“Plastics are now infecting the Earth’s geology—so much that experts are now calling to formally recognize a new kind of sedimentary rock: plastistone.
These plastic-rock hybrids can wreak havoc on the ocean’s ecology”.
Humans destroying earth, yay…disgusting.
How can this be a rock. A rock is an aggregate of minerals which is still evident in biogenic or chemical lithification in sedimentary rock. Microplastics are not a mineral under the mineral definition; plastics are not naturally occurring. Downvote me all you want, someone debate me on the definition of a rock or mineral as per IUGS. Case in point: ice from a freezer is NOT a mineral.
The Pleistocene is over. The Holocene is over. Welcome to the Plasticene.
I don’t see what’s so “ominous” about this.
>it’s now undeniable that humans have left their mark on Earth’s geologic record
Why is that automatically a disaster? People been moving mountains, building pyramids, Great Walls, dams… yikes!
“In fact, plastics are so ubiquitous, they reside in your body right now” that’s cray, that’s as spoopy as the skellington I got in there.
Well this is going to mystify the next intelligent species
One of my favorite George Carlin rants.
“The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed. And if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice toward plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?”
Plastic… asshole.”
Is it Tiberium?
TIL 5% chance AI kills us.
This must be part of the other 95%. Perhaps 20%
Begun the plastic wars have
That has to be the dumbest possible title.
::sigh::
This is just purely my shower thoughts, but I do wonder if human civilization is the equivalent to something like the Oxidation Holocaust.
When you look at it, plastic isn’t *too* different in structure to other organic polymers, and as our technology gets smaller and more sophisticated eventually the lines between biosphere and the technosphere will start to blur.
Especially when you factor in the advent of things like nanotechnology, genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
Who’s to say that bacteria won’t learn to break down plastic in the same way it had to learn to break down wood during the Carboniferous era?
Oh sweet, man made horrors beyond my comprehension
So much fishing gear discarded. So much microplastics we really shouldn’t be eating fish. The oceans are struggling enough.
Don’t worry!!! Some smart guy in the future will fix it. Just ignore!!
Why dont we just dump waste plastic into volcanos then?
Sworn enemy of paper, destroyer of scissors.
That’s nice….
Great I can’t wait for my doctor to tell me I have to pass a plastistone
21 comments
“Plastics are now infecting the Earth’s geology—so much that experts are now calling to formally recognize a new kind of sedimentary rock: plastistone.
These plastic-rock hybrids can wreak havoc on the ocean’s ecology”.
Humans destroying earth, yay…disgusting.
How can this be a rock. A rock is an aggregate of minerals which is still evident in biogenic or chemical lithification in sedimentary rock. Microplastics are not a mineral under the mineral definition; plastics are not naturally occurring. Downvote me all you want, someone debate me on the definition of a rock or mineral as per IUGS. Case in point: ice from a freezer is NOT a mineral.
The Pleistocene is over. The Holocene is over. Welcome to the Plasticene.
I don’t see what’s so “ominous” about this.
>it’s now undeniable that humans have left their mark on Earth’s geologic record
Why is that automatically a disaster? People been moving mountains, building pyramids, Great Walls, dams… yikes!
“In fact, plastics are so ubiquitous, they reside in your body right now” that’s cray, that’s as spoopy as the skellington I got in there.
Well this is going to mystify the next intelligent species
One of my favorite George Carlin rants.
“The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, ’cause that’s what it does. It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed. And if it’s true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn’t share our prejudice toward plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn’t know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, “Why are we here?”
Plastic… asshole.”
Is it Tiberium?
TIL 5% chance AI kills us.
This must be part of the other 95%. Perhaps 20%
Begun the plastic wars have
That has to be the dumbest possible title.
::sigh::
This is just purely my shower thoughts, but I do wonder if human civilization is the equivalent to something like the Oxidation Holocaust.
When you look at it, plastic isn’t *too* different in structure to other organic polymers, and as our technology gets smaller and more sophisticated eventually the lines between biosphere and the technosphere will start to blur.
Especially when you factor in the advent of things like nanotechnology, genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
Who’s to say that bacteria won’t learn to break down plastic in the same way it had to learn to break down wood during the Carboniferous era?
Oh sweet, man made horrors beyond my comprehension
So much fishing gear discarded. So much microplastics we really shouldn’t be eating fish. The oceans are struggling enough.
Don’t worry!!! Some smart guy in the future will fix it. Just ignore!!
Why dont we just dump waste plastic into volcanos then?
Sworn enemy of paper, destroyer of scissors.
That’s nice….
Great I can’t wait for my doctor to tell me I have to pass a plastistone
This plastic rock clearly has an ominous agenda…