A project that takes a REALLY long view

[Libertarian666]

"The Lunar Library™ represents the first in a series of lunar archives from the Arch Mission Foundation, designed to preserve the records of our civilization for up to billions of years. It is installed in the SpaceIL “Beresheet” lunar lander, scheduled to land on the Moon in April of 2019."

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uuhj4a4u2djld ... .pdf?dl=0#

[dualstow]

https://www.space.com/40598-lunar-libra ... ssion.html

[Tortoise]

That's pretty cool, although clearly we'd be saving a record of humanity's history for an advanced civilization since accessing it would require 1000x magnification and ability to travel to the moon.

I've always wondered what would be the best way to save a record of humanity's history and technology for a primitive society, for example if human civilization gets almost completely wiped out in a cataclysmic event and effectively gets "reset" back to the stone age. What would be the best way to give those primitive people an edge so that they could reattain high civilization as rapidly as possible without having to rediscover and reinvent everything a second time? And how could such information be preserved for thousands of years without being completely destroyed or eroded away?

For permanence over thousands of years, it seems hard to beat huge slabs of stone arranged in shapes that have a clearly man-made appearance but also minimize erosion from wind and rain and stresses from gravity. Maybe shapes like big, artificial sand dunes. So basically, the Egyptian pyramids.

[dualstow]

Yes. Although the pyramids didn’t give anyone an edge, as a record of high civilization, they are really something. The precise measurements, the orientation. Blows my mind.

[Kriegsspiel]

I've always wondered what would be the best way to save a record of humanity's history and technology for a primitive society, for example if human civilization gets almost completely wiped out in a cataclysmic event and effectively gets "reset" back to the stone age.
how could such information be preserved for thousands of years without being completely destroyed or eroded away?

For permanence over thousands of years, it seems hard to beat huge slabs of stone arranged in shapes that have a clearly man-made appearance but also minimize erosion from wind and rain and stresses from gravity. Maybe shapes like big, artificial sand dunes. So basically, the Egyptian pyramids.

Books, probably. Or parchment. Those are both about as cheap as it gets and last for a very long time in the right conditions. They don't require anything to operate other than eyeballs. Put them in pyramids or geodesic domes or whatever, and call it good. If Elon Musk were in charge I'm sure he'd add some kind of compressed-air power system for LED lighting and some soothing music in the reading room, and movies. Maybe charge a Tesla too.

What would be the best way to give those primitive people an edge so that they could reattain high civilization as rapidly as possible without having to rediscover and reinvent everything a second time?

I don't think anyone could argue against it being a pretty low-cost insurance policy to put some scientific and history books in a vault. Probably various books on philosophy/ethics too. Those would probably be useful for any kind of society that was rebooting. For instance, this article just popped up. It's about how to heat a dwelling with a windmill. They could have made them thousands of years ago, but there is no evidence of their use prior to the 20th century.

So, stuff that any group of humans would need to satisfy Maslow's lower tiers, that would be practical at a low level of development. Like ideas that just happened to be discovered or thought of recently, but could have been implemented at any point. Crop rotation, germ theory, anatomy/medicine, physics/chemistry/material science, steam engines, moldboard plows, sailing vessels, blah blah.

At any rate, the Long Now Foundation has their top people working on this. They call it the Manual For Civilization. You can see what kinds of books they're including

[dualstow]

What would be the best way to give those primitive people an edge so that they could reattain high civilization as rapidly as possible without having to rediscover and reinvent everything a second time?

I don't think anyone could argue against it being a pretty low-cost insurance policy to put some scientific and history books in a vault. Probably various books on philosophy/ethics too. Those would probably be useful for any kind of society that was rebooting. For instance, this article just popped up. It's about how to heat a dwelling with a windmill. They could have made them thousands of years ago, but there is no evidence of their use prior to the 20th century.

Windmill books- I think you're onto something. Should probably include a windmill as well, although I don't know if it would be in working condition by the time it's discovered. Shelter it in a pyramid, no wind. At least include a physical pinwheel for inspiration.

https://imgur.com/gallery/LGAZEqu

[jacksonM]

Yes. Although the pyramids didn’t give anyone an edge, as a record of high civilization, they are really something. The precise measurements, the orientation. Blows my mind.

When it comes to the mystery of precise measurements I find things we see in nature among non-human species to be even more mind-blowing than the pyramids. Like how do the Pacific salmon find their way over thousands of miles back to the place where they originated when hatched as eggs, said journey sometimes requiring them to swim upstream for as much as two thousand miles, including waterfalls flowing downstream with such force that no human being could possibly do it, not to mention bears waiting to pluck them out of the air. And all to hatch their eggs in the place of their own birth and then die. In addition to how do they do it, why do they do it, and why don't Atlantic salmon do the same thing?

There are many such mysteries in nature so hopefully they will include these observations in the lunar library though I wonder if the aliens who find it in the future won't just think it is all a bunch of tall tales.