How to build something that lasts 10k years
1–10 of 142 posts
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#2the lazy man's way to make something that will last thousands(or more) years: dry stone masonry. I've built a few walls, they're not going anywhere.
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#3the lazy man's way to make something that will last thousands(or more) years: dry stone masonry. I've built a few walls, they're not going anywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
The mechanical stability of a drystone wall is amazing, but the political stability of the border it represents is very, very fragile. It won't fall over but someone might knock it down. That's the problem the Long Now clock might have solved - it's been marketed as a symbol of human persistence. People are being persuaded that it's important. We maintain our symbolic icons. That political stability is what might keep it standing for millenia, unless people forget what it means.
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#4the lazy man's way to make something that will last thousands(or more) years: dry stone masonry. I've built a few walls, they're not going anywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
The mechanical stability of a drystone wall is amazing, but the political stability of the border it represents is very, very fragile. It won't fall over but someone might knock it down. That's the problem the Long Now clock might have solved - it's been marketed as a symbol of human persistence. People are being persuaded that it's important. We maintain our symbolic icons. That political stability is what might kee…
It's very possible that human culture in a millennia (or a century) will see very little value in our current symbols. Most of the ancient world was dismantled by people that saw little value in the dead relics of a previous age.
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#5[deleted]
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#6the lazy man's way to make something that will last thousands(or more) years: dry stone masonry. I've built a few walls, they're not going anywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
The mechanical stability of a drystone wall is amazing, but the political stability of the border it represents is very, very fragile. It won't fall over but someone might knock it down. That's the problem the Long Now clock might have solved - it's been marketed as a symbol of human persistence. People are being persuaded that it's important. We maintain our symbolic icons. That political stability is what might kee…
> We maintain our symbolic icons.
Until what the symbol represents starts to conflict with political ideology; then, the symbol gets dismantled to cut people off the undesirable heritage.
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#7the lazy man's way to make something that will last thousands(or more) years: dry stone masonry. I've built a few walls, they're not going anywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
The mechanical stability of a drystone wall is amazing, but the political stability of the border it represents is very, very fragile. It won't fall over but someone might knock it down. That's the problem the Long Now clock might have solved - it's been marketed as a symbol of human persistence. People are being persuaded that it's important. We maintain our symbolic icons. That political stability is what might kee…
”We maintain our symbolic icons”
…and we destroy those of our enemies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeldenstorm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_Albanian_herita..., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhas_of_Bamyan#2001,_destru...)
If society collapses, there’s a decent risk the ‘owners’ of the long now clock may start to revere it, with the risk of ‘non-owners’, when they (temporarily) become ‘owners’, to destroy it, or take parts of it home for spoils of war.
Alternatively, the ‘owners’ could destroy it themselves for parts.
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#8the lazy man's way to make something that will last thousands(or more) years: dry stone masonry. I've built a few walls, they're not going anywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone
The mechanical stability of a drystone wall is amazing, but the political stability of the border it represents is very, very fragile. It won't fall over but someone might knock it down. That's the problem the Long Now clock might have solved - it's been marketed as a symbol of human persistence. People are being persuaded that it's important. We maintain our symbolic icons. That political stability is what might kee…
It's not possible to protect against destruction by human beings over these timescales, irrespective of whether people remember what the artefact means.
Any such project can only use engineering to provide assurance that the result should last that long _if_ no-one destroys it.
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#9If you can somehow come up with a way to keep time using a forest, it would be way easier
Re: How to build something that lasts 10k years
#10Finland is building nuclear waste storage facility which is planned to last for 100.000 years.
There are quite few interesting design decisions to be made taking this lifespan in to account, for example if current civilization will be wiped out, what symbols you should put on a door to discourage someone in future to opening the door.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onkalo_spent_nuclear_fuel_repo...