"David Woolley" <david@djwhome.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:T1059718152@djwhome.demon.co.uk...

In article <bg91jl$lr3$1@spock.usc.edu>,
schillin@spock.usc.edu (John Schilling) wrote:

A billion years is long enough for a technological civilization to grow,
fail to make significant interstellar travel commonplace, fall, rebuild

One of the problems we already face is that we are getting to the point
where we could never recover from a fall because the natural resources
needed to manufacture technology have been degraded to the point where
high levels of technology are needed to extract them.

Aside, of course, from all of those natural resources that are conveniently
being used right now. I think a rebuilding civilization would have a bit
easier time getting iron from old car bodies conveniently located in
junkyards (and whatever happened to the old civilization's cars) than in
trying to mine it from scratch.

-- 
--
Kevin Allegood ribo@mindspring.com
"Personally, I hold by the Clarke - Sturgeon law:
90% of any sufficently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from crap." - Larry Lennhoff