Modus Ponens
10-13-2006, 07:41 PM
(I posted this in MySpace, too.)
Here's a little something awesome that I just came by.
The KEO satellite, due to launch in 2007 or 2008, will orbit our planet for 50,000 years, silently flapping its symbolic wings as it does so. Its payload will contain, among other things, messages from the people of Earth today to the people of Earth in the year 52,007, assuming that there are any. (If not, then it will be for aliens. Assuming that there are any.)
Every single living human on the planet is invited to write a message, which can be submitted electronically via their website or by standard mail. The storage capacity is great enough to store 32.7 terabytes, or about four pages of text from everyone in the world. They've been taking submissions since 1994 (and last night I hear about it for the first time!), but the deadline is this December 31, 2006.
I want everyone reading this post to write a message for the world of tomorrow's tomorrow's tomorrow's metaphorical tomorrow. And tell your friends, parents, colleagues and teachers. I'd also like to ask people to go out and get messages from the very young, the very old, the very sick and the homeless and submit them, as well--they have valuable words for the future (potentially moreso than yours). I know that's asking a lot, so don't feel guilty if you don't feel like doing it. I probably won't.
The messages will be included uncensored. I believe that any racist, homophobic or socially ignorant ideas conveyed will be drowned out by a vastly superior quantity of positive words from people who have hope and love in their hearts. That someone will get to say that he hates Jews will, in the long run, probably be better for distant-future historians than if that person were not allowed to say what he believed. After the launch of the satellite, its contents--minus people's names--will be published. This will provide a unique insight into the minds of today's humanity...or at least those that will have participated in the ambitious project.
I'm relieved that I found out about it before it's too late, and I hope that others will be as enthusiastic about it as I am.
KEO Website (http://www.keo.org/)
Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEO)
Your Friend,
Douglas Zwick
P.S. I honestly hope that at least one person's KEO submission tells the people of the year 52,007 to "FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW OR YOU'LL HAVE 38 YEARS OF BAD LUCK AND THEN A MAN WILL STAB YOU IN THE KIDNEY WITH A BUTTERKNIFE AND THE DOG WILL PEE ON THE COUCH" or something; it's just not going to be me.
Here's a little something awesome that I just came by.
The KEO satellite, due to launch in 2007 or 2008, will orbit our planet for 50,000 years, silently flapping its symbolic wings as it does so. Its payload will contain, among other things, messages from the people of Earth today to the people of Earth in the year 52,007, assuming that there are any. (If not, then it will be for aliens. Assuming that there are any.)
Every single living human on the planet is invited to write a message, which can be submitted electronically via their website or by standard mail. The storage capacity is great enough to store 32.7 terabytes, or about four pages of text from everyone in the world. They've been taking submissions since 1994 (and last night I hear about it for the first time!), but the deadline is this December 31, 2006.
I want everyone reading this post to write a message for the world of tomorrow's tomorrow's tomorrow's metaphorical tomorrow. And tell your friends, parents, colleagues and teachers. I'd also like to ask people to go out and get messages from the very young, the very old, the very sick and the homeless and submit them, as well--they have valuable words for the future (potentially moreso than yours). I know that's asking a lot, so don't feel guilty if you don't feel like doing it. I probably won't.
The messages will be included uncensored. I believe that any racist, homophobic or socially ignorant ideas conveyed will be drowned out by a vastly superior quantity of positive words from people who have hope and love in their hearts. That someone will get to say that he hates Jews will, in the long run, probably be better for distant-future historians than if that person were not allowed to say what he believed. After the launch of the satellite, its contents--minus people's names--will be published. This will provide a unique insight into the minds of today's humanity...or at least those that will have participated in the ambitious project.
I'm relieved that I found out about it before it's too late, and I hope that others will be as enthusiastic about it as I am.
KEO Website (http://www.keo.org/)
Wikipedia Article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEO)
Your Friend,
Douglas Zwick
P.S. I honestly hope that at least one person's KEO submission tells the people of the year 52,007 to "FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW OR YOU'LL HAVE 38 YEARS OF BAD LUCK AND THEN A MAN WILL STAB YOU IN THE KIDNEY WITH A BUTTERKNIFE AND THE DOG WILL PEE ON THE COUCH" or something; it's just not going to be me.