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Way Forward Machine

Wed, 2006-03-22 23:09 — Tom Munnecke
The WayForward machine is a way for people to send messages to their descendents. They may send text, audio, or video messages to the Internet Archives, to be retrieved at some future time, a kind of time capsule that may be targeted to specific people or classes of people. !!Conversations with the Future One use might be for people to send messages to their grandchildren, explaining what they are doing today to make the world a better place for them in the future. This message may be stored for 50 years, or whatever time period the sender wishes. The WayForward Message opens an open dialog to the future, in that future descendents may come back to the message and post their comments and ratings. Thus, someone in the present is becoming accountable to the future, knowing that future descendents will be able to come back and make comments. This is a kind of conversation with the future. !!Are you being a good ancestor? Because your descendents will be able to come back and comment on your ideas and works, you will be given a chance to demonstrate that you have been a good ancestor to them.

Comments

Thu, 2006-03-23 13:18 — edwardvielmetti

One of the favorite features

One of the favorite features of an email system I used long ago was a "hold until" date when sending a message. You could compose at 2am but have the message sent at 8am, or write a birthday greeting two weeks in advance. It changed your sense of email time from everything being immediate to being at your control.

I'm looking forward to a Way Forward machine - I'd love to push a message out to myself about 100 days ahead telling myself what I had done since the last time "we" talked, and then recording the next 100 day stretch.

It's worth thinking about this chance to build a connection between the future and the now. Will the recording and transcription of messages to the future be more valuable now (so that we make explicit some aspirations) or in the future (so that we give people a sense for the dreams of the past).