Doomsday Chests

Project brief v1.2, 22/07/09

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Rationale

What if we don't make it? What if we can't stop climate change? Or pandemic flu? Or nuclear war?

Today we face a greater number of global catastrophic risks than ever before. Runaway climate change, pandemic disease, polluted life support systems, technological systems failure, or good old fashion warfare on a nuclear scale represent profound threats to the future of human civilisation as we know it.

There are, of course, greater causes for optimism as well than ever before. Yet many people before us have succumbed to decline and collapse. And when they do, the majority of their knowledge, customs, wisdom, and culture goes with them.

The Disappearance of Abstract Knowledge

After the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, much of what we consider "civilization" ceased to be. Literacy, medicine, science, agriculture, engineering, astronomy, governance, all went into decline or regression for the hundreds of years which we now call "The Dark Ages".

During this period monasteries were practically the only repositories of scholarship and learning. One historian notes that monks were not only the best educated members of society, by far, but were often the only educated members of society.

This scant progress was nearly wiped out, however, when the Black Death ravaged Europe. Entire cities disappeared. Monasteries were decimated. Whole families died, with no heirs, their houses standing empty. Trade virtually ceased. Courts were closed. Construction projects stopped and were never resumed. Guilds lost their craftsmen and could not replace them. Machines broke down and could not be repaired because those with the necessary skill and know how had died in the plague.

In the space of two years, one out of every three people were dead. Between 30 and 60% of Europe's population were killed... in just two years.

What would happen if such an event were to occur again? Would we face a new Dark Age? What of our emails? Our servers? All of our PhD's, scholarly journals, and encyclopaedias? What would happen if no one was around to tend them? What will we leave our children's children's children? Darkness, ignorance, and struggle? Or the seeds of a new civilisation?

Doomsday Chests are an answer to this question. Durable, permanent records of the fundamentals of human knowledge, designed for self-instruction and reproduction. They are an insurance policy against collapse, a gift to future generations, a hedge against the coming of a second Dark Age.