4 ms·

Couldn’t agree more! I think so much about this. What on earth gives anyone the impression anyone will care about us or our minutia in the future? The fact is

Couldn’t agree more! I think so much about this. What on earth gives anyone the impression anyone will care about us or our minutia in the future? The fact is of the billions of humans on earth, almost all of them are either too low on resources or interest to even care about how things like the solar system or genetics operate, mysterie that humans have wondered for millennia and are only being unlocked now. It’s made me think that for most humans it’s enough to kind of wonder and enjoy the mysteries. As a child I grew up upper middle class with kids who had time and resources to find out all kinds of things but most people including me just wasted most of our time, taking more interest in basic human interactions and intrigues than knowledge. It’s how humans are I think. What makes anyone think some distant ancestor or researcher will care about us? I find it unlikely and kind of transparently desperate to think so. It’s liberating to know no one will care and I can die and have the freedom to just fade into oblivion and that no one but some AI will taken interest in my Gmails.

mbrock 9y ago
I saw a conversation where a diarist asked what a historian wished to find in someone's diary—like, do they wish for nuanced analyses about current events? But the historian said the most interesting stuff is that which you don't see in official chronicles or books: daily little things, relationships, habits, food, all the minutiae that still paints a picture of the world from a specific point of view.
vinceguidry 9y ago
For certain types of creator, diving into old archives is just the perfect way to get some inspiration or source material. It's true, archiving transcripts of your family's dinner conversations for 10 years isn't really going to do any future movie-maker any good, but the SubGenius folks went far beyond the mundane. Plus, even if it were purely mundane, it would still be of eventual interest to historians, who could data mine over it for cultural references and such. I'm not entirely sure what the line is between keep or save, but it could almost assuredly be drawn way to the left of where it is now and save a lot more for future generations.
kingofpandora 9y ago
> Couldn’t agree more! I think so much about this. What on earth gives anyone the impression anyone will care about us or our minutia in the future? > What makes anyone think some distant ancestor or researcher will care about us? I find it unlikely and kind of transparently desperate to think so. You say this but modern historians are desperate for these kind of sources even back a few hundred years since they provide an understanding of how the vast majority of humanity lived unlike the few royals (for example) whose lives were well documented. It's unlikely historians of the future will lack sources in the way we do today but you never know what people will wonder about our times because we didn't think anyone would care.

mbrock 9y ago

I saw a conversation where a diarist asked what a historian wished to find in someone's diary—like, do they wish for nuanced analyses about current events? But the historian said the most interesting stuff is that which you don't see in official chronicles or books: daily little things, relationships, habits, food, all the minutiae that still paints a picture of the world from a specific point of view.

vinceguidry 9y ago

For certain types of creator, diving into old archives is just the perfect way to get some inspiration or source material. It's true, archiving transcripts of your family's dinner conversations for 10 years isn't really going to do any future movie-maker any good, but the SubGenius folks went far beyond the mundane. Plus, even if it were purely mundane, it would still be of eventual interest to historians, who could data mine over it for cultural references and such. I'm not entirely sure what the line is between keep or save, but it could almost assuredly be drawn way to the left of where it is now and save a lot more for future generations.

kingofpandora 9y ago

> Couldn’t agree more! I think so much about this. What on earth gives anyone the impression anyone will care about us or our minutia in the future? > What makes anyone think some distant ancestor or researcher will care about us? I find it unlikely and kind of transparently desperate to think so. You say this but modern historians are desperate for these kind of sources even back a few hundred years since they provide an understanding of how the vast majority of humanity lived unlike the few royals (for example) whose lives were well documented. It's unlikely historians of the future will lack sources in the way we do today but you never know what people will wonder about our times because we didn't think anyone would care.