Time capsule of wisdom

This thread was kinda inspired by smyleegrl thread on evidence of ancient civilizations but is also something I have been thinking about for a long time. I was thinking if you knew a cataclysmic event was coming and you wanted to preserve knowledge for those who would survive how would you do it, also where would you put it?

Firstly there are only a few materials you could make it from. If you made it from gold people in the future might not understand it and melt it down instead. Also how would you make sure people would understand it, what language would you write it in and how would you insure they would be able to decode it.


I came to the conclusion that it could not be made of a precious metal because people would probably melt it down before they got time to decode it.

Lets go one step further lets suppose that the knowledge you wanted to preserve was also the knowledge that destroyed your world. You would want to make sure that it could only be found when mankind had developed enough not to make the same mistake.

I basically came to the conclusion that I would bury it down very very deep in the earth with some kind of energy beacon that only a technologically developed peoples could detect, I might sink it into the deepest ocean or even put this time capsule in orbit around the Earth.

For those who believe in ancient advanced civilizations this could also be a real possibility, if the government found it would they make it public.

You might also want to think about that, how would you make sure that when your time capsule was eventually discovered that the knowledge and existence of it would not be kept in the hands of the few or that only spiritually developed people could understand the knowledge contained in it...its actually an extremely difficult task once you take all these factors into consideration.

It all depends on the catastrophe, but if I had the technology, I guess I'd put my knowledge capsule in relatively high orbit or possibly park it in a LaGrange Point, with a big flashing light on it (maybe a message in Morse Code) so that people would see it flying overhead every night.

Not that I would have any knowledge that would be particularly useful after a couple hundred years.

reply to post by LUXUS


There is a place in the U.S they have buried all our knowledge and fixed stones in a particular fashion... I forget where though sorry, don't have time to source. All information is in English. Thought process was that if something happens and the world re-populates with an intelligent species they would presume something is up with the stones they affixed and would do some digging and find what we left. Math, language, et cetera.

Originally posted by LUXUS
...its actually an extremely difficult task once you take all these factors into consideration.

Which is why my time capsule would be hidden but not lost.

It would contain one of my most potent farts. Mankind has made enough mistakes and screwed up enough along the road we have travelled. I wouldn't want to give anyone a head start to get back to where we are now.

I'd push the big reset button and leave some stink in the air for something to consider.

One small fart could change humanity forever.

reply to post by nerbot



In the book of Enoch the fallen angels reveal forbidden knowledge which is subsequently abused and leads to Noahs flood as an attempt to bury the knowledge and its abusers.

reply to post by sulaw


But will it really survive say 10 000 years or will it be a pile of mush with only the rocks above it surviving ?

Originally posted by Blue Shift
It all depends on the catastrophe, but if I had the technology, I guess I'd put my knowledge capsule in relatively high orbit or possibly park it in a LaGrange Point, with a big flashing light on it (maybe a message in Morse Code) so that people would see it flying overhead every night.

Not that I would have any knowledge that would be particularly useful after a couple hundred years.

It wouldn't even need a flashing light if you think about it, a massive metallic object with a highly reflective surface would be seen orbiting the earth but only an advanced civilization would be able to go up and get it

reply to post by LUXUS

It wouldn't even need a flashing light if you think about it, a massive metallic object with a highly reflective surface would be seen orbiting the earth but only an advanced civilization would be able to go up and get it

Maybe we already have gone up and got it. Maybe that's what started the whole space race to begin with. Nah. Surely not.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

If it were up to me, I'd code a document into DNA of several species. principally those that could one day interpret their DNA.

It would last, replicate and is easy to achieve.

reply to post by Klassified



Surely not, ever heard of the dark knight satellite

reply to post by chr0naut


you mean "junk dna" ?

Good idea, everyone has it, only the wise can understand it and nobody can own it!

Originally posted by LUXUS
reply to post by chr0naut

 

you mean "junk dna" ?

Good idea, everyone has it, only the wise can understand it and nobody can own it!

edit on 7-5-2013 by LUXUS because: (no reason given)

Who said it's junk?

Originally posted by sulaw
reply to post by LUXUS

 

There is a place in the U.S they have buried all our knowledge and fixed stones in a particular fashion... I forget where though sorry, don't have time to source. All information is in English. Thought process was that if something happens and the world re-populates with an intelligent species they would presume something is up with the stones they affixed and would do some digging and find what we left. Math, language, et cetera.

Talking about the Georgia guidestones?

Just create ceramic disks of what you want to record, makes lots of them, They will survive quite nicely. You could also create some out of glass, plastic, stone and certain metals, place them atop mountains and near resources where they would be found later.

To quote Ralph, "To the moon, Alice!" That's where I'd send a time capsule - to the moon. Even outfit it with one of them radioactive thermoelectric generator doohickies to provide an RF pulse ever so often.

Edit: I'd refrain from putting any capsule on the planet itself. Could lead to some sort of cult.

Thank you for your post. This is a very fascinating article. I have always wondered the same thing. Learning from the ones we found all over the world, I would use stone or crystals for a start. The language should be of symbols and related to astronomy because the stars and constellations will always be there. This opinion is just an observation from the ancient structures and artifacts we know exist all over the world and this is how they do it. I cannot think of any other ways to do this better at this time.

Introducing the dark knight satellite, said to be a 13 000 year old object in artificial orbit of our Earth...isn't 13 000 years around the time the ice age ended and the sea levels increased?

One question. if it is still on a polar orbit how did they determine it is 13,000 years old? Cool pics anyhow and very interesting.

Originally posted by LUXUS
Introducing the dark knight satellite, said to be a 13 000 year old object in artificial orbit of our Earth...isn't 13 000 years around the time the ice age ended and the sea levels increased?

edit on 8-5-2013 by LUXUS because: (no reason given)

I can't watch that video but the idea is cool

I would put it in a box in orbit, a golden box.

No one is going to get my box from orbit just to melt it down.

Inside I would leave detailed instructions on a gold tablet on how to build a video/dvd player to play my golden disc of humanity, when it is played mylazysundays will come on and mess up all their systems with a big troll face at the end, like this one
with a message saying "You should have melted me down"

But an orbital/space solution is the best way to preserve I believe, anything could happen on Earth to destroy it forever

As far as the OP I have alwas wondered about the Pillars of enoch. as I remember ( its been awhile since I have read the book) He made 2 pillars one of wood and one of stone to record all of his peoples tech on so it was not lost. As far as I know no one has found them.

Google searches often refer to the Pyramids as the pillars but they dont fit the story IMHO.