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Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

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Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#61

Post by darkmighty »

ewretgg wrote: post #57
darkmighty wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And you'll be too dead to enjoy it if you are. Are you sure you have come to terms with that? Honestly, I don't think it's all that easy to rule out valuing the future beyond death, or to categorically reject notions of continuation of identity beyond death. That we are a coherent, super defined identity that has a definite beginning and a definite ending is in large part a convenient, and comfortable, myth we tell…

> Honestly, I don't think it's all that easy to rule out valuing the future beyond death Never said it was easy. It can take years of reflection. I'm suggesting the OP do that. Their life will be a lot more pleasant and fulfilling once they do that. Otherwise, they may spend their whole lives fruitlessly chasing after immortality.

You didn't address my other points, where I question if OP should rule that out.

> Otherwise, they may spend their whole lives fruitlessly chasing after immortality.

What about spending their whole lives fruitlessly chasing egoistic hedonism?

Again you didn't present a convincing argument that it is totally fruitless. As I've said, it certainly shouldn't be one's singular goal. But I think there's a role it should play.

Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#62

Post by jacknews »

Mass murder, or having kids (or both!). Also saving lives. It changes who exists in 1000 years.

But if you mean "what will people still be talking about in 1000 years:", of course it won't be all the bloodlines that didn't survive, or who their great^20 ancestor was. It'll be significant "historical events".

Are you really smart? Cure cancer. Unify quantum mechanics and gravity.

A great artist, composer, writer? Do your thing.

Grossly rich? Start a foundation.

Otherwise do something truly exceptional or outrageous.

Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#63

Post by teilo »

To quote Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues:

  I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
  Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
  And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be
  A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me

Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#64

Post by cableshaft »

I design board games. It will be a challenge to design one that will last 1000 years, but there's at least one that I have designed that I think has a chance. It's called Proximity.

I made and released a web version of it 14 years ago, and it's still my most played design (I desperately need to find the time to make a modern update, though. HTML5 at least). Doesn't exist in physical board game format yet, but I'm going to try to get a publisher for it in the next year or two (only been networking with the board game industry the past two years).

Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#65

Post by hprotagonist »

“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.”

Neibuhr, "The Irony of American History" (1952).

Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#66

Post by melling »

dogma1138 wrote: post #59
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That does make me wonder how many of the buildings we build today will still be around in 1000 years. How does steel and concrete compare to (frequently restored / repaired) brick and mortar (said abbey) or just brick (the artificial mountains that are the Pyramids)?

Almost none and it’s not (Only) because of the construction method. Today buildings are cheap which means that there is no incentive to keep them around until they become historically significant. That 1000 year old abbey on a hill somewhere likely used to be the only masonry building for 100s of miles for a good chunk of its history and by the time masonry buildings became cheap enough to be mass produced to be cons…

... or you could start a University like Oxford. It doesn't matter if the buildings are gone in 1000 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1096

Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#67

Post by egwynn »

d--b wrote: post #11

Donate your sperm thrice a day for the rest of your life. Pretty sure one of your descendant will have a significant impact in 1000 years.

Ensuring the high supply of genetic material is the easy half of the battle. Ensuring the demand for your genetic material sounds substantially more difficult.

Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#68

Post by ewretgg »

darkmighty wrote: post #61
ewretgg wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Honestly, I don't think it's all that easy to rule out valuing the future beyond death Never said it was easy. It can take years of reflection. I'm suggesting the OP do that. Their life will be a lot more pleasant and fulfilling once they do that. Otherwise, they may spend their whole lives fruitlessly chasing after immortality.

You didn't address my other points, where I question if OP should rule that out. > Otherwise, they may spend their whole lives fruitlessly chasing after immortality. What about spending their whole lives fruitlessly chasing egoistic hedonism? Again you didn't present a convincing argument that it is totally fruitless. As I've said, it certainly shouldn't be one's singular goal. But I think there's a role it should pl…

I didn't address your other points because I didn't disagree with them.

I think we're talking past each other. You assume my position is promoting hedonism. It's not. I believe should take time to do things to make lives better for future generations, and humanity as a whole. I find that a better way to live.

However, if your motivation for making a difference is not a concern for others, but a need to be immortal in some way, that's a sign that you have an unhealthy attitude towards death.

Given the context (We're on HN, where transhumanism is more common than in broader society)and given the way the OP phrased the question, I sensed they might be afraid of death, and not simply concerned with making an impact.

Re: Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years?

#69

Post by majewsky »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #47
maratd wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Focus on leaving a high fidelity fossil.

There's some interesting developments in that area, on the one side about leaving warnings at nuclear waste sites (which probably won't work, archeologists were warned about death and curses and such and still went into Tutanchamun's tomb. IIRC some died from a mold spore active in there), on the other about preserving knowledge for the ages (e.g. sapphire disks, 3d / holographic storage). I don't feel like there's a…

> archeologists were warned about death and curses and such and still went into Tutanchamun's tomb. IIRC some died from a mold spore active in there

Correct. I saw a documentary last week about a 3000-year-old grave in Syria where they pumped in fresh air for a week or so before going in to get rid of the fungal spores in the air.

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

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