Lets all do something about it.

I was goofing around in another thread, a potential doom scenario.
And I was joking, because thats what I do.

But seriously the biggest problem if you believe we have been here before is preservation of knowledge.

I can fairly well believe this is not the first time we have been down this path... and I excpect that things like the giant seed bank etc, etc will be as useful as the Pyramids were to convey what has come before.

I think we need an everyman effort, even half of 6 Billion doing some small thing to assure that in a disaster some knowledge is preserved would be huge... My serious guess is that only people holed up underground and others in mountains or space craft survive with any technology that is preserved (thus the damn gods) and look what that leads to lol

So the question, what can we think of that every man can do to preserve knowledge for the survivors... 6 Billion won't die out by any cause, it doesn't matter, we are in cockroach theory (self explanatory)

What can we all do to assure that when the asteroid, antichrist, nuclear war, climate change, comet, global freeze, mega flood or whatever it may be strikes... our few survivors on the ground... people like us can rebuild without the help of the great god Cheny poping out of his burrow 40 years later...

This is serious, how do we litter the earth with knowledge so it won't be destroyed... try to keep ideas under 100.00 US

If you are looking for a collective way to preserve knowledge then I would suggest that each and every person must have books that can teach us technology, farming etc. so that we re-build. Should anything disastrous happen, we will need lots of books as there will be no power. A book depository would be a good idea, where books are stored to preserve our history. I am sure such a place already exists, but I have no clue where it is located. Awareness is another thing. All citizens of the world should have knowledge of where such depositories are located. This kind of info should be presented in all school curriculum's and reinforced through out a students entire schooling so that this info is memorized.
Each of us journaling our lives may help someone in the future and also preserve any local or global history.

I think the most obvious thing to do would be to carve basic information about our languages, mathmatics, and other general cultural information into stone like the ancient civilizations themselves did. If it works, why change it? Paper will disintegrate, and computer files of all kinds will be rendered absolutely useless.

The best thing to do would be make a machine that can quickly cut text into thin sheets of rock, and then put them somewhere safe.

Maybe something similar to cave paintings would also survive. Probably wouldn't want to put them on buildings though.

Say a EMP hits, for some odd reason all computers are useless, can we fix them and run em off of rivers and windmills? hell i will even employ dogs running in a big hampster wheel to power my puter if the info on it was valueable enuff.

Originally posted by Tranceopticalinclined
Say a EMP hits, for some odd reason all computers are useless, can we fix them and run em off of rivers and windmills? hell i will even employ dogs running in a big hampster wheel to power my puter if the info on it was valueable enuff.

I would like to propose this question, where would you get the knowledge to make the equipment required to harness electricity? Lets just assume that you posses great knowledge in survival techniques but you do not survive thus your knowledge is not of any value to any one. Your home and the computer may not survive this event. If the catastrophic event occurs there will not be much of anything left, no home to live in, no water to drink unless you find a body of fresh water that has not become polluted because of contamination from nuclear plants, sewer lines bursting etc.
Should anything catastrophic happen I say we would need books on many topics like how to purify water or how to make sea water drinkable because without clean water we will surely not survive on this planet. We need many books on basic survival techniques as well as books on our current technology. These books need to be a safe place so that they can be accessed by the people remaining on the earth. We currently rely heavily on knowledge from computers but without power they become useless.

Good point vecarenx!

I've started a collection of architectural and engineering manuals for my studies, for the sheer pleasure of reading, and to preserve as a resource to help rebuild my community should the worst ever (and hopefully, never) happen ...I'm looking to specialise in lo-tech recycled design, as the one thing that should the worst ever happen, is that living in our current times, there will be an abundance of manufactured consumer materials to put to alternate uses.

What is important is that we take time-out and make it our duty to to teach survival and inventive/adaptive skills to our younger generation, be they our own kids, or nephews and neices, or even just a bunch of kids who take to you from your neighbourhood who's parents trust you. Make it fun to go camping with just the basics, play games with 'what could you build with just plastic sheeting, a dozen wooden cargo-pallets, and a dozen soda cans/bottles in the garden'.

Whilst books and manuals can be 'given wisdom' we can't rely on having even those resources, however, developing fun games to foster lateral-thinking can be an immense benefit.

On an inventive note...

Originally posted by Yarcofin
The best thing to do would be make a machine that can quickly cut text into thin sheets of rock, and then put them somewhere safe.

Rock/clay tablets are incredibly fragile, and once broken, the information contained is lost. A better way would be to take an idea used by the ancient scribes and transcribe drawings and text onto metal sheets and rolled up and preserved against oxidation (much like the copper scrolls found by Dr Jones
A clay-blank can be imprinted with the metal-scroll bas-relief information as a very primitive form of mass-produced press-printing

Originally posted by Tranceopticalinclined
Say a EMP hits, for some odd reason all computers are useless, can we fix them and run em off of rivers and windmills? hell i will even employ dogs running in a big hampster wheel to power my puter if the info on it was valueable enuff.

If its valuable, print it out and perhaps even laminate the pages!

An EMP will destroy semiconductors but not basic electrical circuits...as an example, I recently watched an example of a (modern...5y.o or less) car being driven into an EMP field, the car and its engine management systems and ignition all died as the S.C.s fried into ozone, but the basic circuits for the electric windows which are motors powered by the battery continued to function...an EMP strike would render all modern computerization useless, but basic mechanical systems such as motors, switches, and relays should be undamaged by the pulse

What about an oral history. Getting people to remember a skill or a book.

There are many peoples who keep ideas, history and skills alive with each generation learning from their elders.

I agree that knowledge passed on to the younger generation would be very helpful in preserving life after a world changing event. I believe that an Awareness campaign might be a good beginning. An organization of concerned citizen interested in preserving our future generations. People need to be prepared for the very least, an earth quake. Once people become aware, then it would be beneficial to offer programs to teach the public what to do in case such an event should occur. There needs to be awareness campaigns globally. However such a campaign may cause a panic situation and God knows what people do when they are panicked. If a catastrophic global change occurred, those that do survive would be experiencing some serve panic. If those that survive have enough skills to remain alive then the planet can be re-built. Only better this time, without the evil that now exists in the world.
Debbie