In times like these geological time can be comforting. Much like deep space, deep time gives the prepared mind some perspective on the petty problems over which we humans anguish. The over 4.5 billion years that has passed since the earth came into being is such a vast period that we can only vaguely comprehend it, and yet, like Kipling’s Bandarlog, we cast ourselves as the center of all creation and importance, despite the fact that we live on a mere speck and have come into being during a mere augenblick (moment). An examination of the line of time reveals this view to be false. For those attached to the belief in human importance, this can be hard to take, but we can also find consolation in it.
A piece of Komatiite, lava from 3.5 billion years ago.Some of the oldest rock (Archaean) is found along the Komati River on the border of South Africa and Swaziland. This lava chunk dates from 3.5 billion years ago — closer to the beginning of the planet than the current time — and it will not melt in modern lava because it was formed when the earth was much hotter.
Elrathia kingii, a Cambrian trilobite from Utah — 3 billion years after the Komatiite! A mere 500 million years old.With this Cambrian trilobite we have moved 3 billion years from the time of the South African lava to a period when multicellular life had become complex enough to classify.
Flexicalymene trilobite, Ordovician of Morocco (internal cast)The Ordovician was the second period of the Paleozoic and ended with a major extinction event. However, both the ammonites and the trilobites survived it and continued into the Silurian and beyond.
A Devonian Ammonite from Morocco. Proteus, a Devonian trilobite from Morocco.The Devonian is closer to us, but still over 300 million years away.
A brachiopod from the Middle Permian reef system in New Mexico.During the Permian, an extensive reef system (not our modern coral reefs) covered part of New Mexico and along its shores giant sail-backed reptiles roamed, leaving their footprints in the Abo red sandstone. The reefs were populated with large numbers of brachiopods and mollusks. However this was all to end rather violently with the sudden decline of the era. The Permian extinction was cataclysmic and caused most of the life on the planet to vanish, apparently from volcanic activity. It ended the trilobites.
The first era of the Mesozoic, the Triassic, began with a much less diverse biota and there were world-wide deserts. Little by little life reasserted itself and by the end of the era dinosaurs had come upon the scene.
By the Jurassic the trilobites were gone, but the ammonites had managed to survive the Permian extinction — an event that knocked off over 90% of all living species - and began to flourish again.
An early Cretaceous opalized Ammonite from Madagascar. A late Cretaceous ammonite from Madagascar, polished to show the suture lines.The next great extinction was in the late Cretaceous, primarily because of an asteroid strike off Yucatan. One of the casualties was the dinosaurs, with the exception of one line of theropods, which became the birds. The closely allied crocodilians also made it through, but the ammonites did not. We are now at 60 million years ago and humans are still 59 million years into the future!
By the time we reach Homo sapiens (about 100,000 years ago) the earth was already over 4.4 billion (and nearly 4.5 billion) years old!
I have never understood why we humans ever needed to be the center of everything. I like the views of some Existentialists that we make our own meaning and that should be enough. As was said a number of years ago in the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” we seem to think that we are one big fat hairy deal. Earth is not the center of the universe, we evolved from “lower” forms of life and we have only been here on this planet for a moment. We are jumped-up savanna apes who are here because of historical accidents. We can drive cars and generally make a mess of things. But we can also paint masterpieces, write music, perform plays, do science, and have dreams of a society of equals. Perhaps we will learn our lesson before we go extinct, but I am not sure of this. Still, as my wife and I have two children and one grandchild, I hope that we do.
For a review of this and why such an unplanned event as the evolution of man should still be celebrated see Alice Roberts’ book “The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being” (2014). We need not have cosmic significance to make our lives worthwhile, at least to ourselves and the people around us, and to our society. Why in the name of whatever powers be do we need to be all important? Why should we expect it? Is not our life enough?
If we look at the tree of life it demonstrates our true place (although we sure have made our mark on this planet) See: www.nytimes.com/…
Perhaps Mark Twain sums this up best.
“If the Eiffel tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; & anybody would perceive that that skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would. I dunno. “