Doubleplusungood?
By Genipher
@Genipher (5405)
United States
July 15, 2017 6:15pm CST
Do Not Open Until 2957!
It's like an unspoken rule that a time capsule has to have letters written to the future denizens of a town, country, or state. That fact had my 12-year-old daughter and I wondering...when a time capsule is opened 1000 years in the future, will the residents even be able to read the letters?
Already the younger generations are falling into a language of text-speak. I imagine it won't be much longer before our language will evolve into Newspeak (George Orwell. 1984).
So when the time capsule is opened in 2957, will the inhabitants of earth furrow their brow or laugh and mock, like they did to Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson) in the movie Idiocracy? Will the language be so outdated that our decedents will need a linguist to translate the letters?
I would love to see the look on the faces of future earth-dwellers as they attempt to figure out the scribblings of the past. But, alas, I probably won't live another 940 years to see the capsule opened.
Do you think those living 940 years in the future will be able to read the letters from the past?
What would you put in a time capsule for your great, great, great, great, great, great, grand-kids to discover?
5 people like this
5 responses
@DaddyEvil (174281)
• United States
28 Jul 17
LOL! Heck no they won't be able to read anything inside the time capsule! (I seriously doubt that time capsule will really be reburied so your question is moot!)
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (174281)
• United States
30 Jul 17
@Genipher I am sure they opened it, rummaged through whatever was inside it and if anything valuable was found, it "disappeared" before the capsule and the non-valuable remainder was tossed into a dumpster.
Whoever buried that time capsule should have chosen a better spot to bury it. It should have been interred on land one of the group owned and the small plot where the capsule was buried deeded separately with a trust set up to keep it indefinitely. (The smallest plot of land that belongs to a private individual is the size of a pizza slice.)
That would have kept anyone from disturbing the time capsule until it "expired".
1 person likes this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
30 Jul 17
@DaddyEvil
I never would have thought it would be so complicated to bury a time capsule. Though it makes sense to do it the way you suggested so we actually know where to find these things.
I wonder what sort of treasures were pilfered. Gold? Silver? That could have been a lucrative find!
1 person likes this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
30 Jul 17
I was thinking something like a digital photo would be interesting but, again, residents in the future might not have batteries, etc. to get something like that to work. I imagine our energy sources will be completely different in 900+ years.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70020)
• United States
16 Jul 17
This is a good question. Since I have no descendants there is nothing for me to put inside.
It is also a good question if the people in the future would be able to read this.
I think so as they will have ways of doing so at their disposal.
I wonder if anyone will open this time capsule before the time.
1 person likes this
@cahaya1983 (11116)
• Malaysia
16 Jul 17
Your daughter is very bright to think about such a possibility! I can think of so many things I'd want to put in the time capsule. A paper hand fan, a pencil, coin or paper note maybe 
1 person likes this
