[namirez]

It seems to me this person is missing the point. When people talk about Anthropocene, they're not talking about geological or fossil evidence left behind by humans in million of years. Anthropocene refers to the Holocene or the sixth mass extinction on the planet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction

[chimi]

My understanding is that the Anthropocene is definable because human gas emissions have created a visible layer in the rock strata that will be evident for millions of years. Geological time from now, there will be a black line in the rocks that will include the toxic chemicals coming from our industrial processes and tail pipes.

[ncmncm]

He makes the point in the article that there are innumerable unnamed razor-thin layers in the rocks already. What's one more? Why would anyone be drawn to study that one?

[chimi]

Okay, now I get it. I missed that part of the article. That's the arrogance. I like the ideas in a lot of these articles, I just don't have time to read them all. I miss the old days of tldr's.

[namirez]

I think you are right.

[nostrademons]

He wrote a similar piece on why earth is not in the middle of a sixth mass extinction:

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/06/the-ends...

[rexaliquid]

Holocene and Anthropocene refer to the epoch, not the extinction event occurring during that epoch. An epoch is a measure of geological time.