Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is...

Vote on this poll

Aluminium	38/4%
Plastic	426/43%
Oil	153/16%
Water	27/3%
Carbon dioxide	53/5%
Copper	12/1%
Iron	10/1%
Silicon	170/17%
Salt	6/1%
Uranium	36/4%
Hydrogen	18/2%
Other	33/3%
	983 total votes

Comment on Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is...

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Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by zentara (Archbishop) on Nov 01, 2009 at 15:18 UTC
spam :-) I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. Old Perl Programmer Haiku	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by Illuminatus (Curate) on Nov 01, 2009 at 23:46 UTC
Based on 'truthers' 'birthers' grassy-knoll flouride in drinking water roswell global warming is a myth global warming will kill us tomorrow 2012 The Illuminati The answer has to be bullst fnord**	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by Tux (Canon) on Nov 01, 2009 at 18:29 UTC
Stupidity Enjoy, Have FUN! H.Merijn	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by kyle (Abbot) on Nov 01, 2009 at 15:51 UTC
A toxic combination of ignorance and outrage.	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by davies (Prior) on Nov 01, 2009 at 22:29 UTC
...large hadrons? Regards, John Davies	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by amir_e_a (Hermit) on Nov 01, 2009 at 21:54 UTC
Monosodium glutamate.	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by johngg (Canon) on Nov 01, 2009 at 22:30 UTC
I expect future archaeologists will refer to the "SCSI Terminator Layer" when classifying the age of found artifacts. Cheers, JohnGG	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by planetscape (Chancellor) on Nov 03, 2009 at 19:18 UTC
Plastic. Both in terms of "What everything is made of" and "How we pay for it all". HTH, planetscape	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by BrowserUk (Patriarch) on Nov 01, 2009 at 23:28 UTC
I'd guess it will be termed the 'hydrocarbon age'. Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error. "Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. RIP PCW It is as I've been saying!(Audio until 20090817)	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by tbone1 (Monsignor) on Nov 02, 2009 at 15:46 UTC
Foam. It perfectly embodies the philosophy (so-called) of the age. Then again, never underestimate stupidity. As the old saying goes, it's the third most common thing thing in the universe after hydrogen and helium. -- tbone1, YAPS (Yet Another Perl Schlub) And remember, if he succeeds, so what. - Chick McGee	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by Bloodnok (Vicar) on Nov 01, 2009 at 23:18 UTC
Beer, or less specifically, alcohol. A user level that continues to overstate my experience :-))	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by Utilitarian (Vicar) on Nov 02, 2009 at 10:08 UTC
Depends on the nature of the Historian and the distance in the future, if we're talking post western civilisation archaeologists plastics seem a good bet. However if we're talking a couple of hundred years hence (when western civilisation still maintains hopefully) then I guess the "Information age" tag would hold and the associated material in the minds of arts professionals tends to be silicon.	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by Ratazong (Monsignor) on Nov 02, 2009 at 08:26 UTC
Pollution?!	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by moritz (Cardinal) on Nov 02, 2009 at 11:16 UTC
vapour	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by toolic (Bishop) on Nov 01, 2009 at 19:56 UTC
The Material Girl, or maybe just plain old materialism.	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by LanX (Saint) on Nov 02, 2009 at 00:33 UTC
... business school rhetorics! Cheers Rolf	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by StommePoes (Scribe) on Nov 05, 2009 at 14:54 UTC
HFCS - High fructose corn syrup.	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by GrandFather (Saint) on Nov 05, 2009 at 05:42 UTC
Vapor of ware True laziness is hard work	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by tubaandy (Deacon) on Nov 02, 2009 at 19:59 UTC
I'm thinking aluminium. My thought is due to it's passivation, it tends to be relatively inert. Then again, many plastics have a very long half-life to breaking down... tubaandy	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by Discipulus (Canon) on Nov 03, 2009 at 08:36 UTC
`print map {chr (((hex A0)/2+3)+$_)}(0,-11,-10,1)`	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by monk2b (Pilgrim) on Nov 17, 2009 at 16:45 UTC
I thought plastics were oil based, live and learn.	[reply]
Re^2: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by sqlpython (Novice) on Nov 24, 2009 at 21:32 UTC
Answer: The Past :^) "I thought plastics were oil based" Yep and Diamonds are carbon..... ;^)	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by gwhite (Friar) on Nov 23, 2009 at 21:02 UTC
Duct Tape g_White	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by talexb (Chancellor) on Nov 26, 2009 at 17:02 UTC
Copper! From all the power lines and the network cables that the Internet's built out of. I don't know how a geek could make any other choice. :) Alex / talexb / Toronto Team website: Forex Chart Monkey, Forex Technical Analysis and Pickpocket Prevention "Groklaw is the open-source mentality applied to legal research" ~ Linus Torvalds	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by pmonk4ever (Friar) on Nov 02, 2009 at 23:31 UTC
Silicon will give way to a new material that will spawn massive parallel computing properties which will allow direct neural connections to the brain and usher in a new era of information overload! Yea, no more keyboards!!! pmonk4ever "No trees were harmed in the creation of this node. However, a rather large number of electrons were somewhat inconvenienced."	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by apl (Monsignor) on Nov 03, 2009 at 15:19 UTC
hot air (either as a euphemism for bull$#!+ or global warming; take your pick) feigned outrage crocodile tears Unreality-based decisions	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by jonadab (Parson) on Nov 04, 2009 at 11:30 UTC
I suppose it depends on what materials that we commonly use become less common in the future. Plastic seems obvious at first, but on further consideration I suspect that we've really only just begun to use plastic, and it will probably be rather a long time before plastics reach their peak. If so, the current era may end up with some other characterization. Perhaps the more interesting question: which information formats will future historians associate with our era? -- We're working on a multi-year set of freely redistributable Vacation Bible School materials.	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by poolpi (Hermit) on Nov 10, 2009 at 07:16 UTC
`$mc =~ /(?<=mis)?information/;` PooLpi 'Ebry haffa hoe hab im tik a bush'. Jamaican proverb	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by Gavin (Archbishop) on Nov 02, 2009 at 10:44 UTC
Crock of sh*te at the end of the rainbow. An era that promised so much yet has managed to deliver so little so far.	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by pileofrogs (Priest) on Nov 13, 2009 at 18:57 UTC
Duh, coltan	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by gloryhack (Deacon) on Nov 03, 2009 at 10:42 UTC
Materialism.	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by nimdokk (Vicar) on Nov 09, 2009 at 20:57 UTC
starts humming "Living In A Plastic Age" by the Buggles	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by wjw (Priest) on Nov 06, 2009 at 21:54 UTC
..cubic zirconia... because image is everything .. and reality is not affordable.. hmmm... I am less pessimistic than I sound, but don't tell anyone. ...the majority is always wrong, and always the last to know about it... The Spice must flow... ..by my will, and by will alone.. I set my mind in motion	[reply]
Re^2: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by zerocred (Beadle) on Nov 09, 2009 at 14:39 UTC
What are iPods made out of?	[reply]
Re^3: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by tbone1 (Monsignor) on Nov 24, 2009 at 14:13 UTC
Soylent green. -- tbone1, YAPS (Yet Another Perl Schlub) And remember, if he succeeds, so what. - Chick McGee	[reply]
Re: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by pid (Monk) on Nov 11, 2009 at 13:53 UTC
Which one will be the correct answer?	[reply]
Re^2: Future historians will find that the material characteristic of the current era is... by sv87 (Acolyte) on Nov 23, 2009 at 14:33 UTC
42 :-)	[reply]

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