The Long Now

The Encyclopedia Foundation got its start as an idea – as described on this very website – back in the eighties with the reading of “The Foundation Trilogy” by Dr. Isaac Asimov. And long before him, as mentioned in another article, people have had the idea of preserving knowledge for very extended periods of time.

The Library of Alexandria was an attempt. And such a thing as a Bible is an attempt, given that the building of a cohesive multi-generational group that values a given book tends to be the best thing to preserve it. More on that in another article.

So it is not that the idea is unique to us. And while it may in some ways be pleasing that we seem to be amongst the few who have thought to do this, we are not alone in that regard, either. Nor would we wish to be. The more the merrier for such a task!

There have been time capsules and time vaults before us. But we are trying to be a bit more ambitious. Yes, we will have a time vault of sorts. And it will preserve the knowledge of mankind. In a durable medium that will last ten thousand years and be accessible no matter who is the one to find it. But we wish to do more.

So not only do we wish an organization in place that could possibly last that long – though none have so far in history – but we wish to increase the chances of success by the simple expedient of getting the idea out there. We want others to share this dream, this goal. And to work for it, with us, or separately from us, it makes no difference.

To that end we draw attention to a group called “The Long Now Foundation”. Originally a Foundation with the idea of getting people to think “long term” – as in ten thousand years – it started with the project of a mechanical clock that would keep time for ten thousand years. A very daunting project, but one they have succeeded admirably at. Though one supposes only…time…will tell!

We have contacted them before. On such matters as their Rosetta Disc with a thousand languages on a durable metal disc. And ideas on information storage in general. One gentleman there gave me a good tip on the problems with using pictographs to try to explain things to illiterate people. Invaluable, in fact.

More recently, the Long Now Foundation has had the desire to explore long term data storage, and we are very happy about this. So happy, that if anyone out there is looking to donate money, we would suggest that they look up the Long Now Foundation and donate that money to them instead of us. For starters, you could get a membership with them for a very reasonable monthly donation.

Why them instead of us? Well, several reasons. One, we could certainly make use of donations, but do not specifically need them. We plan on being self-sufficient, so while donations would put some of our projects further ahead, we know we’ll get those projects done eventually anyway.

For two, they are a tax exempt organization, so we know that your donation dollar would help you personally more there than here. And that should be a consideration.

But also, they are a larger and more polished organization than we are, they’ve been around longer – the nineties – and their goals are in every way things we wish for and support. Given that, we believe that they can do more towards our mutual goals than we can. At least at this point, and probably for a long time to come.

The path we are taking is one where donations will be increasingly irrelevant. We’ve not actually had any yet – besides those from our Directors – and we are hoping to arrange to never need them. We believe we can.

Therefore, it is with no reservations that we encourage any who wish to donate to the cause of preserving knowledge for ten thousand years that they consider the Long Now Foundation. And please, include a note stating that you really hope they do that data storage project. This will help them, and it will help us in knowing that they are becoming an increasingly more stable and longer lasting entity than they already are.

And it will help our mutual goals. Enormously. So please find them and donate to them.