as older technology becomes obsolete and have difficulty finding ways to read it, or it could be that different beings cannot read or see the way humans can. Something that needs to be stored and kept for future generations is life itself. Collecting genetic samples and with having potential in the future to resurrect extinct species is something that needs to be considered for diversity. The planet itself is a message that the past has sent us, and that current humans are sending to the future. How we alter the present deeply affects the planet we leave behind. Benford did a wonderful job with explain vastly different strategies and potential mishaps of sending messages.

[Joseph Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably a good book for those engineering and sciencey types (which I am). First 2 chapters were incredibly interesting, about imagining minds many thousands of years from our own. It really delves into the human psyche well. The latter half was a bit less wonderment and more preachy, but presents rather outdated facts and theories that are a bit too outlandish to be acted upon. Interesting as a thought experiment though.

I'd recommend it for anyone interested in experiencing wonder about our world, universe, and mind, but that already has a strong background in physics and science.

[John Ege · Rating 4 out of 5]

i doubt i can add substance to the reviews posted. i may even, reluctantly, agree that the second half seems a bit preachy, but then i wonder, how does one convey urgency in regards to present actions affecting near present and distant futures. perhaps when humans increase their life span, they will make better choices in personal, social, and ecological health, because the torch we are presently passing to the next if kin seems a bit darker.

[Kimberly Fraher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book that changed the way I think about everything. Really wish that every high school student was required to read this because the implications of having a nation of people who do not think in immediate terms would be revolutionary. At least all politicians should be required to read this instead of crap like Ayn Rand.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was incredibly tedious.

[Bd Drop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting thinker - obviously very bright and future-minded. Challenges the way you think about time and earth itself. Great read.

[Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good parts; some ax to grind