…but this makes for interesting reading. Jeff Bezos and the folks at the Long Now Foundation (of which Paul Hawken is also a member) funded the creation of Long Bets, a forum for long-term predictions (and wagering thereon).
The Long Now Foundation is best known for sponsoring the design and construction of a clock capable of operating over the span of 10,000 years. They have already built a prototype and purchased land for the site. The Foundation also funds the Rosetta Project, the goal of which is to compile a “contemporary version of the historic Rosetta Stone”. The project has already resulted in the largest collection of linguistic data available on the internet — no small feat.
Why is any of this interesting? Isn’t it just a bunch of dot-com dropouts amusing themselves at their own expense? I don’t think so. This group has set out to create not only symbols but also concrete science that has value in very long-term timeframes, in the hopes of fostering broader thinking outside of our own individual generational boxes.
It is interesting that no government or organized religion has laid out concrete goals for the next 10,000 years, or even the next 1,000, although the fact that religion has some continuity over those time scales has led many to speculate that a “religion” of some sort might be the best oganizational vehicle for ensuring the viability of the Long Now clock.