Milliongenerations:About milliongenerations.org: Difference between revisions

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=== Million Generations ===
= MillionGenerations.org =


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milliongenerations.org intends to challenge the wisdom of crowds to think about the conditions required for civilization to exist on this planet while the sun provides a suitable environment. As far as we know that would allow for many millions of human generations.  
milliongenerations.org is planned as a not-for-profit foundation (Stichting) in the Netherlands, to enable an environment to explore the perspective created by the asumption that civilization continues for very long periods, in some ways in a steady state.  


Perspectives on the survival of civilization on this planet for even a few hundred or thousand more years tend to be pessimistic. History provides plenty of examples of collapsed civilizations and we have consumed most easily accessible resources.  
The question was conceived around the question of maximizing happiness,  itself feared too diverse for direct approach. And although we hope that civilization(s) continue and let individuals realize the wonder of being alive, there is no agenda for any particular outcome nor do we have answers we intend to promote.  


milliongenerations.org plans to invite everyone interested to think out of the box. To leave pressing issues such as climate change, resources, and conflicts for what they are for a while and to focus here exclusively on the constraints placed by the assumption that civilization(s) continue for millions of generations. 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. 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.
We plan to organize a prize to go to the most positively cited contributions. The environment will have to be substantially adapted to achieve that.There currently is no promise of such a prize for contributions now made, and the prize concept may be abandoned altogther if better solutions are found or if it proves infeasible. We hope to accommodate contributions in different languages and it would be welcome if the format turned out to be useful to also help explore other questions. It may take a while before such a model can be implemented.  


milliongenerations.org is but an idea at the moment, conceived around the question of maximizing happiness. There is no agenda for any particular outcome nor do we have answers we intend to promote. We plan to set up a not-for-profit foundation and organize a prize to go to the most positively cited contributions. We hope to accommodate contributions in different languages and it would be welcome if the format turned out to be useful to also help explore other questions. It may take a while before this model is implemented. If you have ideas on how to arrange any aspect of that, if you want to support us in any way or help to better define and communicate our question, please let us know.
The Wiki approach may not be ideal for the purpose. We are, however, very greatful to the [http://wikimedia.org/ Wikimedia Foundation] for providing the [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki MediaWiki]  environment to use until we have and can implement more suited concepts. We are especially greatful to [http://www.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia] for changing the way we share and access information. And for giving us hope that inspiring things can come from this initiative.  


In the long run we are all dead, as was famously observed by John Maynard Keynes.  Pushing this perspective out to reasons beyond our control warrants a sincere effort. Even if we fail, we may better understand the gift we have. And we may yet be standing in a line that continues for millions of generations with individuals who realize life is wonderful.
If you have ideas on how to arrange any aspect of a model that could work, if you want to support us in any way or help to better define and communicate our question, please share your thoughts.

Revision as of 00:57, 3 August 2008

MillionGenerations.org

GreatArch.png

milliongenerations.org is planned as a not-for-profit foundation (Stichting) in the Netherlands, to enable an environment to explore the perspective created by the asumption that civilization continues for very long periods, in some ways in a steady state.

The question was conceived around the question of maximizing happiness, itself feared too diverse for direct approach. And although we hope that civilization(s) continue and let individuals realize the wonder of being alive, there is no agenda for any particular outcome nor do we have answers we intend to promote.

We plan to organize a prize to go to the most positively cited contributions. The environment will have to be substantially adapted to achieve that.There currently is no promise of such a prize for contributions now made, and the prize concept may be abandoned altogther if better solutions are found or if it proves infeasible. We hope to accommodate contributions in different languages and it would be welcome if the format turned out to be useful to also help explore other questions. It may take a while before such a model can be implemented.

The Wiki approach may not be ideal for the purpose. We are, however, very greatful to the Wikimedia Foundation for providing the MediaWiki environment to use until we have and can implement more suited concepts. We are especially greatful to Wikipedia for changing the way we share and access information. And for giving us hope that inspiring things can come from this initiative.

If you have ideas on how to arrange any aspect of a model that could work, if you want to support us in any way or help to better define and communicate our question, please share your thoughts.

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