97 Percent of Us Has Been Lost

One of the Lascaux Cave Paintings, France, circa 15,000 BC

Someone once compared the amount of time that a species that could be defined as "human" has existed with how far back our writing about ourselves goes, and concluded that, while 7 percent of all the people who have ever lived are alive today, 97 percent of human history has been lost forever -- and 99 percent of the music we have ever made no longer survives.

That's sad. Maybe the Neanderthals never gave themselves the chance to wipe themselves out with nuclear energy or machines that produced climate change, but they also left no record of how they had fun on a Saturday night. We have the cave paintings, from France to Indonesia, some now known to go back over 45,000 years, but we don't know the names of Proto-Picasso and Long-Ago van Gogh. We know they recited poetry and sang songs, but we don't know who was the Shakespeare of 50,000 BC or the Elvis of the Ice Age. We don't even know if Homer, who supposedly wrote just 3,000 years ago, was real.

Even what we think we know may not be true. We have one piece of evidence that ancient Israel once had a King David. But the evidence against Moses and the Exodus seems bigger than the evidence for them. Homer wrote about the Trojan War, and while there appears to have been a city where Troy would have been, and a war when it would have been there, there's no way to know if the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey -- minus the actions of the Greek gods -- are true.

Heck, we still don't know what caused Babe Ruth's "bellyache heard 'round the world" in 1925, or what happened to New York Supreme Court Judge Joseph Crater in 1930. And those were less than 100 years ago.

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Days until the next New York Red Bulls game: 1, tomorrow night at 9:30 PM, away to Real Salt Lake.

Days until the next Arsenal match: 5, at 8:30 PM on Wednesday, as the opposition in the MLS All-Star Game, at Audi Field in Washington.

Days until the next Women's World Cup opens: 7, on Friday, July 21, jointly held in the neighboring nations of Australia and New Zealand. The U.S. open against Vietnam at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. Hopefully, the 2023 U.S. women will do better against Vietnam than did the 1968 U.S. men.

Days until Arsenal open the 2023-24 Premier League season: 29, at 10:00 AM, New York time, on Saturday, August 12, home to Nottingham Forest. Under 1 month.

Days until the Yankees' next series against the Boston Red Sox begins: 35, on Friday, August 18, at Yankee Stadium II. Just 5 weeks.

Days until the Red Bulls again play a nearby rival: 37, on Sunday, August 20, at 7:30 PM, home to D.C. United.

Days until the next East Brunswick High School football game: 49, on Friday, September 1, at 7:00 PM, home to Somerset County school Hillsborough. Just 7 weeks. That's on Labor Day Weekend.

Days until the next Rutgers University football game: 50, on Saturday, September 2, at 3:30 PM, home to Northwestern University. This is also on Labor Day Weekend.

Days until the next game of the U.S. National Soccer Team: 57, on Saturday, September 9, at 5:30 PM New York time, an international friendly, home to the former Soviet "republic" of Uzbekistan, at the new CityPark in St. Louis, home to MLS expansion team St. Louis City FC.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge game: 70, on Friday, September 22, at 7:00 PM, at home at Jay Doyle Field.

Days until the next North London Derby: 71, on Saturday, September 23, at the Emirates Stadium. A little over 10 weeks.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: 90, on Thursday night, October 12, home to the Detroit Red Wings. Just 3 months.

Days until the New Jersey Devils again play a local rival: 98, on Friday night, October 20, away to the New York Islanders.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 127, on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at 12:00 Noon, at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. A little over 4 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympic Games: 378, on Friday, July 26, 2024, in Paris, France. Just over 1 year, or a little over 12 months.

Days until the next Presidential election: 480, on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Under s year and a half, or under 16 months.

Days until the next elections for Governor of New Jersey and Mayor of New York City: 844, on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Under 2 1/2 years.

Days until the next Winter Olympics open in Milan, Italy: 938, on Friday, February 6, 2026. A little over 2 1/2 years.

Days until the next World Cup opens: 1,060, on Monday, June 8, 2026. Under 3 years.