We Came Up With An Idea Of A Modern Noah’s Ark Which Would Preserve Human Knowledge And Art For Future Generations
Noah built an ark for the animals of Earth to escape the flood. Today we store our seeds in the Svalbard vault in case of global disaster. What if this idea was extended to cover all of humankind’s most valuable art, inventions, and ideas, as well as a sample from our natural world?
We store the knowledge of humankind in libraries. We conserve our art in museums and galleries. We hoard the genes of plants and seeds in the Svalbard vault and record and reproduce our lives digitally. If a legacy is something valuable to be passed down, we should be well on our way to the ultimate gift.
When orbital construction commenced on the ISS Legacy X in 2019, it was the natural extension to these ideas. A safeguard. An archive. A collection that preserves and juxtaposes humankind’s achievements and the diversity of the natural world, and asks us to confront the complex relationship between the two.
Though priceless, our true hope for the Legacy X remains that we will never need to use it.
TEDxSydney 2019: Legacy from Substance on Vimeo.
Directed and produced by
Scott Geersen
Layout & Cinematography
Substance
3D / Lighting / Shading
Rich Nosworthy, Rory McLean, Dan Cowan, Nemanja Ivanovic, Jesus Suarez, Ezequiel Grand, Aaron Covrett, Jason Poley
Edit
Joe Morris
Original Music
Michael Yezerski
Sound Design
Dave Robertson
10Kviews
Share on FacebookSo, basically, a museum. In space. That no one can get to unless they are already a spacefaring species, who could probably do their own archeological operations anyway, because would you just want to see what the civilization you are studying thought was important, or study everything and make up your own minds?
Can't understand either a culture or an individual without knowing what *they* believe and value. Also, archeological reconstructions of a bygone culture are notoriously unreliable because we never have a complete picture. Input from the culture itself is thus extremely helpful.
Load More Replies...Should probably do this... But if the sun will blow up the Earth this will go too. Probably need to move it, else where.
There is an SF film about that. The Wandering Earth. Interesting concept.
Load More Replies...I really do not think humankind is all that. We are totally destroying our environment.
I feel like if all life on earth is gone, then what's the point of preserving all of our culture. Like, new culture is going to develop organically in space stations or in whatever new world peeps inhabit. Maybe we shouldn't influence it too heavily with what's already out there. Wouldn't it be more interesting to see what happens without outside interference?
So who ever follows can learn from our mistakes by seeing us in full honesty. Our good, our bad, our indifference, our hopes and dreams. To know us is to learn from us.
Load More Replies...Yes! Let's take all the precious stuff from museums that people are enjoying right now, and put them in space, where no one can see them. Good job! And you really think that they would be safer in space? Do you know all the things that can go wrong in a space station with our current level of technology? They would probably be safer in my basement than in space! It makes a lot of pretty sci-fi looking pictures that would be nice in a movie, but are in no way possible or desirable in reality!
A repository for human art, invention and ideas. Hmmm? It's a shame we don't have something like the internet ...
I think you may have missed the point. A bit hard to access the internet if 99% of the world's servers and ISPs have gone down.
Load More Replies...Two things; One, the ark is a myth. Two, it costs $22,000 USD per kilo to put an object into orbit.
For years I have been touting the concept of a Knowledge Ark, a storehouse of humanity's collective achievements in the arts and sciences to preserve our culture in case of a civilization-ending calamity. However, what I have in mind is a little more down-to-earth: saving the best books, movies, music, drama, etc. in underground bunkers, so as soon as humanity is ready to rebuild we will still have the best of our past artistic achievements and won't have to rediscover principles of science, mathematics, engineering, medicine, biology and the like.
So, basically, a museum. In space. That no one can get to unless they are already a spacefaring species, who could probably do their own archeological operations anyway, because would you just want to see what the civilization you are studying thought was important, or study everything and make up your own minds?
Can't understand either a culture or an individual without knowing what *they* believe and value. Also, archeological reconstructions of a bygone culture are notoriously unreliable because we never have a complete picture. Input from the culture itself is thus extremely helpful.
Load More Replies...Should probably do this... But if the sun will blow up the Earth this will go too. Probably need to move it, else where.
There is an SF film about that. The Wandering Earth. Interesting concept.
Load More Replies...I really do not think humankind is all that. We are totally destroying our environment.
I feel like if all life on earth is gone, then what's the point of preserving all of our culture. Like, new culture is going to develop organically in space stations or in whatever new world peeps inhabit. Maybe we shouldn't influence it too heavily with what's already out there. Wouldn't it be more interesting to see what happens without outside interference?
So who ever follows can learn from our mistakes by seeing us in full honesty. Our good, our bad, our indifference, our hopes and dreams. To know us is to learn from us.
Load More Replies...Yes! Let's take all the precious stuff from museums that people are enjoying right now, and put them in space, where no one can see them. Good job! And you really think that they would be safer in space? Do you know all the things that can go wrong in a space station with our current level of technology? They would probably be safer in my basement than in space! It makes a lot of pretty sci-fi looking pictures that would be nice in a movie, but are in no way possible or desirable in reality!
A repository for human art, invention and ideas. Hmmm? It's a shame we don't have something like the internet ...
I think you may have missed the point. A bit hard to access the internet if 99% of the world's servers and ISPs have gone down.
Load More Replies...Two things; One, the ark is a myth. Two, it costs $22,000 USD per kilo to put an object into orbit.
For years I have been touting the concept of a Knowledge Ark, a storehouse of humanity's collective achievements in the arts and sciences to preserve our culture in case of a civilization-ending calamity. However, what I have in mind is a little more down-to-earth: saving the best books, movies, music, drama, etc. in underground bunkers, so as soon as humanity is ready to rebuild we will still have the best of our past artistic achievements and won't have to rediscover principles of science, mathematics, engineering, medicine, biology and the like.
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