Ever since Gilgamesh, we mere mortal humans have been trying to write ourselves into immortality. One of the latest attempts is Yahoo’s digital time capsule:
Like everything Yahoo! does, it’s about you – our amazing users. We
think there’s no one better suited to teach future generations what the
world was like in 2006. For 30 days, from October 10 until November 8,
Yahoo! users worldwide can contribute photos, writings, videos, audio –
even drawings – to this electronic anthropology project. This digital
data will be gathered and preserved for historical purposes.In
addition to submitting your own content, you can view, read, or hear
the images, words, and sounds contributed by users from around the
world.
The "capsule" is visually stunning and easy to navigate. It’s also quite addictive, in a curious sort of way. Arranged by category, there are some posts that are begging for the "rest of the story." Like this one, from the category of hope:
my wish is to see and hug my daughter Lynda grace Key one last time befor I die, because I have been sick and I am so scared I will die befor I ever get to see her again, and I just want to tell her I love her and give her the biggest hug ever.
Or this, from a teenager:
I’m 17 and I live in Oroville, CA. Wow, automatically that makes me look like I have nothing to say so let’s just pretend that I said I am 48 and live in Boston mmkay? Haha, kidding. So being a teenager in 2006 is…damn hard. Adults don’t realize what we go through and no, I’m not talking about "peer pressure" or whatever other annoying terms they like to throw out. I have 6 college-level classes a day and then applying to college…worrying about every detail of hair, body, skin….scholarships…And then all that "why can’t he like me?" stuff. Ya know what I mean. It’s hard. Harder than it was for current adults. I hope when we, and our children, are adults we can raise you, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, while remembering what it’s like to be you. It’ll probably be even harder for you. But hey, at least you’ll probably have worldwide wireless internet by then so you’ll live. 🙂
I think I could get lost in this capsule. I wonder what the reaction will be in a short twenty years or so. I wonder, too, if I’ll have anything to contribute. What might you want the world of the near future to know/see/experience/remember?
