Marking our spot on the Timeline

Let's all imagine for a minute...

You're a billionaire with so much money you don't know what to do with it...

You've already bought the house of your dreams, the cars, the.. well everything of your dreams.. You have it all.

And you still have billions to spend.. on whatever you want..

Now let's throw this imagination in a twist..

You want to build a Temple. Something so massive in scale it rivals the Great Pyramid, or any likeminded structures of past civilazations..

You set forth to construct the worlds largest temple/pyramid/shrine/whatever.

By now you've probably got alot of attention.. I'm sure the news channels are chanting away about the "Billionaire thats going to build the worlds largest pyramid!".. they probably all think you're insane.

You ignore it and begin to hire the best contractors in the world, they'd do anything on this big of a scale, just for your money.. even if they think you're insane. If your "building" is structurly secure, and complies with all the laws, they'll build it.. no matter how weird it is...for huge monies.

But that doesnt matter, you have enough money to own an entire country if you wanted.. hell, you probably already do run half the country just by your influence..

So, you succeed in building the "Worlds Largest replica Pyramid!" Twice the size of the (now not-so) Great Pyramid!

Your pyramid is a replica of the Great Pyramid, complete with passages we cant currently explain.

Whoopie! What now?

So you've spent billions building a pyramid.. the media still thinks you're crazy but they're impressed at the scale of the construction so they report about the pyramid regardless.. this is by the way, the "Worlds Largest replica Pyramid!"

Being such a "world event" everyone questions your motives.. why would you spend all this money on.. THAT? Suddenly you're in the spotlight.. The "Media Buzz" follows your every wim. You've got them wondering!

"Why did you build it?" they will ask, excepting nothing but the most complex of reasons..

You procede to explain something wonderful that the egyptians did. They built these great buildings that have lasted eons in time, and inside these buildings is a language that we, in the current date, we can comprehend; scrolled all over the walls..

You tell them that you beleive that some day our civilization will someday instantly cease to exist. Now you've got everyone thinking about how mysterious it is about the seemingly 'instant' extinction of past civilizations..

You then, during your big spotlight news cast interview, go on to explain that yes, someday we will just "poof", but why not leave a little something behind? You tell the people that inside this monument you've built, you created man's legacy. Telling a story on the walls about every step our civilization has taken, speak of each and every war, battle, and world changing event, speak of every religion and belief. You in yourself catagorized our race. But of course, in order to do so you need a pyramid twice the size of the current (now not so) Great Pyramid because you not only told our history, you wrote in Egyptian hiero, Mayans, English, and every language known to man dating back to the ancients.

That's alot of writing! And how are we going to fit all that in one little pyramid.. even though its The Worlds Largest replica Pyramid!"

Well duh!.. you explain that the pyramid is only one in a series you intend to build, a reference in each pyramid of the others.. all will be found.

You single handedly, with all the billions in your pocket, marked our civilization on the grand timeline of history... What will the next civilization think of us?

What would they think of you?

Why hasnt this been done already?

You might enjoy the "Evil Genius" thread" on BTS which ran for several months, about how to change society. I can see how your "megalithic building campaign" could fit in with such an agenda.

I have a couple of suggestions.

1. Don't build a pyramid. It's too derivative. Anything that looks like a "copy" will relegate you to a "Ripley's Believe it or Not" episode on the sci-fi channel. Don't copy any known monument; instead, design your own unique style.

2. Pick a "third-world" country. Resources and labor will be less expensive, you'll provide needed jobs, and the government will support your work as you pump $ into their state.

3. At your one and only press conference, explain that there is a riddle locked in the dimesions (or the orientation, or the molecular structure, whatever) of the monument, and these symbolic ratios hold the key to spiritualizing matter. Tell the world that you were entrusted with the information by ascended masters who chose you, and that it is the secret of this ratio that has CREATED your obscene wealth. ---Even if that is obviously not true, they will be talking about you on this website for a generation.

4. Warn darkly of booby-traps that spew poison darts, radioactive waste, and so forth, should anyone be so brazen as to enter "the forbidden chamber of secrets."

I designed my own monument, for my mortal remains. See, I want to be buried with elaborate grave-goods, as a way of assisting archaeologists of the far future.
This means that my tomb will need to be intact for at least 50 generations.

I have designed a rugose cone, maybe 75 stories tall, surmounted with a giant statue of Dr. Strangecraft. The statue would be fitted with hollow tubes, so that when the wind blew from various directions, the statue would emit different notes, like a flute. In addition, on the longest day of the year, light could penetrate a shaft, where it would pass through mirrors and lenses and emerge out the statue's eyes. Thus, at noon once a year, a heat-beam would incinerate anything in front of the base of the statue. Also, a system of pipes would cause the statue to appear to urinate a week or so after each rainstorm.

Once the rest of you have succeeded in wrecking the remnants of our present tinkertoy western "civilization," the humble natives who are left behind will feel compelled to worship at the base of the giant Strangecraft, which seems alive, and roasts the sacrifices placed before it each year. I am sure there will be a cult which builds up over the centuries, that prevents thieves from entering my tomb. The haunting melodious flute-music created by the statue will frighten away animals and superstitious grave-robbers. The cult of ME will endure.

Finally after many generations, apostates will arise that don't believe in me, and deny the faith of Strangecraftianity, and it is THESE truthseekers who will finally penetrate the secrets of my tomb, where they will find all the kernels of wisdom that our civilization has to offer. You know, sedation dentistry, CD's, Playstation, the recipe for the ultimate frozen 'rita. That sort of thing.

Nice comeback! I love it.. in its only devilishly way


Maybe the real question is this.. Why havent any "billionaires" ever tried to do something like this? You can see it'd clearly have an impact..

I have not personally spent a lot of time in the company of billionaires.

But I used to work for a multi-millionaire. 50 mil or so.

He would yell at me that I never got work done on schedule. I would reply that it was because we spent all our time repairing the antique equipment, instead of doing production. I would make my daily plea for more modern machinery.

And he would say the EXACT same thing every time:

"I didn't get this rich by SPENDING money, d**n it!"

I hope that this little episode will cast some light on why billionaires haven't built any "8th wonders."

In order to do what you imagine requires vision. Most visionaries (like yourself?) are "be-ers" rather than "do-ers."

That is why you are imagining monuments, while they are sitting on piles of franklins.

Socrates said "To be is to do"

Aristotle said "To do is to be"

Shakespeare said "To be or not to be"

Frank Sinatra synthesized all of this wisdom into "Do be do be doo . . . "

IF I ever get rich, I'm doing this.