- It will be a bonding experience.
- We currently don't have a country/culture/language/religion independent sculpture we can all stand behind together (besides the image of the Earth itself).
- The whole of humanity has never done anything like it before as a unified group (they have as a nation though).
- Heck, people will remember us for it and that's good.
- Why not?
If we were to build a pyramid today, how would we do it? I propose the following requirements:
- It must be bigger than the existing ones -- by at least 2 times the height (which means we'd need 2.667 times the stone by volume).
- It must not sink into the ground.
- It must be nearly invincible.
- It must last 10,000 years before it shows significant signs of aging.
- It must be visible from space and not be mistaken for a natural phenomenon.
- It must be no more religion-, country- and culture-dependent than pyramids already are.
- It must clearly have no purpose other than to "be" what it is.
- It must be as simple as possible in its design (not ornately decorated).
- It must cost at least a billion dollars. If it doesn't, it means we're not thinking big enough.
- Its construction must include almost anybody who wants to participate.
- It must reflect the highest possible engineering standards of our time (it likely will already from the previous requirements).
- Once it is done, it must be as monetarily worthless as possible (other than the unquantifiable value of its very existence).
Since this won't be easy, I suggest we get started right away. Any takers?
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2 comments:
The Germans are apparently building a new Great Pyramid.
Why a pyramid? It's been done. We need to build something even more unusual. And it should have some purpose that will eventually become out-dated and then forgotten so that 10,000 years from now it will provide archaeological amusements for the people of the day.
The problem with building something useful is the level of fragile technology required these days. So if the "pyramid" were used as a government building (say, the U.N. headquarters) then it'd need running water, electricity, computers, phones, etc. So maybe this structure could be purely entertaining, like a giant park/museum, with sculptures, mosaics, and other permanent fixtures.
We could also put the Long Now 10,000 year clock in this structure, since this would be the ideal place for it.
Building a "useless pyramid" is a tough sell, but building a permanent recreation-center/park/museum would provide immediate benefits while still being potentially long-term.
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