Time Capsule

By Shamus Posted Thursday May 21, 2009

Filed under: Random 162 comments

Civilization is about to undergo some calamity. You can see it coming, but you can’t avert it. (Perhaps it’s unavoidable.) Sometime before the end of this century, civilization is going to be blasted back to the stone age, but projections suggest that things will calm down again in 100-200 years. During that time it’s expected that humans will lose nearly everything, technology-wise. We’ll be back to spears and animal skins.

A clever scientist has come up with a very sturdy time capsule. She’s confident that it will:

  1. Survive the apocalypse.
  2. Remain hidden, safe, and airtight until things blow over.
  3. Be found by any surviving humans once the planet returns to normal.
  4. Those that find it will be reasonably interested in using whatever they find inside to better their understanding and aren’t going to ignore it or waste it. (They won’t burn textbooks to keep warm, even if they can’t understand them.)

Let’s assume we’ll retain the abstract “technologies”, like phonetic alphabet. If we have to nail things down, assume that the people who find the capsule will be reasonably intelligent adults with a second-grade education and almost no understanding of what the world was like, pre-disaster. (I’m not going to specify what the disaster is, or people will begin gaming the system and suggesting ways to avert or survive the disaster instead of tackling the proposed question.) Note that while you can be sure a group of literate humans will find this, you can’t be sure they will be able to read and understand your textbook on quantum physics.

You’ve been given the job of filling the time capsule. Assuming the goal of jump-starting technology, what do you put in?

EDIT: Oh. I forgot to give a volume limit, just to keep some smartass from stuffing the entire library of congress inside of a power plant inside of an aircraft carrier and putting it in the “capsule”. The capsule is one cubic meter.

 


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162 thoughts on “Time Capsule

  1. krellen says:

    A laptop with an intuitively designed GUI that grants access to the terabyte drive therein that holds the contents of Wikipedia.

    1. Shamus says:

      Be sure to include a picture of an electrical outlet with the electronics so the natives will know where to plug it in. :-/

  2. Bret says:

    A laptop with huge battery capacity, Fallout, blueprints for real world tech that matches up well enough with same, and a solid steel Brotherhood armor helmet.

    Lying to people of the future: Always fun.

  3. Kyte says:

    Building on the previous: A (sturdy!) Kindle-like device (maybe with a touch screen) with a intuitive GUI containing a whole variety of books of various main topics, from math & science to history & art, organized in folders according to level. The device should only allow access to the most elementary books/chapters at first, unlocking more as a certain browsing milestone is reached (for instance, by reaching the end of a chapter covering cinematics a little popup tells you you can now read the chapter on dynamics).
    And of course, damn full of animations and other support material.
    Hyperlinks to popups explaining terms preferred.
    Wikipedia (or a more accurate version of it) could sitting in the background available as reference.

    That should, if not ensure, at least have a good chance of getting the reader interested.

    1. Shamus says:

      My previous snark aside, I’m pretty stumped on this one. Electronics seem iffy to me. I doubt modern batteries will still work in 100+ years, no matter what you use to charge them. A battery leak or a blown circuit somewhere and all of the knowledge goes poof.

      If we’re back to spears and skins, I think the most useful info would be basics on farming, crop rotation, weaving, pottery, bronze working, and steel. I’d make sure those were carefully illustrated and printed on durable water-resistant paper. (I want them to last as long as possible and be as widely read as possible even after the capsule is opened.) Then there would be smaller and more compact books on construction, glass blowing, advanced mathematics, sanitation and basic medicine.

      And finally I’d include the higher-tech stuff, both in electronic format (a solar-powered kindle or something) and on some sort of microfilm format that could be read using the included microscope. (The microscope serves double-duty as a functional example of a tech they’ll need.) If the kindle doesn’t make it, at least they’ll have the microfilm.

      In general, I think these nomads aren’t going to have a lot of time to sit around reading about techniques of modern filmmaking until they’re fed, healthy, and clothed.

  4. Mari says:

    I’m sticking with photographs and paintings of current devices. Cars, computers, airplanes, rockets, washing machines, and so on. I leave it to the people of this new civilisation to figure out how to make such devices work as they may conceivably improve significantly on our current designs simply by having a fresh approach. For instance, a photograph of a car may spur them to create a motorized conveyance that runs on a cleaner or more widely available fuel source or perhaps doesn’t utilize the internal combustion engine at all but some entirely new device.

    I believe that technology derives from the infinite imagination of man and an inability to know our limits, a refusal to say “It can’t be done.” To restrict future civilisations to doing things “our way” we’re limiting them and thus killing off potential innovation.

    Besides, building off the shoulders of giants inevitably leads to irresponsibility. When we weren’t the ones who mastered the knowledge we tend to lack the discipline to use said knowledge well. Achievement comes from hard work and future peoples deserve to achieve just as much as we do.

  5. Nihil says:

    No computers, guys. No battery out there is going to survive 200 years of stasis. Other components (such as the HD) are also very likely to fail after such a long period if inactivity.

  6. Derek says:

    You can see it coming, but you can't avert it.

    So, are we to assume that Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger are unavailable? What happened to them, that will prevent them from stopping the disaster?

    Assuming no Hollywood heroes are available to save us, I’d put hope and intuition in the box. Oh, and faith and curiosity. Probably honesty and goodness too, to make sure humanity got restarted on the right foot. And a GameBoy.

  7. JohnW says:

    A large, black stone slab, 1 meter deep by 4 meters wide by 9 meters tall. That vibrates faintly, but does nothing else.

  8. illiterate says:

    Business plans for creating a software company and a graphics chipset manufacturer.

    The technology curve is driven by these, right?

  9. Kyte says:

    I was more thinking of having it attached to a battery (a generator even if space permits) and with instructions on how to make more electricity if needed.

  10. Math, agriculture, and science books, starting with the elementary, going up as far as we can fit in the time capsule. Make the early stuff physical books, but switch to digital for the more advanced stuff if space is an issue. They should be ordered in an obvious enough way to get them started (“read this first”).

    But the most important part: detailed information on setting up, maintaining, and running a printing press so that these books can be reproduced and disseminated. Have literature explaining the benefits of widely spreading information and knowledge, as to encourage them.

    The printing press, one of the most valuable inventions in the history of mankind, was only invented a few hundred years ago. If you don’t tell them about it, they might have to wait thousands of years for it to be invented again.

    Now hopefully they can find the time to apply this information. Primitive people had to spend much of their time just managing their own survival.

  11. Kyte says:

    (I HAD been thinking books, but they are so. Freaking. bulky.)

    PS: Bah at the edit timeout.

  12. Merle says:

    Medical textbooks, starting with the basics and moving right on up to the advanced stuff. Clearly labelled.

    A complete copy of Shakespeare’s works.
    If we can assume that this will all somehow be miraculously preserved until they can get to it, I would include a laptop containing the contents of Wikipedia, complete with solar panels and charging instructions.

    A brief explanation of and guide to recreating the Green Revolution, if need be.

    And photographs of the moon landings, with an explanation of their origin. That’s something that humanity should never forget.

  13. Seth says:

    I don’t have anything to add except to say that this same thought experiment is something that an advanced alien civilization would have to think up to try and boot-strap us to their level.

    “Hmm, how can we get them up to quantum computing and basic planet building from the lowly state they are in?”

  14. Daemian Lucifer says:

    My first thought was to include a computer,or just a hard disk.But then,Ive remembered that those things have a life time that is much shorter than 200 years.So paper is the way to go.Id include a text describing in as much detail as possible few of the crucial technologies like steam power,electricity,few medicine formulas(like penicilin),concrete,and maybe gunpowder and atomic energy.

  15. Magnus says:

    No electronics. Theres no point unless they can be reproduced, in which case you need to provide the information required to get them through the equivalent of 1900-2009.

    I’d start with a full copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as various biology, physics and chemistry texts. Also beneficial would be various history books, detailed maps (for comparison post apocalypse) and various sociological information. Also required would be a “rosetta stone” or a given amount of information reproduced in a dozen of the most appropriate written languages (if we are using english resources, then european languages for example.)

    To kickstart a civilization, you need the information required for food and water (desalination, water purification, irrigation, agriculture, fertilizer, livestock management etc.); medicine and health (anatomy, physiology, genetics, antibiotics, diet, aspirin, sanitation, sewerage etc.); power (generators, electricity, fuel extraction-storage-usage etc.); transport (horse training, internal combustion engine); construction (architecture, brick-making, concrete, etc.); metal working (ore extraction, refinement, various usages)

    There is truly so much we take for granted, that took us hundreds of years to accomplish.

  16. Yar Kramer says:

    @JohnW: Would you be able to make it absolutely black, so that it was almost impossible to see its depth? Or if you touched it, giving it a sensation of not actually touching it, as if your fingers had just stopped just short of it? And how impervious-to-all-mortal-weapons-and-cutting-tools are we talking here? ;)

  17. Rutskarn says:

    1.) An in-depth history of Agriculture. This will explain each new advancement in detail, which they can gradually follow up to a certain point (i.e., diesel power). This provides for the rebirth of civilization.

    2.) An equally in-depth history of Metallurgy. This might not be much help, but it’s better than nothing.

    3.) A book on Steam Power.

    4.) A lengthy, simple essay (which I may have to write myself) on what systems of government are best. Hopefully, we can give tyranny a miss and get right to democracy.

    5.) A massive box of glowsticks, assuming they can survive the 200 years without degrading. Why? To give the science caste a pseudo-religious appearance when necessary, building respect for them among the tribe.

    6.) A box of steel tools, the strongest I can find. Hopefully, this will give them a kickstart, although they won’t last forever. Also, they’ll show people how it’s done.

    7.) A glossary, painstakingly defining any “big words” which might exist in the texts.

    That’s all I can think of offhand.

  18. SolkaTruesilver says:

    I’d give them basic hygienic tricks that we learned in 20th century. They will probably mis-understand them as holy scriptures, but I don’t care.

    Some of the basic things we learned in the last 2 centuries that we got wrong in the 20 centuries before that would be great. Also, the basic things regarding preservation of food, navigation, etc…

    I’d like to bump them to Renaissance-level of navigation techniques to get their bearing around the world, which will increase their trade. Medical and Hygiene would have to be as advanced as possible. But I think we can do away with the rest…

    Ohhhh… Maybe give them some other basic tricks regarding the preservation of environment. Over-foresting of Northen Africa led to the desert Sahara in the past 3 millenia and the soil erosion. How about we give them tip to prevent such mistake to happening again? Like… “Only cut 3 trees out of 4”.

    1. Shamus says:

      Claire: There was no reason in the world you couldn’t have written your comment without insulting every single religious person in this thread by referring to their deeply-held beliefs as “nonsense”. Moreover, broaching the subject is a great way to threadjack the entire discussion.

      I respect people of all faiths (or of no faith at all) and I’d ask others to do the same. Let’s keep this friendly.

  19. Joel says:

    What concerns me the most is whether or not the people that discover the capsule will be able not only to read the language of the texts, but be able to read at all. At that point, we’d probably want to render critical ideas as pictures and diagrams. Stuff about agriculture and mathematics probably tops my list, as surplus food will allow for the “leisure” time to research more and math is the foundation of a lot of other key ideas. I don’t know. I think the most important thing is ensuring the transmission of the knowledge. If no one can read English anymore, it doesn’t matter if they have a magical Kindle or not.

  20. elias says:

    Meh, they’ll come up with these technologies again eventually. Maybe not for a while, but I probably won’t be around anymore anyway, so it doesn’t really matter to me how long it takes. With that in mind, if I were still gonna put something in a time capsule, it would be more fun to put in something just to screw with their heads. So… how about an iPhone wired up to a hand-crank generator and/or some solar cells?

  21. MissusJ says:

    I know we are only talking about 100-200 years here, but I would like to assume that the projections might be off, and I think a lot of other people here may be assuming this as well. In which case…

    screw paper, it will not last well enough or be durable enough once it is discovered to be of much use. Think on this: what do we have from hundreds of years ago that is still in decent shape today, even with our restorative technology?

    stone. metal. So sure, give some info on what we have and do now. I am with Mari that it might be best to not go into too much detail, so let’s limit it to the most durable of means- make a metal book, paint on stone, whatever. The material alone will limit what information can be imparted.

    I second the moon landings as important to pass on, and I wish we could include something musical as well, but I think my own suggestions may preclude this.

    One other objection to providing much information about high tech, or even comparatively low tech- we do not know how the earth itself has been changed by this catastrophe, so some things may or may not be possible. The new humans will have to make their own way in this new world. All we can tell them is how things were.

    ETA: Of course, we need a couple of languages, even if it is only in one place… a Rosetta Stone for a new age. I heartily second this. How is the record player on the Voyager Probe powered? Could we include something like that?

  22. Robyrt says:

    The #1 thing to put in the Time Capsule is a complete guide to agriculture. Without the stable and sizable society that it provides, you won’t HAVE academics to interpret the rest of your information.

  23. OddlucK says:

    A large bomb, or maybe a small device (powered by the large thousand-year half-life nuclear reactor attached to it, but otherwise unusable–just to quell the “the battery will die” argument) which is programmed randomly on the press of it’s only button either to make a pleasing tone, do nothing, or horribly shock the one pressing the button. I hate future us.

    More seriously, I’m not sure I’d put in much of anything, other than things perhaps to spur their imagination–photographs of planes, trains, and automobiles; a DVD copy of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; a small piano and sheet music to Bjork’s greatest hits; 42; a shoe. Let them ponder those things and figure them out on their own.

    Still more seriously, I’d probably just pack in the next progressive step or two in human technology. Give them a bow, a pair of shoes, woven cloth (with a simple, easy to fathom weave–no polyester), some fashioned metal along with a piece of the ore of the same material and a note saying “Heat and bash this to make this” (with picture references so they know which “this” is this), an anvil and a hammer, that sort of thing.

    Really, my goal would be just to spur them a little further along. There’s no reason to try to inundate them with the whole of our knowledge, or even to presume they could (after however much study) begin to replicate what they’ll see in textbooks, especially if we don’t give them the materials to do it. Their advancement, if that is indeed our goal, should either progress naturally or merely be inspired a small amount. It’s the only way to ensure comprehension and implementation.

    Though, I really do hate future us. Let’s bomb ’em!

  24. Factoid says:

    I think probably the most important things to include would be texts on farming, construction techniques, metallurgy and medicine/anatomy.

    Include some chemistry texts that have instructions on how to make simple medicines that help to extend lives. Maybe the first generation to open the capsule won’t be able to synthesize pennicillin, but the second generation probably will.

    I like Shamus’s suggestion about Microfilm, but I think it’s risky. Microfilm has a shelf life. It’s a very LONG shelf life, but the more you expose it to light the more it will degrade over time. Since you won’t be able to rely on working electronics that means they’ll be using sunlight to view the film, which has UV light, which will ruin the film in all but a few months.

    I’d give them information on how to manufacture paper and printing presses as well. That was the tipping point for human society and the single invention that launched humanity into the current cycle of exponential knowledge creation.

  25. Tacoma says:

    You need a rosetta stone that lets them translate a few really common languages into your capsule language. It should include a basic mathematic system to build up from if none of them speak the languages on your rosetta stone.

    The number 1 thing would be history of human development and human activity. Philosophy and ethics. We need to tell them what their world used to be like, how we screwed it up or failed to prevent a natural apocalypse, and advice on how to do it better. We were just normal people living normal lives, not gods of the old world.

    Second, you need some way to make this group you’ve convinced better able to survive and so to flourish. Information on agriculture, medicine, organization, and scientific inquiry. You don’t need to tell them everything, just enough to get them solidly on their way. And with the history showing them what was once possible they have something to work toward.

    I would include maps of the old world and icons for each site with descriptions that should help them scavenge what may be left. A full description of the dangers of various nuclear and chemical sites, sort of a “this is not a place of honor” deal.

    Astronomical charts in sets of 100 year increments out to 1000 years, to account for changes in the Earth’s skies.

    And finally in the space remaining a few “wonder objects” that don’t use electricity, don’t expire, and last for MANY uses. I’m thinking powerful magnets, modern alloy blades, stuff that won’t kill someone with common sense but are useful and even magical. This way the discoverers both know that this is not a hoax and have a means of proving that to others, and also have some treasure for their trouble even if they don’t use any of the information.

  26. Chilango2 says:

    You want to keep things basic, the basic goal should be to jump start them from the stone age to the renaissance, from there, they have been given the tools to figure things out on their own.

    Furthermore, you can’t assume that the humans viewing this are capable of ever reading english or any current language, which means you’d have to create a symbolic language that would be tested to be understood by the vast majority of human beings.

    So you’d want illustrated guides to farming, including crop rotations and the need for fertilizers.

    You’d also want an illustrated guide to basic medicine: basic sanitation methods, the human physiology, the fact germs and viruses as the core spreaders of disease. These two things alone would save uncountable human lives and guarantee a much faster recovery.

    Next, you’d want a basic ‘How to escape the Malthusian trap’ kit: An illustration of a simple steam power engine,a solar power engine, an explanation of electricity, a diagram of a battery, a simple electrical setup, including how wires work as conductors, and a diagram of a transistor that can be made from scratch.

    Next, you’d want to reconnect the world as well, so include diagrams and illustrations of the wheel, wind powered ships that could travel decent distances, the internal combustion engine, a simple all terrain vechile diagram, that sort of thing.

    Last, you’d want core underlying theory: Basic physics, chemistry, a bit about the atom, that sort of thing.

    If you had any room left, the people of the future should know that the people of the past didn’t just work. Include one sample of a major cultural creation from each major culture group.

  27. Sandrinnad says:

    spears & skins, eh?

    is there evidence of ancient tech left (roads, buildings, etc) or has it all been eliminated by the catastrophe?

    in any case: easy-to-follow instructions on the basics of agriculture and land management (including useful tools), textile manufacturing, hygiene and health care (including nutrition), and metallurgy.

    I think that’s about it. As for everything else, why look back? Look forward instead. If they invent it themselves they may do a better job and they will certainly be able to better take into account their current resources (who knows what will/won’t be available after this catastrophe?)

  28. Kevin says:

    Comic books, Playboys, and beer recipes. Culture is led by the geeks, so we have to make sure there are some.

  29. james says:

    Lots of photographs. Photographs of people doing normal, every day things.

    Then some crazy high tech devices like:

    A sharp knife
    A compass
    A gas lighter
    A car battery and solar panel and lightbulb

    Oh, and a map showing the country and all its major cities and where their rubbish dumps are, with fairly obvious instructions to go digging in them. People have been going on about how plastic and metal takes millions of years to decompose, so future us should easily be able to dig up some good stuff to play with.

    1. Shamus says:

      James: Clever

      Rutskarn: Okay. You win the apocalypse. (This time.)

  30. Rutskarn says:

    Shamus: On that note, I think I’ll include an 8×10 glossy of myself, with “Your God” written in gold lettering.

    Also, a list of my preferred sacrifices and temple rituals. Rutskarn is not a forgiving lord.

  31. Nomar says:

    And again with the electricity. You need to think 20th century, not 21st: microfilm! It’s reasonably robust, durable, and can be read with a microscope, which is a simple mechanical device that requires not electricity, only a good light source. The only full-size reading material you’ll need to include is an IKEA-style instruction booklet on how to use the (also included) microscope to read the microfilm.

  32. Vladius says:

    “Civilization is about to undergo some calamity. You can see it coming, but you can't avert it. (Perhaps it's unavoidable.) Sometime before the end of this century, civilization is going to be blasted back to the stone age, but projections suggest that things will calm down again in 100-200 years. During that time it's expected that humans will lose nearly everything, technology-wise. We'll be back to spears and animal skins.”

    Is that a threat?

  33. Chris says:

    So no-one’s suggested a small model of the Statue of Liberty which, when the red button on its’ base is pressed, screams “You crazy sons of bitches! You blew it up! You blew it all to Hell!”

  34. Jay says:

    I second the idea about using something other than paper.

    Really, plastic or organic things will not be the way to go if you want your contributions to last more than a generation. I like the idea of a book made of metal plates, with modern equipment and engraving it can look nice, get the idea across, and last for a very, very long time.

    Of course that means limiting what you include, and Shamus has clearly defined the targets as being spears and animal skins tech-wise, with the reading skills of a second grader.

    The most important thing then would be to boost them from hunter/gatherer to a more stable lifestyle that would allow for the leisure time to care about things like mathematics and such. The first chapters would explain farming in simple terms, and have some helpful techniques, like crop rotation and the like. Next, chapters on more advanced defense measures, since we do *not* want our target group wiped out by another tribe, or wolves or bears…

    Then delve into more esoteric subjects like philosophy and math, we want them to expand their minds and create their own culture, not replicate ours, the one that obviously failed in apocolypse.

    The final chapters would have hints of more modern tech, like the forementioned printing press, and flight, and other things obviously out of their current reach, but achieveable.

    Lastly, I would leave a ‘bible code’ for future generations that had more complex information, like warnings related to the cause of the end of the world. Sadly, in this situation such a book would would be interpreted as divine, but there is not much chance of escaping that.

    I like the idea of powerful trinkets, like magnets, so those are in, along with some high quality farming tools and pictures (in stone or metal, again) of how things should look. Plows, harnesses for animal power, etc.

    Really, it is too much to elevate stone age man to the information age without all the intervening tech.

    Jay

  35. Strangeite says:

    I agree with the people that are stating that we can’t overwhelm them with the entirety of our knowledge. The basics on food and water (crop rotation, plow design, water purification, food preservation, etc.), the basics of hygiene and medicine (germs kill, honey is a good anti-biotic, hand washing saves lives, etc.), the basics of metalurgy (smelting ore, building a furnace, tempering metal, creating alloys, etc.) and the basics of physics (Newton’s laws, a model of the solar system, star charts for navigation, etc).

    Electronics are too unreliable, paper will degrade and metal is too bulky. The only way to preserve the information is to print books made entirely of plastic. Plastic will last 200+ years if not exposed to light and they can remove same from the capsule without too much fear of the elements destroying it quickly.

    The rest of the space would be filled with inspiration. Pictures of the moon landing, children playing in a hydrant in an urban area, giant combines harvesting fields in Kansas, Olympic stadium, shots of the Earth from space, etc. These pictures should be awe inspiring and show what we consider mundane life.

    Last but not least, I would have a music box created using only brass that plays Beethoven’s No. 8 Movement 2 from symphony No. 7.

    With the foundation of the plastic books and the inspiration from the music and pictures, they will create their own future and my guess is that it will be in ways you could never imagine.

  36. Lazlo says:

    Lots of good suggestions here, but one I don’t recall seeing: a map of all of the major landfills around the world (or near the site of the time capsule at least). 200 years isn’t enough time, by many orders of magnitude, for tectonics to bring new metals near the surface, and we’ve pretty much tapped out the majority of easily-mineable metals. The best mines will be our trash.

  37. RibbitRibbit says:

    One option: A condensed version of The Bible, with changes by yours truly. It’s a matter of personal taste/distaste for some of its myths and teachings, but otherwise it’s a good start for ethics, and moreover perhaps some of the stuff survived in oral form, so it will lend credence to “my” version. Some of the “thou shall not”s will be related to stuff that we’re doing wrong today, and to the catastrophe that’s about to come. Everything printed on something which won’t be ravaged by time, like super-durable plastic.

    That’s it. Civilization will begin anew, people. So it will take mankind ten thousand years more. Who gives a damn. Eventually, they will find our relics under the soil anyway. If I’m to be even trickier, I will hide hints on where the Stuff of the Ancients might be found inside the “new” holy text, along with a detailed map of the world.

    A second option: a rifle with telescopic sights, and fill the rest with ammo. And a manual for repairs, cleaning, and how to make more ammo.

  38. Eric J says:

    A still with pictographic instructions and an illustrated copy of the Kama Sutra.

  39. Miako says:

    Shamus,
    How long were they guaranteeing the first CD’s? I’m pretty dang sure it was more than 1000 years (optimistic much, dev team?).

    You could probably fit the entire library of congress on some CDs, with the proper compression (self extracting archives). Text ain’t too difficult to compress, and it ain’t too large.

    One meter cube of DVDs. That’s what, 50 Terabytes? Add in a “don’t scratch me” post it (made of metal, as suggested above).

    World’s Best Riddle! It may take them millenia to solve, but it’ll be worth it!

    (seriously, were we under some obligation to help them out, or to merely help the future out?)

  40. OddlucK says:

    Oooh! Can we find some way to guide them to create the flying car by the end of their 20th Century?! That was the biggest disappointment of the 90’s–no flying car.

  41. Trianglehead says:

    I’m with Factoid. The real increase in development came with the printing press and was the first thing I thought of. So plans and instructions on it seem of high importance, as it will allow for distribution of knowledge quickly again as they make their own discoveries. Obviously with a cubic meter there is still plenty of room for some basic things. I think one of those nice glossy laminated cheat sheets for the major subjects, chemistry, mathematics, natural science. A book on farming techniques. Then all these things could be recreated and distributed thanks to the printing press.

  42. Shinan says:

    All you really need to kickstart civilization is a couple of guns and some ammo for them. I’m sure the people who find the capsule will make good use of them to start the new civilization. (built upon the power of the old one)

  43. I suck at these types of thought experiments.

    But if I could put a miniature, fully-functioning Shamus into the capsule, I would do so in gratitude for referring to the clever scientist as a “she”.

    Thank you. Thank you. Thank YOU!

    Leslee

  44. Ingvar says:

    Um, how long do I have to prepare for stuffing it? This would, as they say, be crucial.

    Start with a beginner’s book of math. We’ll happily assume that Future Finder understands positional numbering systems (though we can HOPEFULLY bootstrap this using set representations next to numbers to build up a “vocabulary” of the first 20 numbers, after that we can hope it’s self-evident).

    In parallel, try to bootstrap an “English for non-speakers” (though how to go from there to the mre abstract things needed, I do not know).

    Bootstrap from “simple English” and “basic maths” into more advanced mathematics. Then start an “electronics primer” (using, I dunno, vaccum tube-level stuff) and from there describe how to build a simple reader for a punched-paper tape. Provide mylar tapes with densely punched holes and try to fit enough of a bootstrap to build solid-state lasers (probably Very Tricky, but may be doable, if we can get the storage density high enough) and the ISO filesystem layout, then fill the last cubic foot with DVDs, filled with all sorts of useful stuff.

  45. Vextra says:

    Some might argue that this has already been done by ancient civilizations. Afterall, what better way to pass on your ancient knowledge than build gigantic stone monoliths that attract attention, curiousity from the right sort, and which are inscribed with the things your civilization consider the ‘right sort’ of knowledge?

    Noone knows just how OLD the sphinx is for example, and there are all sorts of crazy theories about the origins of Mesoamerican Civilization…

  46. Zombie Pete says:

    A towel.

  47. briatx says:

    I don’t think I would include anything technological etc., because I don’t know that there is an inherent value in pushing “civilization” (in the sense of a complex division of a labor). A hunter gatherer society might be more sustainable.

    Maybe books on ethics? But I don’t know which I would choose.

  48. Axcalibar says:

    If humanity can survive 100+ years using spears and skins, then the human spirit has prevailed. Nothing that can be contained in a capsule would be necessary. Why do we assume that our current civilization and technology is superior to what future generations would build? I have firm confidence that mankind can survive any catastrophe.

    That said, Twinkies.

  49. midget0nstilts says:

    Actually, I see a lot in here suggesting that “stone age” people (which I am going to assume are hunter-gathers) spend every moment of their wretched existence living in misery and hard labor. Not true. Hunter-gatherers actually lived a pleasant existance, only have to hunt/gather for a few hours per week, and the rest was mostly leisure time. They were egalitarian (although there are/were exceptions), and IIRC, they lived to be at least 50.

    What really brought on the rise of technology is because humanity basically had no choice. More people required more intensive food-producing techniques moving up to slash-and-burn to crop rotation, etc. This made people have to work *much* harder. *THAT*’s when life became miserable. This did not reverse until the industrial revolution where machines finally began to save us time.

    In that case, I would have no desire to advance their technology along, assuming that would even be possible. They will if they need to. I would instead create a storage device intended for a technologically advanced civilization, so that they could learn from us. It would be made of metal and have grooves like a record. It would store data in digital format with instructions on decoding etched on sheet metal. There would be a thin plate of some radioactive metal, say, uranium so that this civilization could “prove” that it came from our time, assuming they understood the concept of half-lives. The container itself would be designed to be only openable by advanced civilizations. I’m not sure how this would be done. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

    Oh, and I stole my storage idea from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record

  50. Adeon says:

    My first thought was (as other have suggested) information on agriculture, metallurgy and the printing press.

    However I was thinking about the the novel The Mote in God’s Eye and realized that in general our descendants are probably going to have a real shortage of easily accessible metal ores and (especially) fossil fuels since we have generally exhausted them already. Most of the fossil fuels we extract today are only accessible because of our technology. This would make it very difficult for them to get the industrial revolution going since they would be mostly dependent on wind, water and wood for their power generation all of which have some severe limitations.

    This suggests that we either need to include some information on advanced mining techniques for a low tech civilization or information on how to usefully generate mechanical energy without ready access to fossil fuels.

  51. Magnus says:

    A stone tablet, the size of a sheet of A4 paper.

    Written on it…

    “This world, that you think is yours, is mine. And I’m taking it back. I’m taking it ALL back!”

  52. Torsten says:

    Shamus, have you by any change read Alan Weisman’s book World Without Us? That book is a research of what would be left of our civilization if all humans suddenly disappear.

    I’m going to make a lot of assuming on this scenario, but everyone else does that too. I’m living in Europe so I would leave the capsule there. Since you dont define the disaster I’m going to assume that it only affects humans and leaves animals and buildings intact, but wipes out 99,9% of human population. Today that would leave about 6 million people scattered around the world, probably living in small communities. They are literate, but without knowledge of modern technology and history, although signs of it would still be around. Some buildings would be standing and there would be plastic and metal items.

    I’d leave the capsule somewhere where they speak germanic languages. Everything would be at least in English, German, French, Spanish and Swedish or there would be dictionaries for those languages. I’d include a world atlas and books of history, geography, art and philosophy, so that they would understand the remains of our society and know that there might be other survivors. The spot where the capsule is would be marked on the maps so that people can figure out where they are. There would also be some navigation tools. Other books would be about agriculture, metallurgy, healthcare and some instructions on how to make steam engine, electricity, penicillin and other stuff that form the basis of big innovations.

    Instead of actual books I would use plastic files and laminate all sheets in plastic too to make sure they can last a few centuries.

  53. midget0nstilts says:

    I just thought of a way my record could stored only for tech-advanced civs…. Put it on the moon! (Shamus didn’t say anything about where the capsule could or could not be put.) It would of course be in some sort of obviously artificial structure so it could be easily found.

  54. Gerg says:

    WALL-E. I think he’s less than 1 cubic meter. He can teach humans to love and laugh again, and also, oddly, farm and possibly how to domesticate insects. He’s also eating-resistant.

  55. Luke Maciak says:

    Ok, here is the thing – paper is not that durable either. I’d put the most important writing in something that doesn’t fade or deteriorate when exposed to sunlight, humidity and temperature variances.

    I’d say we laser etch the most important stuff on some light aluminum alloy or plastic. We can probably manufacture very thin sheets that will be more durable than paper.

    Then, in case they can’t read I’d include a pictographic rosetta stone. I’d have simple pictures with the words in several languages next to them and perhaps a few of simple illustrated childrens book – like “See Spot Run” so that they can try to figure out english grammar.

    Of course this introductory material may be taking space for no reason – perhaps these people will retain enough knowledge to be able to read basic English, Then again, maybe not.

    It is also very likely that the English 200 years post apocalypse will be very different from the language we use today. I mean, we have to translate texts from the old english to modern english because they are unreadable to an untrained layperson.

    So I think including some material that would allow them to learn how our written language works would be beneficial.

    As for multimedia materials – I wouldn’t trust a laptop or a kindle like device. How about a wound up gramophone and assortment of discs they could use with it. I’d use something more durable and prone to scratches than vinyl – so they can’t destroy the data just by scratching it. Maybe laser etching the grove in some durable alloy would be best?

    This way we could deliver voice data to go with our books and charts. I’m not sure if there is a way to make a low tech video projector that does not use film (cause film will deteriorate quickly and is easily damaged).

    After we are done with the basic english lessons I would include basic algebra and geometry concepts. We should teach them how to calculate distances, angles, measure areas and etc. We should also show them some basic lo-fi technology – pulleys, counterweights, etc. Give them basic physics knowledge – stuff about forces, thermodynamics and etc.

    We should also include materials on agriculture, farming, domesticating animals, breeding and etc. And of course medical knowledge. We ought to have an illustrated guide which shows them which herbs and plants to use for what ailments, and give them basic idea that sickness is caused by the bacteria/viruses so they can skip all the crackpot theories about humors, bloodletting and etc..

    The idea is to bring them up to the technological level that existed in ancient Rome or Egypt in a relatively short time. The hope is that they can take this knowledge and go right into an industrial revolution of their own.

    It’s probably a good idea to include couple of more advanced scientific and technical texts for later. We could put these on a microfilm like Shamus suggested – these would contain our advanced scientific knowledge and it would require them to reach a certain level of understanding to decode it.

    1. Shamus says:

      I just realized we’re making this way too hard on ourselves.

      Just drop the Civilization IV strategy guide in there. They’ll be fine.

  56. animusf6 says:

    Time capsules are nice and fancy, of course, but why not use something with more, I don’t know, permanence? Like these guys [wikipedia.org].

  57. Elzair says:

    A 1m^3 box would probably be too small for what I would put in, but I would do my best. First, I would go light on the books and try to put in more practical things. First, I would put in a mini steam engine and photos of its operation and purpose. Then I would put in a lathe and as many other machine tools as would fit. Then, I would store a durable custom-computer with simple controls (maybe an engraving with images detailing its operations a la the Voyager Golden Record). On it, I would put many good textbooks covering Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Engineering, etc. I would try to go light on the theory (future scientists can rederive everything if they feel like it). I would place information on where to find hydrocarbons, useful minerals like copper, iron, gold, silver, etc. I would also definitely include information on how to build dams; I would put a bunch of information on steam power. I would also include videos of important Chemistry and Physics experiments, although the practical stuff would be more important.

  58. McGurker says:

    I once found a page that had all this information on it for ‘if you are suddenly back in time’

    I bet somebody has already reference it, but lemme see if I can find it anyway.

    Nope. Awesome. Well…that’s what I would put in.

    Cool.

  59. Robert says:

    A copy of “The Ancient Engineers”, by L. Sprague DeCamp, rendered into pictographic form, and a basic set of tools. If they can’t figure it out from there, they deserve to rot in the stone age.

  60. Aergoth says:

    We’re assuming religion is bad a lot of the time here (and it can be, but we’ll stay away from that). I prefer the idea of Leto II from the Dune Series. If you can’t beat religion, own it in the face and use it for your own purposes. Jewish and Islamic food prohibitions for instance, are a good idea, since they act naturally to prevent people from eating things that might make them sick, or would waste food.

    So my list. A book filled with metal sheets (yes, I’m stealing here) detailing the following:
    Pasturization and boiling of water to make it safe.
    Crop Rotation and basic agriculture
    Some basic navigation principles that don’t depend on the stars or other astronomical phenomena.
    The basic idea of germs and transmission of infectious disease.
    How to bake flat bread
    How to make soap (fat and ashes essentially)
    A rephrased set of food prohibitions (I’m not going to copy the religious text verbatim, but it’s probably easier to have them not eat pigs then teach the cultivation of penicillin)
    Architecture (bridges, huts)
    Codify all this in a semi-religious fashion. With any luck they might adopt it as scripture.
    Include a brief history of humanity over the last two centuries. Make sure to point out the mistakes we made glaringly. Tools that might be necessary to get this started, with the explicit instructions that they copy them to make more, and a D20 the size of my fist.

  61. Mr. Son says:

    Wow, no one’s suggested this yet? A stone or metal tablet reading:

    “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
    Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”

    More seriously, I totally Nth instructions for a printing press (and paper-making technology). Even with no futher help, the ability to easily share information will speed their own technological progress considerably.

    But definitely the Ozymandias line.

  62. halka says:

    A can of gasoline and some matches.

  63. Alex says:

    -Portable DVD Players

    -Portable Televisions

    -A f#$%-tonne of Batteries for both which, for the sake of conversation, let us assume have somehow survived intact throughout the ages/apocalypse.

    -Various copies of the entire series of Azumanga Daioh on DVD(again, assuming they have not eroded into a fine powder at this point and can still be watched).

    -And if there is any room left(I don’t know what a cubic meter is, visually), a portable mp3 player filled with classical and video game music.

    -Or if none of those things can fit into a cubic meter, a single, framed picture of Chuck Norris.

    That should be sufficient. That’ll give the future-men straggling the wastes a good idea of what we’re all about.

    (NOTE: This list also applies to any and all “Desert Island” hypotheticals)

  64. Viktor says:

    A supply of our most productive/useful seeds, as well as the most current information on fertilization and cultivation of crops, crop rotation, composting, and all the other nature stuff I don’t have a clue about, in an easy-to-read format. And a list of instructions for making a printing press. So they can distribute knowlege, and hopefully have a good enough supply of food to have time to develop knowlege.

    Oh, and a basic explanation of things like hygene and basic medicine. Might as well let them survive long enough to plant the crops. Probably ought to include a diagram of a crossbow, too.

    Humans will develop the knowlege, given the opportunity. Our goal needs to be to give them the time to do so, without the need for thousands of years of dying to mutant giant ants.

  65. Nixorbo says:

    My frozen head and a pickle jar filled with H2OGfat.

  66. evilmrhenry says:

    Some of the more useful varieties of seeds, “Restarting Civilization for Dummies”, “Sanitation, Germs, and Why You Should Wash Your Hands”, “What’s That Red Stuff: A Beginners Guide to Medicine” and whatever else looks immediately useful in book format.

    For long-term use, include a portable microfilm reader, and a lot of microfilm containing such works as “Plants, Animals, and Their Uses”, “World Geography”, “Oxford English Dictionary, Abridged”, “Building Codes and City Planning”, “Beginning Engineering” and the like. This section is for large reference works with immediate utility.

    Fill the rest of the capsule with SORTOF-CD-ROMs, which have the storage density of CD-ROMs, but are designed for long-term survival. (Shouldn’t be too hard.) Start with scientific journals, and move on from there. Toss an index and instructions for building a reader on top in microfilm format, and call it good. Stick with text-only works, and you can fit a lot of information in here.

  67. Flying Dutchman says:

    Another Doomsday machine, cause I obviously didn’t get them all on the first try! Muaha!

  68. Joe Cool says:

    91 feet of rope, a towel, a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, and a scrap of paper with “xyzzy” scrawled on it.

    That’ll keep them guessing!

  69. nerdpride says:

    Skimming through the posts:

    Another big bomb!!??! :O

    Umbrella Corporation’s latest instruct-a-badguy-o-matic classroom teacher droid?!?

    Actually, it’s hard to be sure that something I send wouldn’t actually be used poorly. Think of the things that would happen if someone, maybe an alien race, did this for us. We think we have nice things set up and suddenly an external force comes along to try and make us better, faster.

    But I guess if I had to try then I would focus on what they deserve to know about us rather than just trying to remake our civilization’s technology. They would be primitive, but I think still equals, and capable of managing their own suffering. Anyway, a couple points on the stuff I’d add compared with others so far:

    1. Visual, erotic guide to sex. This will either cause them to reproduce more (“that’s how that works, aha, great”) or less (“hey, that destroyed the world, wow, let’s do weed instead”) or just wear condoms or something. I’m not sure which is better, but it will give the ones who find it something to think about. They should know that we did it, lots, for fun for both people, etc.

    2. Music. This is hard because it can’t be too delicate but also needs to show how it can be reproduced with delicate or primitive parts. IMHO, music is one of our greatest achievements (satisfaction and inspiration for many people) that might not be next time around, especially if people start fiddling with a developing civilization. Maybe a metal plinky-drummed wind-up-plinker is what I’m thinking.

    I wonder if a psychiatrist could tell everything there is to know about me by reading this.

  70. Dave Jones says:

    Whatever else goes in there, the mischievious streak in me wants to leave a card on top of everything else saying “Pandora was here”.

  71. gorthol says:

    I’ll try this without reading what other people have posted, and then see how similar my answer is.

    Without assuming that they can read text, we can try giving them schematics/diagrams for basic devices that will help them along their way. It’s infinitely easier than actually including the devices themselves.

    1) Diagrams detailing how to plant and harvest wheat, as well as what to do with it to turn it into bread. That includes the season to plant, the season to harvest, pictures of a thresher (and how to use it), pictures of a winnowing fan (and how to use it), pictures of a mortar and pestle (and what to do with it), and diagrams for an oven. Also include diagrams for a mill, just because we can. Maybe include some actual wheat to get them started. Oh, and some decent yeast cultures as a starter for their bread (don’t know if those will last).

    2) While we’re on the subject of agriculture, might as well include some beans (especially soybeans), some flax plants, some corn, and some oats. Seeds from those plants, of course. The plants themselves aren’t that useful.

    3) Instructions for making adobe. Also, how to find clay.

    4) Diagrams for a kiln. Instructions for baking clay in a kiln. Also, a note on smelting metal in a kiln.

    5) A design for a loom. Also, how to use flax to make linen. I gotta admit I’m fuzzier than usual on textiles. Include a spindle and instructions, maybe?

    6) Instructions on domesticating animals. Maybe these should go at the bottom so that if they fail, they don’t assume the rest of the box is worthless.

    7) Instructions for a saw mill. Maybe a nice sawblade?

    8) Instructions for churning butter. Also, bacterial cultures with which to make cheese (again I don’t know if these will last).

    9) Diagrams showing the construction and use of a bow and arrow. Could be pretty handy.

    10) Instructions for making leather. This is getting kinda tiresome.

    11) Tools they may have needed, but couldn’t make themselves. Maybe some good knives.

    12) Instructions for a VIP latrine. I know I said this last time too, but I think it’s damn important.

    And now, to read what everbody else has said…
    I missed a few things that I really shouldn’t have. Instructions for crop rotation, instructions for paper, medicinal/hygienic information, and mathematical advancements (somewhat upsetting that I missed that last one, since I studied math as an undergrad).

    I love the Ozymandias idea. Also, while we’re at it, let’s include the idea that Goldbach’s Conjecture is a theorem, rather than a conjecture.

  72. Mike says:

    some books, a guide of how making ropes, clothes and other simple stuff, blueprints of a printing press, a survival guide, a knife, a simple math book and other science books

    that should help them on surviving and developing

    PS a book on hunting and fishing, a fishing rod and some hooks

  73. ehlijen says:

    Things I’d add:

    -Novelty fire extinguisher full of party snakes
    -A jack in the box
    -A stone plate engraved with the one commandment “Thou shalt not read!”
    -A plastic ‘squeaky’ sword
    -A bag full of the latest ‘party’ pills
    -The illustrated Tellytubby story omnibus
    -A big plush 1996 olympics mascot
    -The inside of the capsule is electrically isolated and full of static electricity. I have no idea if it’ll last that long, but why not try?
    -A JarJar Binks action figure
    -A rubics cube with one tile in the wrong colour
    -A Kazoo
    -A pair of left children shoes

    That should imbue into them the values of today’s society, right?

  74. Octal says:

    Reading all this… I agree with the people saying, “Why assume that what we’ve done is better than what they’d do on their own?” So, I’m not sure I’d really want to include instructions for specific discoveries and inventions, aside from a few things….
    *The story of how our civilizations ended–either to try to caution them not to repeat our mistakes, if the calamity was of our doing, or so that they might avert or prepare for the next one, if it was natural and at least theoretically avoidable. (Let’s say an asteroid strike. Even if we couldn’t deal with it, perhaps they could. Worth a try, anyway.)
    *The idea for, and basic instructions on how to make, a printing press–and a description of what it did for us, to try to convince them that it’s worthwhile. (I assume that if the phonetic alphabet survived then they still have written language.) They can figure out their own paper/whatever; the important thing is that they can make lots of copies of stuff, not what the copies are on.
    *Description/explanation of the scientific method.
    *Lots of medical stuff, starting with the basics and moving up–and explaining, as much as is possible, how it was discovered in the first place. This, I think, is something that would make their lives better immediately and concretely, so it’s good to tell them even if they might not fully understand it (just like you’d tell a toddler to wash their hands regardless of whether they understand how disease spreads)… but at the same time, it’s much better if they do understand it and don’t just follow it blindly. I think telling them how things were discovered would be a good step in that direction… in fact, for any scientific things I’d want to explain how they were discovered. Like if I really wanted to preserve the knowledge that the earth is round and about 12,756.32 km around, then I wouldn’t just tell them that–I’d describe the experiments that led people to discover it, so that they could repeat them and see for themselves. It’ll stick better that way, and it’ll give them more room to build on it. Give a person a fish/teach them to fish. Besides–some of it might no longer apply. If they actually understand these things, hopefully they’ll be able to determine which things no longer apply–not just blindly follow everything, or, conversely, discard everything because they found a few wrong things first.
    **The medical texts should include information about mental health and illnesses, not just physical. Try to quelch any idea of demonic possession being the reason for people acting strangely.
    **Since, hopefully, all this would help people lead longer and healthier lives, on its own I’d expect it to result in population increases. Therefore, it should include a fair amount on reproduction and birth control (especially methods they have a good shot at duplicating). And explaining overpopulation and why it’s bad.
    *Descriptions of a few of our wars–leaving out the technological specifics–as a “don’t repeat our mistakes” kind of thing.
    *A plea for them to get along with their neighbors and share this information as widely as possible. Ideally we’d want to have several of these capsules, spread around the world. If there’s room, then multiple copies of stuff to encourage sharing.
    *Some kind of modern English (or relevant language) primer, plus dictionary. Even if they’re still speaking the same language… even if they do still have written language… after a couple hundred years of no civilization, I would expect there to be some lingual shift.
    *I like the music box idea. I’m sure they’ll have their own music and other types of art, but–it does sound nice to save something from our culture that won’t mess them up. And to sort of… show some common ground.

  75. nilus says:

    A case of twinkies and a note.

    The note would say

    Dear Primitive future people

    Sorry about the global apocalypse, that was totally our bad. Here are some tasty snack cakes to say we are sorry

    Sincerely,
    Jerks from the past

    P.S. You guys are so screwed

  76. Galen says:

    Item A: My cyrogenically frozen brain.
    Item B: Instructions on how to revive me.

    OR

    A few lighters, a lightbulb, various photographs, blueprints of the said items as well as blueprints for a simple printing press, and blueprints for a telegraph. I think I’d also try to add a model sized steam-powered train.

    I’m sending these things because they are what seems to have led to the biggest advances (aside from math). To solve that problem I’d set a security measure where one has to draw a symbol on something like an etch-a-sketch to complete math equation (assuming that their numbers are the same). At best this means that someone interested in math and therefore ‘how things work’ would be the first to open the capsule and hopefully speed up the process of recreating the items.

  77. Sean Riley says:

    Guns. Lots of guns.

    … what? I never said I _liked_ humanity. If the apocalypse can’t finish us off, I will.

    Fine fine fine.

    Paper. Biros. If you can somehow make one small enough, a mimeograph and graphical instructions on how to use one.

    The kicker here is to kickstart extelligence, the sharing of knowledge and ideas from person to person. Once we get that, we’re good. Anything else is irrelevant.

    Anything to kick

  78. RichVR says:

    “…reasonably intelligent adults with a second-grade education and almost no understanding of what the world was like, pre-disaster.”

    People seem to be missing this part. I would argue that with this as our baseline, NOTHING that we pack into a time capsule will jump start civilization. Doesn’t anyone remember second grade? Or have second grade age children?

    Adults with this level of education just won’t be able to figure out the most basic technology.

    Civilization is doomed. Sorry.

    OTOH, they lasted 200 years without our help. Leave them alone. ;-)

    So I guess a note on on an iridium plate that says:

    DON’T DO WHAT WE DID!

  79. Epizootic says:

    I think the trick to giving advanced technology to apocalyptic survivors would be to have a lock on the capsule that’s unbreakable until humanity had once again risen to a point when it might be useful. How about a sequence lock long enough to not be guessed at random, but able to be solved by reading engraved instructions based on…say scientific principles – “Digit 12. The Third decimal character of Pi” (maybe complete with an annotated picture of a circle).

  80. Jennifer says:

    Why would I care about putting anything in it? I’ll be dead.

  81. BlackJaw says:

    A 200 years of power might not be so hard to setup if you can get the right configuration of a RTG, although a 1 meter cube makes the shielding needed for a longer lasting isotope iffy. Also, the capsule would need to be able to handle the heat output, but if they have solved that on space crafts, then I doubt it’s trouble here.

    I’d be way more concerned about a computer or even many kinds of basic electronics working correctly 200 years from now.

  82. Menegil says:

    Hey, Shamus, long time reader, first time poster.

    I would have to say absolutely nothing, bar the basics on agriculture and a book with the History of the events that lead to the world’s current state of affairs. Maybe then, History would not have to repeat itself in the future and Humanity could become more at peace with the natural world, preventing future royal botching of things like current, past and next generations are doing with our poor planet.

    Rather green of me to say this, I know, but meh. Mankind is dangerously self-destructive, and a burned hand teaches the lesson far better than any admonishments or lectures.

  83. droid says:

    Dwarf fortress has taught me that you can’t make an anvil without an anvil, so lets just put in an anvil. And it is hard to dig for metal if you don’t have a metal pick. Those would fill the space though. Tell them where the lava is and where the admantium is buried and all will be good.

    OK, seriously though.

    A solar powered kindle-like device. I hear arguments about the ephemeral nature of technology. And while I am not sure of the lifetime of an LCD display (use LED instead if that helps), ROM has the lifespan of copper and glass, and a simple hardened processor is similar (if you had to, the CPU could be built out of relays!), and both come in a protective plastic shell. For power use an internal capacitor charged by external solar cells and hand crank generator. As long as you use reliable technology in its construction and use error corrective codes in its software, you should be able to get something useful even if there is some decay. I would assume that you could get the contents (at least the text) of wikipedia in a searchable form.

    However, this is not the only thing to send, because you cannot be certain that they would understand how to use it, or that it needs to be in bright light to work, or that you don’t want them to take it apart to figure out how it works.
    So the most important things must be in books that exist outside of the kindle (put them in the kindle as well, redundancy is key). So add a physical book on wilderness survival so that they can determine what native plants are edible. Add some seeds. Wheat is the best, but get enough of each useful plant to have genetic diversity. While heavily engineered breeds are good for fertilized fields and shelf life, they aren’t the most robust or flexible varieties, so use several cross-breedable varieties so that they can get whatever kind they need, and give instructions about genetics. The seeds would give them the chance to apply the principle of genetics and understand it, and you could mention that it applies to creatures as well.

    Add some book on ancient societies, such as “Guns, Germs, and Steel” or “Collapse”. These are a bit abstract and not very practical, but still are important because they show how civilizations rise and how they fall, using principles that may explain the most recent apocalypse.

    For language purposes, put in a microscope and a stack of these disks. It was designed by a group who think seriously about this kind of problem, and has a ton of languages in a rosetta stone kind of system. If any form of writing survives or is decoded, the rest should follow for anyone sufficiently interested.

    While I do want them to have some technology, mostly I want them to know our story, so they can draw from our experience and choose what they want to learn from it.

    And to mess with their heads, put in a mobius strip with instructions to color *only one* side, or the earth will be doomed again.

  84. zimboptoo says:

    Here’s what I’m thinking. Some sort of intuitive, sturdy electronic device that has stored on it (preferably in both SSD and HD formats) all the information you could ever want to cram onto it, attached to an uncharged battery and a basic solar panel would take up very little of the space in that 1 meter cube. So even if, for some reason, the electronics break down over the 200 years (unlikely if they are turned off and in a sealed, grounded container), you are losing very little space relative to the potential gain. And remember, almost everything breaks down after 200 years, even paper. The processes to preserve paper for that long are very expensive and would take up a lot of space. Engravings on a non-oxidizing metal or some sort of plastic would probably be the best bet.

    I would actually say that some sort of genetically engineered plant seeds would be good to include, since we have no idea what has survived the apocalypse besides humans.

  85. Krellen says:

    I disagree with all the “can’t do electronic devices” people. We’re talking about preserving human history, discovery and culture through an inevitable cataclysm. Expense is not an obstacle to us; we all know this is vital to the future of our species. Without the barrier of “cost”, building a machine that will, in fact, operate and last in a sealed, protective environment for centuries is more than possible.

    Build the thing into the capsule mechanics and we can even have it pop on and cheerfully read out instructions on use when the capsule is opened.

    And the wonder of including Wikipedia is that we not only give all the medicine and agriculture information they need now, but we also include higher technologies to be studied later, along with the cultural and historical record of a once-lost world, to help prevent mistakes and calamities we have already suffered through.

  86. Tolmar says:

    Partition the box into layers. Each layer is separated by a locked, durable door, with a very long (unrealistic to guess) sequence lock. Etched into the surface of each door is an explanation asking for an increasingly hard to find universal constant, which is the key to the lock.

    The first layer (the one which can be accessed upon opening the box) contains, etched on metal plates, pictographic explanations of basic farming and fishing techniques, hygiene, mathematics (arithmetic), simple machines, pottery, weaving, and first aid. It has a picture-only story: two groups of people, one working together and the other fighting: the ones working together thrive, the fighting ones die off.

    The first layer’s lock is a simple arithmetic equation involving the length of a year.

    The second layer contains, etched in blissymbols on metal plates, explanations of more complex mathematics (geometry, set theory, and algebra), Newton’s laws, more advanced farming (crop rotation, domestication), metallurgy up through steel, glass blowing, optics, how to make looms and spinning wheels, construction, medicine (what all the organs do), nutrition, and germ theory. It explains the value of free speech, democracy, specialization, the scientific method, trade, and humor. It explains why altruism is good in a way that doesn’t invoke the supernatural.

    The second layer’s lock is a complicated algebra equation involving the relative distances between the planets.

    The third layer contains, etched on metal plates in plain English, explanations of advanced mathematics (all but the hardest), electricity (only green generators are mentioned), physics through to Einstein, chemistry, even more advanced agriculture (permaculture), medicine (how to isolate certain antibiotics), biology (how cells work, details that were left out before), how to make computers, computer science, ecology, evolution, and materials science. It explains the dangers of charismatic leaders, and the value of tolerance, conservation, and moderation.

    The third layer’s lock is a very complicated equation involving the speed of light and the size of the atom.

    The fourth, final layer, contains pictures of modern civilization and the disaster that ended it. It contains a history of warfare, complete with many pictures of the wounded. It has, in English, blyssymbols, and pictographs, a plea not to repeat the mistakes of our civilization.

  87. RichVR says:

    I’ve changed my mind. As many of these as you can pack into the capsule:

    http://www.galaxyarmynavy.com/item-lm-chargexti.asp

    I have one and it’s great.

    In nitrogen gas, for corrosion protection.

  88. Jay says:

    I like all the references in this thread (and in the earlier time travel one) about wikipedia.

    Do you really want to send our distant survivors to have articles about:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Digges
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoenig_v_Isaacs
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Drew_(actor)

    and those are just the first three random articles. I didn’t search out the ones about Goku or Padme or other garbage future man could care less about.

    I would think that for such an important project, the material would be a little more. . .refined.

    And I’d like to add a music box to my earlier list. It is a great idea.

    Jay

  89. Vladius says:

    I think all the comments on religion here are a little disturbing.

  90. Kreek says:

    how about
    1 bottle of penicillin

    no instructions on its use, nor needles

    also yes im aware that its not likely to survive 100-200 years XD

  91. T-Boy says:

    1 cubic meter, huh? Hmm.

    Okay, a significant part of that space will be taken up by a thick book, whose pages are made of either corrosion-resistant metal or plastic. The cover should say:

    “We Can Only Show You The Way. You Must Go Through The Path Alone.”

    Inside it, all the technology you need to bootstrap technology just enough to create either a laser or extremely focused light (via sunlight?) to be used for projecting and displaying information stored holographically in a three-dimensional object.

    This means the knowledge not only to make the technology, but also to at least start agriculture and some metal and glassworking. Give them instructions to make composite bows and atl-atls, as well as the secret to making steel.

    The other object in that space should be transparent cube. Either on the surface of the cube or in the book itself should be the admonishment that this cube contains the rest of the knowledge of this repository.

    The cube has information holographically encoded into its insides. The bulk of it (in terms of space, not bits encoded) contains more information on how to get to the next level, to digital computers, in a microfiche sort of format.

    The rest of the information is digital; that’s Everything Else. And I don’t mean Wikipedia — more like a cross between Wikipedia after going through the Encyclopedia Britannica and most of the academic community.

  92. Krellen says:

    Jay: Yes.

    Wikipedia is just about the closest thing we have to the sum total of human knowledge. If we start editing that to “refine” it, we will inevitably cut out something that future generations will, in fact, need. And that’s even assuming you can get any five people to agree what needs to be removed.

    As long as we’re devising electronic storage that will last centuries (or millennia), we don’t have to worry about “cutting down” what we store to make sure it fits. That’s one of the lovely things about doing it electronically.

  93. T-Boy says:

    @Krellen: Spoken like a true inclusionist :D

    Me, I figure that Wikipedia may actually be the only thing we have that’s the sum total of human knowledge, but it seriously needs some copyediting and lacuna-filling. That’s why I suggested that we run it through proper editors and academicians.

    Since money is no object, give them the money, tell them the deadline, and instruct them to keep as much as they can. Obviously their work would be double- and triple- checked, but the issue is not to cut what’s “useless”, but to fill in the gaps in knowledge that Wikipedia has.

  94. Nico says:

    Well, clearly the issue is space, right? So just put it on 32GB iphones, high-density drives, or whatever.

    Issue two is space. Wikipedia is pretty good, but add whatever libraries are electronic.

    Issue three is comprehension. So add some stuff that reads out loud to them to get them up to speed until they can understand anything that they have to read.

    Having the sum of all current knowledge is nice, but they could also use some advice. So I’d prominently display some stuff like how to create a peaceful world: do it right the second time.

    And maybe also pointing them towards useful stuff like how to advance their technology to the point that they can survive, advance more, and be peaceful.

    Oh, and there are some other things, like having the people who find it survive. So add whatever technology is small and slightly beyond whatever they would have.

    Shamus makes a good point: Some of the world might still be standing, so show the survivors how and where to plug your stuff in.

    Plus you want credit, so make sure to include an autobiography and a picture.

  95. Bret says:

    Another idea.

    A mad AI in a hyperpowerful robotic body.

    Worship is fun and all, but it’s no good if it can’t be enforced with an iron fist.

    Besides, that all but guarantees some plucky hero will restart civilization so as to rebel against the AI.

  96. Smileyfax says:

    A computer with everything (technological schematics, social philosophies, educational programs, farming and animal husbandry techniques, a comprehensive history of the Earth and the universe at large — pretty much anything you would need to gear up from the stone age to the Internet age), all powered by a plutonium battery.

    Plutonium has a half life of 24,000 years (longer than recorded history), so it’s not going to run out anytime soon. And it’s an alpha emitter (alpha particles are easily reflected by anything with the density of notebook paper), so as long as the natives don’t put it into their mouths, they should be fine.

    (People might think I’m obsessed with the power of the atom, given that I also suggested nuking the Dark Ages in Shamus’ time travel post. I’d call it more of a healthy interest than an obsession, myself).

  97. Badger says:

    My God, it’s full of stars!

  98. AGrey says:

    Me.

    Curled up in a little ball with a sandwich and a good book.

  99. Gooba says:

    Small LED solar light source hooked to a decently sturdy capacitor, possibly sealed in a block of epoxy or some similar to give it mechanical stability. Solid-state everything should last alright, assuming it’s chemically stable.

    A dictionary, thesaurus…

    A good book on metallurgy, carpentry, farming books from various backgrounds (different techniques for different crops and locales)…

    A couple of books on economics and government; make sure solid definitions are included of liberty, Capitalism, Communism, Democracy. I won’t presume to know the best route for them going forward but I want them to know the territory we’ve already mapped out.

    A solid illustrated guide to basic machines, slow sand filtration and a couple of different natural building techniques; probably cob, timber framing and straw bale to give the best mix of material requirements and insulative properties.

    These people need food, water, shelter and a nudge forward. A Wikipedia, internet, etc. is overthinking the problem, most of that only comes in handy to us now because we don’t live in a world as simple as theirs.

  100. Daemian Lucifer says:

    How come everyone thinks that a computer,or even worse,just a dvd,would survive for long enough to be usefull?

    First,it would have to last for 200 years in isolation.Now manufacturers may tell you that their media will last for decades,or even for hundreds of years,but the fact is that no dvd would survive for that long,and any hd would acumulate numerous bad sectors,if not even become completelly unreadalbe.

    Second,when found,its very doubtfull that the people would be able to use it straight away,so thats even more time required for the equipment to function,but this time in not air tight conditions,so even more chances for it to malfunction.

    So,in order for a computer to be usefull in a way better than just a model of old technology,youd need a civilization that can recover lost data from a hard drive,and thats assuming that it wont all be lost.And how long would it take for people to reach that level again?

    Ingvar mentioned punchcards,and that one is a far more reliable thing than a magnetic disc.

  101. ArchU says:

    I’m with Bret – let’s mess with them a little and include the complete works of Spike Milligan and Lewis Caroll. =D

  102. Roy says:

    I know that our common perception of paper is that it’s fragile, and to some degree it is, but the multiple don’t use books, they’re too fragile, paper breaks down comments are puzzling to me. Books are practically a perfect technology, and should *definitely* be in the capsule. Let’s say that you throw a laptop or a kindle or something in there. Even assuming it survives 200 years–a long time for a computer to last, obviously–you know what it takes to destroy everything you hoped to preserve and provide them? One clumsy person to drop it. Or someone to drop something on it and crack the screen. Or for them not to understand how to turn it on. Or for them to treat it too rough.

    Books have any number of advantages over electronics when it comes to primitive peoples:
    1. Contrary to what some people think, books are generally very durable. I have a book sitting on next to me that is 201 years old. I can pick it up, thumb through the pages, read any passage I want. The paper isn’t crumbling to dust, the ink hasn’t vanished. The cover isn’t looking so hot at this point, but I could easily fix that with minimal effort–or put a completely new cover on it if I wanted. I wouldn’t trust a modern paperback to last that long, but a properly made book using good materials will *easily* last hundreds of years with little damage, even if it’s being used. And one that people are deliberately taking care of? No problem.
    2. Books have zero moving parts, and are not prone to malfunction or error. The only thing that someone needs in order to use my book is the ability to read. No instruction manual outside of maybe “start on this end” is needed.
    3. Even if someone mishandles a book, they’re unlikely to make it unusable unless by serious mishap or intentional destruction. If you drop a book, you scuff the cover or maybe rip a page. Short of dropping it in a fire–which could be just as deadly to a Kindle–you’re not really in much danger of destroying the book.
    4. Even if someone does destroy a book, you’ve presumably got others. And if you give them the advantage of instructions on how to make paper or vellum–both of which are remarkably easy to make, even for a primitive people–they can make copies or repair existing books with little trouble.

    The reality is that the main reason we don’t have more ancient scrolls isn’t because they’ve crumbled to dust, it’s because so many civilizations intentionally burned and destroyed ancient texts. Even with the multiple intentional attempts to wipe books from the face of the planet, we still have texts that are *far* older than a mere 200 years. “Pastoral Care” by Pope Gregory I is still readable, and it dates from 600 AD. Or look up the Irish bog psalter, which is over a 1,000 years old, and was found buried in a *bog*, and still has readable text. If you buried a Kindle in a bog for a 1,000 years, do you really think it’d still work as anything but a paperweight?

    No way, if we’re trying to set up a primitive people with records that they’re going to be able to maintain and use, books are the way to go.

  103. Stu says:

    I haven’t read every response yet do I apologize if this has been suggested: In addition books/tools that will introduce them to practical production (farming, cooking, building, hygiene), remember that these people need to learn to think- formalize ideas and establish some theories about the world. This is a secondary goal of course, but to achieve this I would include some purposefully incorrect material which they could test. On finding that it doesn’t work they might be inclined to seek alternative methods. (perhaps this model could be reinforced or engineered by other items in the capsule.)

    This was a rough idea and it shouldn’t undermine the fundamental aspects in the capsule of course.

    (Typing on a phone while travelling by bus is not fun!)

  104. Matt P says:

    Assuming that somewhere between posts 35 (where I ran out of time) and 107 this wasn’t suggested, well here it is. Just last night I saw a great documentary on the decoding of the Mayan language. The biggest problem that linguists found with cracking it was getting off the ground: what the hell did any of these symbols mean? Once a few were figured out, the discoveries came thick and fast in a great big academic feedback loop. Thus, for those who see the problem of giving early man a library of meaningless alphabetic symbols, I have a solution.
    As I said, the biggest problem with cracking the Mayan language was the simple question of what the hell all these pictures meant. If only the most important of those symbols had been helpfully paired with a simple picture of what it represented (‘tree’ being next to a picture of a tree, ‘run’ being next to a stick figure with splayed legs and movement symbols between the legs, etc) then things would have been much simpler.*
    The next step would be to tear out as much of the exceptions and silliness of English (assuming we’re using English). I personally love these exceptions but they’d just make the job of decipherment harder for humans whose linguistic knowledge isn’t as great as our own. ‘Ran’ would become ‘runned’ so that we could simply explain somewhere that ‘-ed’ means past tense without exception.**
    Then you’d have a second book after the picture one. In this those simple words (apparently, all languages have a few hundred or so base words so commonly used that they are remarkably resilient to change over time; I’d symbolise these words and perhaps a few others that fit the bill) are used in progressively more complex sentences that are constructed in such a way (and likely explain other aspects of the language) so that the more linguistically inclined of the group that found this capsule could gradually decipher all of English.
    After that you’d stuff the capsule with all the scientific knowledge everyone else has listed (written in this normalised English); the above is just a few volumes that should be a given addition to everyone else’s, since even if phonetic or alphabetic writing may be known or remembered, whether the English alphabet – or any other current systems – is remembered is uncertain.

    PS: It’s not actually totally necessary that you explain all of English, or even all of what’s needed. If that documentary taught me anything it’s that a few smart people with too much time on their hands can check, recheck and cross-check over years until they’ve figured out what anything means. And years is what the process of rebuilding will take, even with this handy codex: you can’t jump from farms to factories in a day, even if you know how.

    *Come to think of it, storing this time capsule with a logographic writing system would be a better idea than an alphabetic or phonetic one – the sounds those systems represent would be difficult to teach (have you ever tried to figure out from the written word how you’d pronounce an alveolar fricative?), so you’d only add the complexity of remembering an order of symbols rather than a single (admittedly individually more complex) symbol.

    **The linguistic hobbyist in me would place a second volume explaining that our language was never like this, and listing all the complexities we took out for your own sake you ungrateful brutes. Firstly, linguistics as a field of study spent too long assuming that languages began perfectly and then degenerated over time for us not to explain that for the help of future linguists. Secondly, it’d be nice to preserve English as closely as it was spoken before everything went to hell. You know, it seems to me that certain groups in this post-apocalyptic future might find a surprising similarity between their own tongue and ours…
    OOOO, and I’d also place a dictionary with the phonetics of each word and symbol (paired with a few pages of carefully explained notes for what each phonetic symbol represents). So the entire language could be more or less preserved. Take that apocalypse!

  105. Melf_Himself says:

    One million pieces of paper each with the words “There is no God” printed repeatedly across them.

    Or, one laptop (maybe two in case they break one in their stupidity…the second one is in a mini time capsule of its own that has a combination lock that can be found at the end of the instruction manual :D), several batteries, detailed instructions on paper about how to make a power supply, and the rest filled with hard drives packed with as much crap as you can fit on it.

    I’m pretty sure we could store every *useful* piece of information that we have on the terrabyte expansion drives that could fit in a 1m x 1m x 1m space ^^

  106. Gasoline says:

    Put in some highly sophisticated maths-based encoded information about who we were, etched in some durable, shiny and tricky metal-alloy.

    So they can know where they came from and where they could go.
    All this under the precondition, that they have enough maths-understanding to get the information.
    Assuming that maths are an universal language (at least considered by our small minds) they would get the information at a certain point of knowledge. A point, where they could be interested in what we have to say. Assuming that at this point they probably have built a culture of their own, I am not convinced that it would be a good idea to try to teach them as much as possible of what we know. Particularly not, if we cannot eliminate the possibility that we caused that Apocalypse…
    :o)

  107. Martin Annadale says:

    A kevlar vest, riot shield and helmet. Several small arms and ammo. I’m setting up whoever discovers the capsule to be earth’s new “god”.

    Also: some kind of solar-powered audio device with catch phrases. Holding a shotgun while surrounded by primitives makes it imperative that “This is my BOOMstick” be repeated as much as possible.

  108. Mephane says:

    I agree on putting information about agriculture, metallurgy etc. inside the capsule.

    What I’d especially include, right on top of everything, is the declaration of human rights, in multiple languages (one day scientists would then be able to decipher them probably).

    And I’d have all of this engrave in stainless metal sheets, not sure which metal would fit best, but I wouldn’t use gold or silver simply because these will probably rather end up as riches in money than riches in knowledge. ;)

  109. Jon says:

    Scalextric? They’d love it.

    Maybe a meccano set or two, with some useful models and the instructions which have no words. It’ll teach them all how to build cranes at least, and everyone needs cranes right?

  110. ClearWater says:

    Just one note along the lines of: “All knowledge is hidden somewhere in the Pyramids”. It’ll drive them crazy >:)

    Unless of course it really is.

  111. mavis says:

    One of the major problems you’d have with this is that teh ‘easily avallible’ resources have all been burnt out. So post crash – informatuion about cars is pointless as there won’t be any oil they can get at….

    I agree that a book – sealed in – will easily last 200 years. So it’s just what to put in it….

    Rosetta stone type help to read the book would be the first thing.
    Then a set of information rules demanding that the book only ever be copied exactly – and not translated (think the rules on copying the Torah) number 2.
    Information on Medicine, health, hygine would be number 3.
    The principles of science would be number 4 (because while they seem obvious it took a long time for them to be firmed out).
    Maths would be number 5.
    Physics and a bunch of experiments would be number 6.
    Physcial facts aobut the world and how it works would be number 7.

    The trick here would be to make the early stuff simple – but like our current education system make the later stuff start by saying “what we told you earlier was ok but not really true…..”

    Finally a bunch of memmory devices with everything under the sun on it – the same information repeated over and over again – just in case anybody can work it out….

    Sadly I’d not be able to do anything of this…

  112. FhnuZoag says:

    A laptop containing:

    Wikipedia
    A copy of Civ 4
    Access codes to the satellite network that hopefully would still be around in space – hopefully some climatological satellites in there, also some spy satellites, communications sats in case anyone is still listening, etc.

    And a small sheet of paper saying “We’re sorry for the shit you’re in.”

    Daemian Lucifer:
    Who needs a magnetic hard disk? There’s plenty of solid state possibilities. And in a sealed, stable environment, whilst not powered on, the materials used in computers can last a very long time.

    200 years is not that long, really. There plenty of things like paintings and metalwork left from then, even machines in perfect working order. As long as you don’t leave it exposed to the elements, I don’t see what problems you’d have.

  113. stringycustard says:

    Easy to follow diagrams of:
    how to build a good shelter,
    how to domesticate animals (and keep others for eating)
    how to grow maize and vegetables
    building designs for wheelbarrows and carts + harnesses
    how to manufacture weapons for hunting
    how to use said weapons to start a fight
    how to start a war
    how to win a war
    how to enslave the masses
    how to laugh maniacally
    how to build a secret bunker
    how to make a weapon of mass destruction
    how to build a time capsule to withstand the wmd for survivors
    what to put in said capsule

    History repeats. This will help it along

  114. Krellen says:

    Computers are not as fragile as some folks seem to think they are. Having computers that survive harsh conditions – like open deserts, open warfare, direct gunfire – is entirely possible with our current technology. These devices are even marketed and sold right now.

    The reason most of you don’t know about them is that you’re used to cheap hardware; the costs of the durable devices are easily five to ten times as much, but as I’ve said before, cost is not going to be an issue here.

    We’ve got a cubic metre; throw in a small library if you like. But to not include some form of electronic record with as much information as we can pile into it is the height of irresponsibility. We owe our survivors better.

  115. unitled says:

    I’m surprised no-one has posted this yet:
    http://www.qwantz.com/fanart/timetravelling.jpg

    The guy who writes Dinosaur Comics designed a T-Shirt for the precise situation of being thrown backwards in time, and I guess it would work if the whole world descended to stone-age level technology.

    If the disaster was human-made, I would simply leave a piece of paper saying: Don’t make the same mistake we made.

  116. Terry Smith says:

    A very smart, well educated and robust robot that likes to teach people.

    Where to FIND one is the problem…

  117. Will says:

    Shamus, et al, you may be interested in the discussion of a similar problem in the book “Clock of the Long Now”, by Stewart Brand. The setup is designing a clock to last ten thousand years, through whatever calamities befall civilization, and how to make it durable, intuitive in design, and maintainable with stone knives and bearskins. The rest of the book is a very insightful look at the importance and utility of long-term thinking/planning, which is becoming scarcer in the evolving information age.

    It’s well worth a look.

  118. Hawkehunt says:

    A curved blade made of a platinum-iridium alloy, and a rubber octopus.

  119. Kurayamino says:

    Aside from the obvious stack of knowledge in whatever form, I’d seriously consider putting some durable weapons in (not sure which type) and knowledge on how to make more. If you really want to jumpstart a civilisation, ensuring it is well protected and possibly will be the dominant civilisation will help spread the knowledge to the entire planet pretty quickly.

    Ofcourse this means you’ll help some future civilization conquer others, which has some down sides (death, slavery, etc.). Yet I think that setting up a purely peace/science based civilisation so early on has a pretty big chance of being destroyed; they can always get to the ‘make love not war’ part after a hundred years or so of (militairy) control (by which time hopefully most of the knowledge will have spread).

    The thought of helping future people commit mass murder or even genocide kinda scares me though, are we willing to pay that price to spread our knowledge?

  120. Martin says:

    Giving barely literate hunter-gatherers one copy of the sum total of current human knowledge is not going to result in a rapid rise of civilization, it will result in confused hunter gatherers. Additionally, one angry or frustrated person could wipe out all your carefully made information stores with one club or bonfire, and they *will* get angry and frustrated. (If only when they discover that Firefly was canceled after one season. ;)

    A good plan to “bootstrap” civilization from the HG is not trivial. You have to motivate the HGs to want the changes, and do the changes in an order that keeps the HGs from being wiped out by aggressive neighbors.

    So my answer is literature. Instructions on rebuilding civilization could be hidden in it, but the main goal would be to make the HGs *want* civilization. Many identical copies of a specially made book (as rugged as we can make it without bulking it up) containing stories specifically targeted at the HG mindset that should make them want to farm, want to smith, want to organize into a larger polity. Include some simple lessons about hygiene, social organization, logic, math, and the scientific method. (Some of these stories may be a little boring, but mix them in so they aren’t lost.) Also, a deep reverence for books. Put significant effort into making sure they preserve the darned books.

    Stuff more advanced than that is not immediately useful – the fact of the matter is if we can get them the basics of the scientific method and the industrial revolution, they can work the rest out for themselves in a couple of centuries. Getting the population base, economy, openness to change and governmental organization to actually have an industrial revolution will take much longer and is a lot trickier to achieve, so I’d focus on that.

    Possibly I’d break it up into several books, to make sure one of them was a trivial thing to carry. HGs value portability very highly. Perhaps a RAID like system where less vital information was scattered around in multiple books in such a way as it is hard to loose it all.

    It should be possible to make a very dense very rugged optical storage medium that can be read by a microscope. People who can’t build microscopes can’t really do advanced science or engineering anyway. If I was satisfied with the IR bootstrap and had extra space, I’d include one of these. It would be evenly divided between sci/tech and our own most valued literature and history. If the future peeps reach the IR, they’ll have enough leisure time to want to know, and an explanation of what happened to us will be useful. The HG books would include instructions to guard this thing and keep it safe.

  121. Roy says:

    Computers are not as fragile as some folks seem to think they are. Having computers that survive harsh conditions – like open deserts, open warfare, direct gunfire – is entirely possible with our current technology. These devices are even marketed and sold right now.

    I’m not doubting that we have specially designed computers that can do these things, but the reality is that the more moving or electronic parts that something has, the more prone to failures it is going to be. There’s more room for errors, bugs, and malfunctions. Even the *best* computers and machines generally have lifespans measured in decades, particularly once they’re being used. Those computers that we’re giving our soldiers to use? A year or two, tops. Yeah, they’re intended to survive the harsh conditions, and they do… better than any other computer would. But, a computer is still a computer, and after a couple of years of harsh treatment and bad conditions, they’re useless.

    A person who *knows* what they’re doing with a computer is going to generally get a couple of decades of use out of a computer (assuming that they don’t want to upgrade it for some reason), before it just wears out. And that’s if they know what they’re doing with it. Simple things go wrong with them, and the reality is that a HG group don’t know what they’re doing. They’re not going to know how to reinstall the OS. They’re not going to know what to do when it freezes up. They aren’t going to be able to replace parts. Even if you’ve got access to parts and tools required for a repair, and the knowledge of how to do the repair, and the time to do it, there are still limits to how long you can really keep a machine working. Like I said, bury a computer in a bog for a thousand years. The best computer you’ve got… discover it when you hit it with a bulldozer… you think it’s still going to work?

    If I’ve got a choice between giving these people information on a stable format that requires *no* technology to use, or their information on a format that is necessarily reliant on an outside technology, I’m choosing the former. It’s not that I doubt we have great computers, it’s that I still think computers, no matter how great they are, have certain limitations and drawbacks in this instance that a book does not.

  122. Stark says:

    Wikipedia sounds nice… until you realize that nobody in this civilization will have any idea where to even start looking in it for useful information. If you take a second grader (2nd grade education level for these folks remember?) give them problem like “Most people in the village are sick, some have already died – with stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting – what do we do?” and point them at Wikipedia do you really think they’re going to find that the likely problem is that their water is contaminated and from there how to dig an artesian well which will give them clean, safe water and also how to treat people for severe dehydration? I don’t – in fact I tried it with a 2nd grader and it didn’t work. Keep in mind that this was with a modern 2nd grader who has grown up in a digital world and is comfortable with the tools I gave them to use.

    Even if they did somehow get the idea from wikipedia that a well would be a good idea – wikipedia is not an instruction book. It doesn’t include any info on how to actually construct a well using early tool age methods (or even modern for that matter).

    What you need, to bootstrap civilization, is a structured education. Basically you need school, in a stand alone box. It needs to lay things out and explain not only what you need to do for major activities (like farming, well drilling, basic medicine) but exactly how to do them and why they work. Wikipedia is NOT well suited to the task at all – nor is any form of encyclopedia.

    What we want, if we are dead set on being electronic about things, is a combination of MAKE (vastly expanded to include basic civil engineering projects and medical procedures) and Wikipedia with a virtual teacher to tie it all together.

    I would go with the very tried and true method of text books. Give them a “read me first” book which consists of basic things everybody should know – personal sanitation, first aid, basic math, etc. Also include as many of the most common complicated scenarios you can think of – like the village is sick example from above – and then give the basic answers : probable cause is tainted water, build a well, treat for diarrhea and dehydration and then reference to the rest of the textbooks for the complicated answers (ie, how to build that well and then onto basic hydrological engineering). Suggest that each of the complicated answers be tackled by separate groups (as opposed to one person trying to learn it all – which would be much slower).

    To bootstrap a primitive civilization you have to hold it’s hand – you cannot simply thrust the amassed knowledge of current man at them and expect anything to actually happen.

  123. lplimac says:

    Depending on the amount of time available I’d take the best ideas and set up a dry run by giving it to a relatively intelligent 2nd grader to see if they could figure out what do to with it. If he/she couldn’t figure it out it’s back to the drawing board. All to many times things fail when the person who put the idea together assumes that another person can figure out what they’ve done. Unless the person putting the package together only has a 2nd grade education then most likely it will be too complicated if it’s not tested with a group that does.

    As for what I’d put in… well I’m on the UI team, not the content one :D

  124. krellen says:

    Roy: We’re not sticking it in a bog, so that’s not really a concern.

    A single electronic device, even if powered by a miniature nuclear reactor, is not taking up the full extent of our cubic metre, and, like I said, not including it and at least making the attempt to pass on that knowledge (there is no way you will ever fit as much knowledge in any physical form as you can in an electronic form) is gross negligence on our part.

  125. midget0nstilts says:

    I’ve seen some pretty clever ideas on how to preserve artifacts/informations here, but I don’t see any compelling reason *why* the people of the future would want to upgrade their tech. Let’s just assume for the sake of argument we’ve come up with a way that’s 100% certain to give them all the knowledge they need to upgrade their tech.

    As I’ve stated before, hunter-gatherer (and pastoral for that matter) societies did not live as wretched an exist as some people think. For most of human history, technology didn’t really come about to save time, but because the human population had gotten so high, something had to change in order to sustain it.

    I mean, sure, a shovel for example will dig a ditch faster than your bare hands could, but we’re not looking at the big picture. I think we can all agree that the more technologically advanced a society is, the more energy it expends. The problem is, before there’s things like electricity and engines, *humans* must expend most of this energy, thus they must spend more time working.

    Intensive agriculture is called intensive for a reason. It is a *lot* more work to farm the land than just harvesting the natural flora/fauna. Even today there are agencies like the UN that are trying to “improve” the existence of hunter-gatherer and pastoral societies by making them grow rice, for example. The problem is, these people don’t want to. Why would they want to grow rice (which is REALLY hard work), when it’s just much easier to do what they’ve been doing?

    My whole point is, humanity will upgrade its tech if/when they need to, but they definitely won’t *before*. What really ought to go in the box is our culture and history. They deserve to know what we were like and what our mistakes were. I would even go so far as to say we should put it on the moon, lest they prematurely discover it and do the gods know what with it.

    1. Shamus says:

      I simply don’t buy the notion of the “happy” hunter-gatherer.

      * No contraceptives
      * Married young
      * Began having babies early, and kept having babies as long as possible. And yet…
      * Population remained flat.

      You have to bury a lot of children and babies for things to work out that way. Bad appendix? dead. Heart problems? dead. Asthma? Diabetes? Bad flu? Cancer? Compound fracture? Bad galbladder? Need a blood transfusion? Dead. Dead. Dead.

      I’d be dead three or four times over by now, and I’m only 37.

      And this is ignoring quality of life issues. Like dental care, warm clothing, eyeglasses, toilet paper, lightweight clothing, varieties of food and spices, varieties of other entertainment, protection from parasites and predators, comfortable shoes, sunglasses, perfume, q-tips, recorded music, written fiction, etc etc etc.

      Ask a hunter-gatherer their idea of paradise, and it will most likely fall short of how the poor live in the modern world.

    2. Shamus says:

      Additionally, a true story I relate here: http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=75

      “I (heart) technology. Last Thursday, I was eating a hard pretzel when I broke off the front of one of my back teeth and was left with a giant bleeding hole in my tooth. This was terrible. However, four hours later, I walked out of the dentist's office with a totally rebuilt tooth. A few hours after that, the novocaine wore off and I enjoyed a meal as if nothing had ever gone wrong. In the thousands of years of human history, only in the last few decades has this sort of thing been possible. In centuries past, I would either have had to have it pulled (if I had access to a dentist) or wait for the tooth to become infected, die, and fall out on its own. Either way, that one mishap would have meant weeks of pain and discomfort. Technology is cool.”

      Maybe I’m more sensitive about this than some people because I’d drop dead without modern meds. It’s hard for me to picture a happy society where I’m dead, my wife is dead, and my two oldest daughters are orphans. If I’m the one digging up the capsule, I’m hoping you filled with with knowledge and not art. I won’t miss hearing Mozart nearly as much as I’d miss hearing about how to avoid dysentery. And maybe that medical knowledge will save the life of some future “Mozart”.

      But like I said, I’m biased.

  126. Carra says:

    Unitled: “I'm surprised no-one has posted this yet:
    http://www.qwantz.com/fanart/timetravelling.jpg

    Check the timetravel thread from last week.

  127. Kronski says:

    Keep in mind that, while these people will have the knowledge of a second grader, they will have the intelligence of an adult. (Knowledge =/= intelligence) Don’t assume that future people will be stupid – assume that they will be ignorant.

    Also: @ Shamus:
    Women did not have babies every nine months. Because they had access to less food, their periods were different (possibly one cycle every six months or so.)

    1. Shamus says:

      Kronski: So… they were too starving to have babies that would die?

      Either way, you’re not really making the HG life sound like a lot of fun.

    2. Shamus says:

      I get where Krellen is coming from. We can give them books of durable paper / plastic, whatever. That should get them started, and it should be simple to grasp. But if we leave out just ONE book, we’ll have enough room to give them thousands of books electronically. Even if the machine breaks, they’ll still have a shot at deciphering it someday.

      Just IMAGINE how valuable it would be to have Wikipedia as written and maintained by citizens of Rome. They wouldn’t have any technology we don’t have, but the simple details of their life and culture would be priceless.

  128. midget0nstilts says:

    Shamus, first of all, I would like to say that I’ve been a long-time lurker and that I read your blog almost every day and am impressed by the intelligence of you and your community. It has often given me a lot to think about. I’m flattered that THE Shamus Young responded to my comment! :p If I met you in person, I’d ask for your autograph.

    Next, I must confess that I, too, I am biased. Undoubtedly, my Shintoistic beliefs influenced my arguments. Also, I have been blessed with good health for my 22 years of life. Truthfully, I think sabotaging technology would be foolish, because eventually it’d be reinvented. Still, I hope for harmony with nature, perhaps like what you see on Star Trek (though that might be too optimistic). We should look at ways to use our tools to harmonize with nature, rather than to be tools of our tools.

    Addressing your arguments, what do you mean by “happy” HG? If you mean that they couldn’t be as happy as me and thee, I must respectfully disagree. If you mean that it would not be utopian, then I agree wholeheartedly. As for the technology convenience/medicine you bring up, it’s all true; I’m not arguing with you there. I myself have very sensitive eyes, and I can’t see s**t when I go outside without my sunglasses (and sometimes even with). I would not last ten minutes without my sunblock. But, in IMHO, things will get worse before they get better. It takes some very high tech (compared to HG-tech) to make things possible like sunglasses and blood transfusion. I mean for sunglasses alone, you’d need advanced metallurgy, glassmaking and dyes to make sunglasses that work right. In the meantime, they’d have to make an agricultural society advanced enough for a complex hierarchy and an inventor class to make that possible. They’d have to work harder, and from my experience (I’ve studied anthropology), they won’t if they have a choice.

    Finally, I’d have moral issues advancing their tech. One, I wouldn’t want to tell them, “If you work VERY, VERY hard, then in a couple thousand years you’ll have Gameboys and porn if you play your cards right, but in the meantime you’ll have things like disease and totalitarian leaderships that concentrated population centers will bring.” Two, more importantly, what if aliens gave the Nazis or the Soviets super-tech (even by accident)? I’m fairly confident the handful of people who get this info would abuse it (if they think it’s worth their while) and do the gods know what with the people who don’t.

    And, also, I think we should include in the box hard copies of everything on your blog :p

  129. Donald says:

    If we only have 1m^3, how about some books explaining the benefits of ensuring that knowledge is protected with some form of rights management. Also some information on the benefits of lengthy strong copyright.

    Followed by a book detailing how this stuff managed to bring down our whole civilisation so anyone proposing it should be shot (or stabbed, until you develop gunpowder).

    Who cares why the disaster happened, I don’t mind telling lies to help the future :)

  130. RichVR says:

    How about a few thousand of these and the rest of the space filled with optical microscopes and simple diagrams explaining their use?

    http://gizmodo.com/5266087/what-is-this

  131. Rick says:

    With regards to the paper medium (even though paper in a sealed container would last hundreds of years – they may burn it…). Etching stuff in metal can be done:
    http://rosettaproject.org/disk/technology/
    This would be a good start with a microscope. You can pack a lot of info on a few metal plates. Obviously throw in a instruction book and there you go.

    Throw in some ingredients (raw materials and instructions) for them to make their own gunpowder, alloys, etc. They’ll be fine.

  132. mc says:

    Can we reasonably assume that whoever finds it will take the time to decipher the entire thing if we include a “rosetta stone”? Because han characters are much more compact – I’d guess it’d reduce the volume by about 1/3rd.

    If we’re assuming English, Brittanica’s /Great Books of the Western World/, which includes basically all the early philosophical and scientific literature Western Civilization is founded on, fits on a five-foot shelf. Printed on a glossy, waterproof paper, it’d be slightly thicker, so I’d assume it’d take up 1/5th of our cubic meter, packed tightly.

    As for academic stuff, I’d also include Richard Feynman’s /Lectures on Physics/, ’cause what is the future without Richard Feynman?

    I think academic material is of value because the society I see when I think of your latest neat hypothetical question is like the one in the short story By the Waters of Babylon – more like salvagers and scrappers than hunter-gatherers.

    Which would probably encourage me to include more practical texts as well, on metalworking, mechanics, and stuff like that.

  133. mc says:

    I’m guessing something could be written which would demonstrate how to derive modern medicines from natural sources, too. I can think of a lot of things (i.e. quinine, pennicilin) that are medicinal and can be derived from plants.

  134. Incognitia says:

    I agree with whoever mentioned above that hunter-gatherers aren’t likely to want to start agriculture unless they have to.
    Metal tools, on the other hand, everyone wants to play with. (Well, that and fire, conveniently included in the job description).
    I may mis-remember, but I seem to recall seeing that some hunter gatherer tribes supported specialised flint knappers, so supporting a smith is not inconceivable. Better tools, first as a way to improve the lives of the people, second to sell them on the idea of progress. Then they’re much more receptive to the crazy idea of working their arses off to grow plants…maybe…

  135. RibbitRibbit says:

    Shamus,

    A bit about hunter-gatherers. Yes, they “married young” and had babies (btw those were probably spaced at 5 years at least since the children needed to be able to take care of themselves before the mother could become pregnant again; since the child was dependant on the mother, getting her pregnant while they’re not yet 4 at least would seriously endanger them both. But I digress). However I am not sure they had babies “as long as possible”, and population didn’t boom for a reason – and for none of those you mention. You see, there is the thing. A population can only be sustained by adequate resources. HG resources were the land only – flora and fauna. Their communities were mostly nomadic in nature because usually their resources moved with climate changes.

    You know what was the #1 killer of HG’s? Agricultural societies. Farming needs land (deforestation), and drives away the wild animals, but most of all, a farmer produces a LOT more food per land area than a HG. So the farmers can support larger communities. Heck, they can have granaries so that you’ll never go hungry. And then they can outnumber the HGs and drive them away – which happened countless times in history. And since they have extra food, they can also support “non-farming” activities, like, um, science. Leap a bit forward and you have mass pollution, mass warfare, mass epidemic, all the fun stuff. (Incidentally, you will have more health and dental problems. HG individual nutrition appears to have been better that individual farmer nutrition, not to mention individual fitness. Fossil evidence show they had better teeth.)

    Heck, if I were to point my finger at THE most important invention in human history, I’d say Agriculture in a heartbeat. This is the cornerstone of modern society. I mean, things like writing and arithmetics were probably invented to inventory grains and goods and to enable ruling a large (and ever-growing) community. Technology, even the alphabet, could not have been invented by HGs since it provides no survival value for them whatsoever.

    The interesting question, to my mind, is whether the HG lifestyle can be improved and “technologized” without creating agriculture. (Note: Like I previously said, this may happen anyway given time. No idea why rush it, but I’m assuming that for some reason it’s necessary.) I would need to research for this any stuff that improves wilderness survival and a way to create it “in the field” without the need of a technological background. One would be knowledge of medicine, hygiene, and chirurgy (mc’s “medicine from natural sources” is a great idea). Another would be basic smithing (without a forge, just hammer on metal scrap) of spearheads and such. Maybe complete knowledge of the stars, the earth’s rotation, also maps, anything related to navigating their way in the world. And yes, even HGs could exterminate entire species, so a word of warning against this (or a heaven-sent Law like If Thou Shalt Kill a Mother With Foal, Return the Foal to the Herd).

    Or just give ’em agriculture, the rest will come along.

  136. roxysteve says:

    Paper will not last. Most plastics won’t either if they’re in contact with each other (the elastomers in the plastic leach out and do weird things in a lot less than 200 years). Model steam engines will corrode and seize up. Making a steam engine isn’t as simple as others here seem to think either, requiring very advanced metalworking technology to get anything like the sort of steam engine you can buy today (wiki Carnot and start chasing links for some of the story). Electronics are the worst because the circuit boards will fail while they are in storage due to crappy mass-production techniques used to fab them up (and this “blast” might do for the components on them before that). As for digital storage, a brief reflection on just how many different incompatible formats we’ve seen in the last twenty years starting with tape (seven or nine track? Even or Odd parity? Sentinels?) all the way to SD cards should give one pause aside from the “won’t last 200 years” factor. Let’s hope future us use binary for their computers – there are good reasons to do so but if you can figure out the electronics quickly enough trinary offers some advantages – and even if they do will they go Big Endian and use One’s Compliment (the first computer I worked on didn’t)? If just one of these factors is not the same the result is gibberish.enough kvetching. Time to put up.I’d try for either books of embossed gold or lead foil pages (quite delicate, but we have to assume the person digging it up knows enough to get the box open and so will be careful on principle) or thin glazed ceramic tablets. The information contained would be human anatomy, what each piece is, what it does, how it goes wrong and what can be done about it, the synthesis of the simplest aneasthetics along with the basic hygene needed to perform surgery. I’d rossetta stone it with pictures as far as possible and I’d cheat by also writing and drawing on the inside and outside of the box.As Jack McDevitt’s xenoarcheologists are always saying: Let’s hope they weren’t advanced. Glaze it and it lasts forever.”

  137. Carra says:

    And maybe Mozarts music will inspire people to do great things. Someone will eventually discover the electricity again. But noone will ever write another Moonlight Sonata. So I wouldn’t dismiss art that easily.

    As to computers breaking because they have moving parts. Just don’t add any moving parts. Change the harddisk with a flash harddisk, the ventilators with passive cooling. Et voila, your pc suddenly lasts a lot longer.

  138. Daemian Lucifer says:

    roxysteve:
    “Paper will not last.”

    Really?Paper wont last for 200 years in a hermetically sealed dry box?Yet now we have books that are 200-500 years old that were being used numerous times,were kept in humid places,on temperatures varying all over the scale,and still can be red.Explain that.

  139. Greg says:

    I see a lot of suggestions for electronically stored data, but what if the people who open it don’t understand how it works at first? Language changes over time, we can understand someone who was talking English a few centuries ago, but the language would be archaic and misunderstandings would be possible or you could accidently end up using some phrase thats meaning is culturally embedded and be misunderstood that way.

    If it happened they could wear down the battery (or store your solar powered device in a cave) and not get to understanding the bit about “how to keep this device functioing” before it can’t be used anymore.

    I think all of the “loads of data on an electronic thing” is a good idea, but I think you need to wrap it in danger colours and symbols (Reds and yellows from nature and then things like “high voltage” and “danger of death” and “nuclear powered” and so on so that they’ve hopefully encountered the symbol before and know it means data. Then include information on how to operate it well and have that information include the fact that it’s okay to ignore the warning stickers if you’ve been able to understand this. That way they don’t start running the battery down until they’ve at least got some idea where they’re going.

    And you could probably get the library of congress onto the thing ;)

  140. Segev says:

    As for the battery issue… A hand-crank that winds a spring-powered dynamo, with a computer, a printer, and several books for backup. Paper will be included. The dynamo should start wound, so it has enough power to give the computer a brief, preprogrammed explanation of what’s in the box and a tutorial of how to use it. Preferably directions to various metropolises. Heck, if we’ve got the tech to make one of these capsules, make hundreds, scatter them everywhere, and make each specialized, with a map to at least a dozen others. That could be an awesome quest, really. I’d play in such a game.

  141. Segev says:

    Oh, and more sarcasticly: I invent a cubic-meter cryostasis chamber that will automatically unlock and safely revive its contents when opened, and put myself and the above-mentioned dynamo + fully-loaded laptop full of information into it. That way I know they’ve got a teacher who can help them grasp its import. Oh, and I survive. >_> <_<

  142. Phreaky Phil says:

    Theres two ways that I can see myself going about this My cube would be black and very heavy. Perfectly smooth with a decription of the sun on the top. Now it may take some time for them to figure out what that means but when they do it will reward them with… The box unsealing containing a fully fuctional nucular device with a 5 min timer that blinks: Have a nice day on it.

    Now getting serious some assume that computers are not going to make the two hundred year period but you are wrong assuming the cpu was off for that duration. If we are to transfer our knowledge its gotta make the time leap. Early last year japan created her first fuctioning VI holograph. This is what i would send in said box. The vi would be able to asses thier languges and seeing as they would be base on our own they it would be able to communicate with and teach the basic skills as well as those more major ideas that lead to civilisation. The box would have the same design as my nuke box above but would instead contain The cpu which has been tested, programed, then shut down untill the solar panneled box sealed with carbonsteel microfibers to ensure duribility is exposed to the sun which is when the VI will make itself known to the natives. No natives around sleep mode until human sized organism is on radar. It would also contain some spare cpu parts with which it could teach one of the humans to repair certain parts of its self. Yes it would degrade ove its active lifespan but not before it gave the advacement of society a major boost and effectively thats all your gonna be able to do.

  143. Kronski says:

    @ Shamus 137:

    Oh, I’m not saying it was fun. I was just quibbling over that one minor point, as is my habit.

    But while the people of the Neolithic certainly had shorter, more brutish lives than we did, they weren’t quite as miserable as you make them out to be. According to simulations and studies of some modern nomadic people, the average hunter-gatherer would have three to four hours of free time per day. Now, it is possible that this time was taken up with religious rites and the like.
    RibbitRibbit (146) made some very good points about the hunter-gatherer quality of life. Read his post, if you haven’t already.

  144. mc says:

    Kronski: I think you’re thinking of the paleolithic, not the neolithic. Neolithic is post-agriculture.

    Although in the neolithic they certainly (also?) lived short, brutish lives. ;)

  145. Jenx says:

    Ok ok I admit I didn’t read ALL of the comments, but got around to the middle and notice the lack of a very important piece of information everyone seems to have forgotten to include.
    How about the first thing you put in the capsule is a short explanation of what this thing is, how it got here, who put it in there and a list of what you can find inside? Also if such capsules are being stashed in different places around the world it might be a good idea to also include general directions towards where the other capsules are located.
    And now that the people KNOW what they have found, then you can start explaining agriculture and all that jazz.

  146. Miako says:

    ribbitribbit,
    at the age of 3, a child makes a decent enough slave, who can be put to work and accomplish small tasks.

    shamus:
    breastfeeding until the kid is one year old is a good way to reduce the number of ovulations. So a kid every two years.

    Moderate malnutrition or less overfeeding means that girls become fertile later (fifteen instead of 12), or are less fertile even after they’re ovulating.

    Also, what makes you think they wouldn’t know about some abortifacients?

  147. rflrob says:

    I’m surprised no-one’s mentioned this Feynman quote (though if I recall, it does appear in the Feynman lectures, so @mc 143 implicitly included it):

    If, in some cataclysm, all scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms “” little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence you will see an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied.
    -RPF

  148. Andrew says:

    An explanation of scientific method, a big box of knowledge (times 2 in case one brakes)and instructions on how access it.
    I’ll get some smart people to help with the details.
    EDIT: and some Leathermans.

  149. Felblood says:

    Maybe not the goal I would pursue, but if jump starting technology is the plan, then here’s how we do it.

    Printed on high durability, low acid material we provide a manifest like this and everything listed on it:

    “Dear finders of this box;

    The contents of this box are our free gift to you. Take them and use them well.

    This box contains a lot of very valuable things that you should probably take. They include:

    Color pictures of useful things you could make, books and a set of drawings explaining how to build a machine to make more books.

    We’ve made this design really simple, so it will be fairly easy to build, but I’m sure you can find a way to build a better, but more complicated one later.

    It’s a good idea to make copies of books, so one will remain if one is damaged.

    Additionally, you can give away, or even sell some, if you make enough copies to go around. You don’t lose knowledge by giving it away, you just make other people better off.

    One starter book ,and one advanced book on each of farming, teaching, history, and government is included. The starter books are intended to provide information that anyone can use, while the advanced books are intended for people who are, or plan to become experts on a given topic.

    If you don’t want them yourselves, please find someone who would be interested. I’m sure there’s someone who would be gratified to receive this gift.

    If your system of government is working out fine, I don’t recommend replacing it outright, but any system can be improved if you try to find solutions to it’s problems.”

    The pictures will include photographs of each of the simple machines, including a screw (simple or not, they’ll need it) a person riding a horse with a saddle and bridle, a wagon being pulled by a horse, a group of people eating a simple but hearty meal of roast and bread, a stone wall, and a man standing in front of a nice two story home. There will be helpful notes on the back of each picture written by a person with experience in the use or manufacture of each item.

    The writing could probably be better, but the idea is to encourage them to experiment with the knowledge you’ve given them, and improve on their situation incrementally.

    Free people, operating under leadership with knowledge of the many pitfalls of freedom, with a large enough supply of food and energy, will naturally produce art and science. The printing presses will spread those things around and keep them from being lost again.

    Education and better communication and transportation will speed up the process, but we want to focus on getting them going in the right direction.

    In fact a complete draft of this document and a few of the others here would be a good use of some of the space.

    If we can spare the space some reference manuals of mathematical proofs should be included, numbered on the cover by order of difficulty, and labeled as such. The finders won’t extract the real meat of this, but copies of it will be an enormous time saver for many fields of science, later on.

    A couple of simple machines and devices could be stuffed into the margins and corners of the box. Two gears that turn together, a folding knife a hammer a falling wedge made of good steel are nice items that are hard to explain in just a picture.

  150. Scerro says:

    Well, to start, I would include basic language tools anyways. A mechanical way to make basic sounds and find a way to relate them to words would be a primary goal of mine, since they may not have a written system. Orally communicating would obviously be easily kept. Relating those to the words would be the paramount trick to making it work.

    Basic anatomy and sanitary rules would be the next goal, as longer lifetimes allow for increased knowledge accumulation. Plus, with things that they can and would see to be true, they would put more trust in the items in the time capsule.

    Next, mathmatics would be what i’d go for. I think there’d need to be a warning on those materials to save them until civilization is much further, but getting a head start on mathmatics and calculus would be amazing once the time could be dedicated to the study of them. I mean, I believe i’d include the most basic of mathmatics to begin with. A few charts would have begin with conceptual things with drawings.

    Basic measurement items would have to be included with all the mathmatics tools to kind of give them a sense of what it’s taking about.

    A few other interesting things with space I would include would be a large history book from our current past, probably some engineering texts(circuitry…), metallurgy texts, agriculture texts, and just about some major helpful things that could teach them to reproduce it.

    Of course, there’s certain things I would not put in the time capsule. Namely, religious items of any sense. I mean, i’m religious and all, but considering they’ll probably find it and may conflict with stuff they believe, they just might burn the whole lot of stuff.

    Anyways, I find a lot of this stuff to be interesting. I may just be going all the way back through your blogs… :D

  151. Zephire says:

    First of all, I’d keep the written material to a minimum. Sure, we may retain an alphabet. But there are thousands of languages on Earth; even if we can reasonably assume that one language would be used by the people who found the capsule (English, for North America), it’s still something of a risk — and a lot of the jargon/terminology we use wouldn’t make sense to people who’d lost all knowledge of modern technology. (For example, the word ‘technology’.)

    So, we want to keep this to images and physical examples, as much as possible. I think the most important things to get across would be Agriculture and Sanitation, with additional information on weaving, brewing, metal-working, pottery-making, carpentry, and…law and governance.

    Agriculture Sadly, we can’t fit a plough or a spade in here. (And without access to metalworking, they couldn’t replicate these anyway.) So, we’re going with images. First of all, big, obvious pictures of people enjoying a large bowl of rice, or sweetcorn, or some bread. The point is to inform them that this produces food. Then lots of pictures of edible plants — and, more importantly, their wild relatives. (Domesticated varieties of most grains will not survive the apocalypse — they need tending. We’re going to need to breed them back up.) Pictures should show the whole plant and clearly indicate the edible part. Then a lot of pictures, diagrams, and maybe even comics showing the basics of farming: Planting seeds, weeding, watering, crop rotation, selective breeding. Plus one or two books explaining the finer points of agriculture, but not so many they take up the whole space. There should also be clear diagrams of tools and their uses, covering a range from basic up until the decline of the horse as a draft animal.

    Animal Husbandry: Photographs of every domesticated animal on the planet, focusing on the more common ones, and including depictions of what they’re used for (that includes butchery). Books, again — and, again, not too many. Pictures of horses in harness, and of donkeys. Simple comic-style posters showing how to care for animals, how to milk cows — and how to make butter and cheese.

    Weaving/Knitting: A piece of knitted cloth. This would be bundled with some raw wool, a pair of knitting needles, and possibly a small spindle. I’d accompany this with photos of sheep, of sheep being sheared, wool being spun into yarn, blueprints for a spindle, and a small illustrated handbook on knitting and patterns. On the weaving side, there would be a few pieces of cotton and linen cloth, with small plastic models of flax and cotton plants, a couple of spools of thread, and some sewing needles and pins. Lots of pictures of said plants, along with photos of a loom, blueprints for a loom, pictures showing flax being processed into thread, and a small illustrated sewing handbook.

    Pottery: A couple of very small, very simple kiln-fired pots or bowls — small enough to fit in your palm. Inside the pots I’d put a lump of (well-wrapped) raw clay, as a demonstration of what to look for. Then illustrations showing how clay is worked, how to build a simple kiln, and how to fire the pottery. While we’re at it: A lump of charcoal, and instructions on how to make it.

    Carpentry: A small wooden box with a lid, just large enough to hold a hammer and nails. The nails should be made of bone as well as metal, since metal-working will take a while. There should also be room for a few screws and a very small screwdriver. The box should be a practical example of both nailing and basic woodworking (e.g. dovetail joints). Then there should be plenty of pictures showing the basics of woodworking, from felling the trees to building simple furniture. Throw in a few photos of wooden boats, ships and buildings, but don’t include a manual on ship-building — space is limited, and once they have the idea, they can figure boats out for themselves.

    Sanitation: A bar of soap — actually, two bars; one of regular soap, and one of old fat-and-ashes soap. Pictures showing the key components and how soap is made, as well as demonstrating its uses. Front and centre: A big poster on the importance of boiling water. The sanitation and agriculture stuff should be the first thing people see when opening the capsule. Then there would be posters explaining how (and where) to dig latrines — they most likely have already figured this out, but better safe than sorry. Then posters on germ theory, as well as illustrated books on disease, explaining how disease spreads and how best to prevent it. One book covering secondary-school-level anatomy, and also showing how to suture wounds, deliver babies, prevent gangrene, and other non-invasive medical procedures. Finally, there should be a book on herb lore, with detailed illustrations.

    Brewing: People figured this out a looooong time ago. Pictures of all the many ingredients that can be fermented, a few diagrams of the process, and a poster demonstrating that alcohol is for drinking. Maybe another poster indicating that alcohol can be used for cleaning things. People may not be able to boil water, but they should be able to produce drinkable alcohol, and once they’ve done it, they are going to keep doing it.

    Metal-working: The nails, hammer, and needles are already examples of metal-working, but let’s add a few pieces of easy-to-work metals — copper, tin, and bronze. Diagrams of how to extract these metals from the ground, how to refine them, how to smelt them, how to combine tin and copper to make bronze. There should be some information on how to extract iron and how to make steel, and one book on essential metallurgy. There should also be a few photos of things like steam engines, clocks and clockwork, etc. These are to make the point that you can do a lot with metallurgy and give them something to strive towards.

    Law and governance: This is one of the most important things in our society. I think we can all agree that for the human race to rebuild, it’s not enough to have the technology; social cohesion and organisation is vital. And it’s pretty hard to depict visually. So it’s all going to have to be written down.
    I allocate space for three books. On top of the books would be a short list of principles for law and management. There should be no more than twenty points. They should make the case that laws should exist, that people have rights and obligations, all should be judged equally and fairly, etc. Our descendants will likely have their own customs for managing, but large societies are complicated, and we should give them some idea of how we handled things. The books themselves would cover law, justice, management, finance, government (and the different styles thereof), bureaucracy, and environmental sustainability, i.e. not fishing your food source to extinction.

    At this point, the capsule is likely bulging at the seams, so I think I’ll leave it there.

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