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= million generations =
milliongenerations.org started because of the question how there could be most happiness. The milliongenerations foundation exists from 2009 to 2034 to generate ideas that make it more likely that the future is very long, that there actually could be generations of conscious beings alive and able to exchange information on this planet for as long as the sun shines. An act of God would be beyond our control, but we should try not to risk ending civilisation ourselves. We don't know if it is possible to survive progress for long, but we really should make an effort. We, who exist and enjoy the fruits of progress, must protect the interests of those who do not yet exist and expand their possibilities. We must reduce risks that threaten the existence of civilisation with a joint and formidable effort to make it likely that we and our – common – descendants continue to survive progress. Our political and economic models must become able to develop forever and work primarily for the vast majority:  those who are still to come. An extremely long view can add useful perspectives. We should not want to predict the future, but we should make it possible. Let us be good ancestors.
 
== Future generations ==
Efforts to ensure existence and wellbeing of future generations, those who do not yet exist, [https://zoe-institut.de/en/publication/history-caring-future-generations/ increased in recent years], for example with a [https://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-future/declaration-on-future-generations UN Declaration on Future Generations]. Like human rights and legal systems, this could be a significant addition. A closer relationship with future generations will help humanity reduce polarisation and foster collaboration as well help define and motivate sustainability. Broader concern for those yet to come will give us a better chance to survive progress. The milliongenerations foundation supported preparations for the exhibition [[Good Ancestors exhibition 2024 | Good Ancestors: Art and Culture for Future Generations]], joined and supports the Impact Coalition for Future Generations, the [https://soif.org.uk/statement-of-commitment/ Pledge Network] as well as the [[Intergenerational Fairness Day|organisations organising an Intergenerational Fairness Day]]. It seeks to collaborate with many more in order to help increase the number of Saturdays (yes, Mondays, too).
 
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We all hope that our children enjoy a good life. And their children, too...
 
Our [[civilization|civilizations]] have achieved amazing feats: about 8,000,000,000 human individuals are alive on this planet, living on average  more peaceful, longer and easier lives than any earlier generation. [[information|Knowledge]] helps.
 
 
'''What if''' useful knowledge could be passed on for as long as life existed?
: These pages form an open source think tank: what if the growth of knowledge and the power it brings could be combined with long term existence? 


[[Image:GreatArch.png]]
[[Image:GreatArch.png]]


[[Milliongenerations:About milliongenerations.org|milliongenerations.org]] invites you to think about the conditions required for [[civilization]] to exist on the earth while the sun provides a suitable environment. To help create as much [[happiness]] as there can possibly be.
: What if '''civilization continued?'''
:: Continued to develop and refine its knowledge on this planet indefinitely - as long as life is possible - as long as the sun shines.  [[Civilization]] that lasts.
 
 
'''[[Help:Contents|How can you help?]]'''
 
[[assumption|Imagine that knowledge continues to be passed on, that civilization in some form or other will continue on this planet for as long as the sun shines.]]
:If that perspective is helpful to you, you are invited to improve the pages on this site now: log in and click on the "edit" tab at the top of the page. [[assumption|Assume]] [[information]] continues to be deliberately passed along, no matter what the future civilizations look like. Try to deduct rather than predict.
:: If there's no edit tab even when you're logged in, use the discussion page or contact the [[Milliongenerations:Foundation|foundation by email]] to propose changes. ''(Originally, all pages were open to access from everybody, but some were protected from editing by non-registered users to reduce spam.) 
:: Please check the [[Help:Contents|help pages]] and [[Milliongenerations:Guidelines for contributions|guidelines]] first. It also helps to know about which [[Related topics |relevant thoughts exist]] or which [[Special:Allpages | structures exist on this site]]. Note that all the blue or underlined text are links that you can follow. [[Questions|click here for an entry to the discussion]].''
: If you're looking to '''do something else''', you could check out initiatives listed [[Related topics|here]] or actions discussed [[Actions to be taken to achieve a sustainable civilization|here]]. There are many worthy initiatives. Please limit your contributions on this site to thoughts related to the [[assumption]] above. (To maintain focus, clearly unrelated content will be removed.)
 
 
'''Why''' should you care? [[Milliongenerations:Motivation| Click here]] for a motivation.
 
 
 
''In the long run we are all dead'', as was famously observed by John Maynard Keynes. [[Life]], however, should be possible on earth for several billions of years. While self aware beings are alive, it should be possible to [[civilization|pass on knowledge]] for the benefit of those alive and their descendants. To '''let civilization continue''' warrants a sincere effort, everything within our control. We might be standing in a line that continues for millions of generations with individuals who realize life is wonderful. There is no necessity that ensures this happens, so it is worth thinking about what it would require to try to bring it about. Please join the effort.


How? Let us [[assumption|assume]] here that [[civilization|civilizations]] of intelligent and self aware individuals continue while a biosphere supporting life in any form exists on this planet. For the latter, let us assume at least one billion years, forty million generations for current humans. (The sun is expected to provide a suitable environment for about another five billion years.) Let us discuss [[questions|what follows from this assumption]] to clarify some [[conditions of sustainable civilizations]]. If you want to help, you can improve this and most other pages on this site now: click on the "edit" tab at the top of the page. If there's no edit tab, create an account and log in. Please check the [[Help:Contents|help pages]] and [[Milliongenerations:Guidelines for contributions|guidelines]] first.


[[Motivation|Why?]] To help maximize [[happiness]] by finding ways for civilization to continue. Perspectives on the survival of civilization on this planet for even a few hundred more years tend to be pessimistic. History provides plenty of examples of collapsed civilizations and we have consumed most easily accessible resources, significantly alter our environment and posess or develop means for potentially disasterous conflicts or mishaps, make ourselves superfluous with technology and our "monoculture" is vulnerable to "parasites". Current methods have so far failed to provide obvious and attractive solutions that are widely adopted. The advent of online collaboration pioneered prominently by [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] opened new ways to gain and share insights. Together we might succeed to develop visions that inspire us all to enable a [[happiness | happy]] life for all possible future generations.
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To this end, [[Milliongenerations:About milliongenerations.org|milliongenerations.org]] invites everyone interested to think out of the box and look from a different perspective i.e., to look back from an assumption rather than to predict the future or change the present. To leave pressing issues such as climate change, resources, inequality, and conflicts for what they are for a while and to focus here exclusively on the constraints placed by the [[assumption]] that [[civilization|civilization(s)]] continue for millions of generations, i.e. there still is at least one [[civilization]] on this planet in a billion years that evolved from today's. If in this process some of us can come up with viable visions or inspiring ideas, we may hope for beneficial feedback to current affairs.
== Quick links ==
'''Exhibition'''
[[Good Ancestors exhibition 2024| Good Ancestors: Art and Culture for Future Generations - at UNHQ September 2024]]  


As various organizations dedicated to influencing the here and now in one way or another already exist, the focus of milliongenerations.org should firmly remain in the long term, no matter how (or if) we believe it can or should be reached. If you're looking to do something else, you could check out initiatives listed [[Related topics|here]] or actions discussed [[Actions to be taken to achieve a sustainable civilization|here]].
'''Collaborations'''
* [[Intergenerational Fairness Day]], IFD - announced in collaboration with other organisations
* [[LTAP]] long term art projects


Quick links:
'''Content and debate'''
* [[Questions]] to consider what could be derived from this [[assumption]]
* [[Questions]] to consider and debate what could be derived from this [[assumption]]
* [[Milliongenerations:motivation|Motivations]] to think about why this is relevant
* [[Milliongenerations:motivation|Motivations]] to think about why this is relevant
* [[Conditions of sustainable civilizations]]  
* [[Conditions of sustainable civilizations|Conditions of]] [[sustainable]] and [[resilient]] [[civilization|civilizations]]
* [[Actions to be taken to achieve a sustainable civilization]]
* [[Actions to be taken to achieve a sustainable civilization|Actions to be taken to achieve ]] [[sustainable]] and [[resilient]] [[civilization|civilizations]]
* [[Milliongenerations:Current events | Current events]] to check out what urgently needs to be done
* Build a device that converts [[Milliongenerations:Fuel to food|Fuel to Food]]
* Write a [[Bill of Rights of Future Generations]]
* [[milliongenerations:Letters | Letters (of Utrecht)]]
* [[Related topics]] to add references or learn about similar work 
* A short [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YtleP98bRw  video] about ideas that helped start milliongenerations.org
* [[Special:Allpages | Overview over the pages on this website]] (select a namespace, the namespaces "Main" and "Milliongenerations" contain most pages)
 
 
'''Editing'''
* [[Help:Contents|Help pages]] and [[Milliongenerations:Guidelines for contributions|guidelines]]
 
 
'''Community: improving and enabling this site'''
* [[Milliongenerations:About milliongenerations.org | milliongenerations.org]] to learn about this project
* [[Milliongenerations:About milliongenerations.org | milliongenerations.org]] to learn about this project
* [[Related topics]] to add references or learn about similar work 
* [[Milliongenerations:environment for the contributions| The environment ]] to suggest improvements for the site
* [[Milliongenerations:environment for the contributions| The environment ]] to suggest improvements for the site
* [[Milliongenerations:Current events | Current events]] to check out what urgently needs to be done
* [[Milliongenerations:Foundation | Foundation]] to contribute to the foundation behind milliongenerations.org
* [[Milliongenerations:Foundation | Foundation]] to contribute to the foundation behind milliongenerations.org
* [[Help:Contents|Help pages]] and [[Milliongenerations:Guidelines for contributions|guidelines]]
* [[Milliongenerations:Criticism | Criticism]] for disapproval or faults of milliongenerations.org and warnings about its dangers
* [[Special:Allpages | Overview over the pages on this website]] (select a namespace, the namespaces Main and Milliongenerations contain most pages)




In the long run we are all dead, as was famously observed by John Maynard Keynes. The universe expands and equalizes and therefore seems not to allow life forever. But that perspective is far off, way beyond our imagination. Life should be possible on earth for several billions of years, and it would be a shame not to have civilizations while life is possible. To do everything within our control to let civilization continue warrants a sincere effort. Even if we fail, we may better understand the gift we have. And we might yet be standing in a line that continues for millions of generations with individuals who realize life is wonderful.
'''Criticism of this project'''
* [[Milliongenerations:Criticism | Criticism]] for disapproval or faults of milliongenerations.org and warnings about its dangers
 
 
----
This site has a lot of text and all the blue links need a long time to go through. If this is not for you, you're in very good company. But the approach here has contributed to surprising results, so it seems worth to hope you'll stretch your attention span and find and add more value, here or elsewhere. If you know how to say all this better and shorter, please do, and make it more likely that posterity can benefit from what we know and do.

Latest revision as of 19:16, 9 September 2024

milliongenerations.org started because of the question how there could be most happiness. The milliongenerations foundation exists from 2009 to 2034 to generate ideas that make it more likely that the future is very long, that there actually could be generations of conscious beings alive and able to exchange information on this planet for as long as the sun shines. An act of God would be beyond our control, but we should try not to risk ending civilisation ourselves. We don't know if it is possible to survive progress for long, but we really should make an effort. We, who exist and enjoy the fruits of progress, must protect the interests of those who do not yet exist and expand their possibilities. We must reduce risks that threaten the existence of civilisation with a joint and formidable effort to make it likely that we and our – common – descendants continue to survive progress. Our political and economic models must become able to develop forever and work primarily for the vast majority: those who are still to come. An extremely long view can add useful perspectives. We should not want to predict the future, but we should make it possible. Let us be good ancestors.

Future generations

Efforts to ensure existence and wellbeing of future generations, those who do not yet exist, increased in recent years, for example with a UN Declaration on Future Generations. Like human rights and legal systems, this could be a significant addition. A closer relationship with future generations will help humanity reduce polarisation and foster collaboration as well help define and motivate sustainability. Broader concern for those yet to come will give us a better chance to survive progress. The milliongenerations foundation supported preparations for the exhibition Good Ancestors: Art and Culture for Future Generations, joined and supports the Impact Coalition for Future Generations, the Pledge Network as well as the organisations organising an Intergenerational Fairness Day. It seeks to collaborate with many more in order to help increase the number of Saturdays (yes, Mondays, too).

We all hope that our children enjoy a good life. And their children, too...

Our civilizations have achieved amazing feats: about 8,000,000,000 human individuals are alive on this planet, living on average more peaceful, longer and easier lives than any earlier generation. Knowledge helps.


What if useful knowledge could be passed on for as long as life existed?

These pages form an open source think tank: what if the growth of knowledge and the power it brings could be combined with long term existence?

GreatArch.png

What if civilization continued?
Continued to develop and refine its knowledge on this planet indefinitely - as long as life is possible - as long as the sun shines. Civilization that lasts.


How can you help?

Imagine that knowledge continues to be passed on, that civilization in some form or other will continue on this planet for as long as the sun shines.

If that perspective is helpful to you, you are invited to improve the pages on this site now: log in and click on the "edit" tab at the top of the page. Assume information continues to be deliberately passed along, no matter what the future civilizations look like. Try to deduct rather than predict.
If there's no edit tab even when you're logged in, use the discussion page or contact the foundation by email to propose changes. (Originally, all pages were open to access from everybody, but some were protected from editing by non-registered users to reduce spam.)
Please check the help pages and guidelines first. It also helps to know about which relevant thoughts exist or which structures exist on this site. Note that all the blue or underlined text are links that you can follow. click here for an entry to the discussion.
If you're looking to do something else, you could check out initiatives listed here or actions discussed here. There are many worthy initiatives. Please limit your contributions on this site to thoughts related to the assumption above. (To maintain focus, clearly unrelated content will be removed.)


Why should you care? Click here for a motivation.


In the long run we are all dead, as was famously observed by John Maynard Keynes. Life, however, should be possible on earth for several billions of years. While self aware beings are alive, it should be possible to pass on knowledge for the benefit of those alive and their descendants. To let civilization continue warrants a sincere effort, everything within our control. We might be standing in a line that continues for millions of generations with individuals who realize life is wonderful. There is no necessity that ensures this happens, so it is worth thinking about what it would require to try to bring it about. Please join the effort.


Quick links

Exhibition Good Ancestors: Art and Culture for Future Generations - at UNHQ September 2024

Collaborations

Content and debate


Editing


Community: improving and enabling this site


Criticism of this project

  • Criticism for disapproval or faults of milliongenerations.org and warnings about its dangers


This site has a lot of text and all the blue links need a long time to go through. If this is not for you, you're in very good company. But the approach here has contributed to surprising results, so it seems worth to hope you'll stretch your attention span and find and add more value, here or elsewhere. If you know how to say all this better and shorter, please do, and make it more likely that posterity can benefit from what we know and do.

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