[pyritechips]

Originally Posted by JStergis

I voted for the bowling ball...those things seem indestructible.

Second choice was rubber boot...I have a pile of car tires (22 of them) a little ways in the woods and they aren't going anywhere any time soon in terms of wearing down.

Third choice was Mt. Rushmore...my reasoning is that if it was carved like that, it couldn't take that much to degrade.

Fourth was the locomotive engine. Threw a 16 HP Kohler engine on the ground a couple days ago to bring to the metal bin at the dump and the thing's already rusting away pretty badly. I doubt a 1950s locomotive engine would fare much better than a 1992 lawn tractor engine.

Yeah, I'm with you on the bowling ball and after 13 votes it's zero for the poor loco.

[BlackSpike]

Originally Posted by BanditFlyer

Everything lasts forever if you take care of it, protect it from the weather, etc. I'd be curious as to what a bowling ball sitting in the exposed sun for twenty years looks like on it's sun-exposed face.

Maybe someone in TSG has seen one in a junkyard somewhere propping up an old '48 Studebaker or something?

Here's what happens to things that are left unmaintained by humans: http://www.worldwithoutus.com/

Now I'd like to read that book.

[BlackSpike]

Originally Posted by pyritechips

Interesting quandry, spike. Are they really the same axe, PC and ship? I am on the fence with this one. I had the same scenario with a PC, My old one, a bare bones purchase, went throught the same evolution until the only thing remaining from the original was the case. In my mind it was not the same PC.

In philosophy the concept of "horse" and "horseness" are not the same. All horses on the planet can disappear yet the concept of "horseness" will remain, as does the concept of the dodo bird. Yet if Mt. Rushmore would one day crumble how could one say about the remaining pile of rubble "That is Mt. Rushmore, in the past, now, and forever."?

As Hendrix sang "And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually.".

But do bowling balls?

At what point does it cease being the same PC?
As soon as one piece is replaced? Once 50% is replaced? When there is none of the original?

I found a wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

[valis]

Originally Posted by BlackSpike

At what point does it cease being the same PC?
As soon as one piece is replaced? Once 50% is replaced? When there is none of the original?

I found a wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

at what point do you cease being the same you? the cells that make up you now are not the cells that made you up 10 years ago; those are long gone.

[Wino]

Originally Posted by valis

at what point do you cease being the same you? the cells that make up you now are not the cells that made you up 10 years ago; those are long gone.

Does that apply to brain cells? If so, why do we still have the same memories.............are they real or memorexed to a new cell?? And why aren't the new cells better? Why are my new cells not making me younger. Are old cells replaced with old cells on old people?? Inquiring minds want to know.

[valis]

yes, that applies to brain cells as well....the memory is carried through, through methods unknown at this time.

Sorta weird to think that 100% of you not the same you from 10 years ago, eh?

[Wino]

Originally Posted by valis

yes, that applies to brain cells as well....the memory is carried through, through methods unknown at this time.

Sorta weird to think that 100% of you not the same you from 10 years ago, eh?

So I've morfed 6.667 times in my life.......................each worse than the previous. Kinda sux.

[Wino]

Tonight 8:00 PM CST National Geographic Channel "Aftermath: Population Zero"

http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...tion-zero-3225

I watched the trailer on their web site................nothing about bowling balls or Mt. Rushmore.

[pyritechips]

Thank you Wino! Population Zero is the one I saw - I just forgot the title. Yeah, no bowling balls or mountains, just skyscrapers and nuclear reactors.

[valis]

Originally Posted by Wino

So I've morfed 6.667 times in my life.......................each worse than the previous. Kinda sux.

btw, that 10 years was a total shot in the dark....pretty sure the actual cell life is significantly less than that....

[valis]

Originally Posted by Wino

Tonight 8:00 PM CST National Geographic Channel "Aftermath: Population Zero"

http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...tion-zero-3225

I watched the trailer on their web site................nothing about bowling balls or Mt. Rushmore.

good show. Best quote?

"after 100k years, the only remnants that humans ever existed won't even be on the this planet. They'll be on the moon."

[Wino]

Originally Posted by valis

good show. Best quote?

"after 100k years, the only remnants that humans ever existed won't even be on the this planet. They'll be on the moon."

Yep. And the cell phone shell was still around at 300 years and expected to last centuries.....................would expect the bowling ball to last eons.

[valis]

obviously, it was that show that got me thinking along these lines, or one of the sister shows that ran on a sister channel......fun to extrapolate like that.

12 Monkeys, anyone?

[LuckyStrike]

Bowling ball coverstock consists of either polyester or urethane compounds. A bowling ball may be nearly eternal so long as it is stored in your closet, but outside exposed to the weather and ultraviolet radiation from the sun it's flexibility and toughness would degrade. Abrasion from wind born particulates and wind born snow, rain & hail, thermal expansion & contraction, I would give a bowling ball less than 500 years sitting on top of Mt. Rushmore. I think it would last longer in a land fill.

[pyritechips]

Well, some of you are making very good arguments against the bowling ball so I will say that I have changed my mind. My money is now on the mountain. Here is my line of reasoning.

"after 100k years, the only remnants that humans ever existed won't even be on the this planet. They'll be on the moon."

"I would give a bowling ball less than 500 years sitting on top of Mt. Rushmore."

"Third choice was Mt. Rushmore...my reasoning is that if it was carved like that, it couldn't take that much to degrade."

"Leave it out in the sun. I guarantee you it won't be 10,000 years."

I decided to view mountains from a geological standpoint. The Rocky Mountains are young, sharp angular mountains. The Appalachians, on the other hand, are older, lower well rounded. They are estimated to be around 300 million years while the Rockies are said to be 120 million. Assuming both chains were of the same approximate height and composition. You can see how much mountains erode over a given time. The shape and height of any given mountain are factors of composition, erosion and also isostasy.

All things considered, I cannot accept the idea that a bowling ball, or any other man-made object for that matter, can last hundreds of millions of years.