
Ask HN: What can you do today that will be significant in 1000 years? - boxbag
What about a million years?
======
acheron
Judging by
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1018](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1018), the
answer is "lead a battle" or "found an abbey".

~~~
Cthulhu_
That does make me wonder how many of the buildings we build today will still
be around in 1000 years. How does steel and concrete compare to (frequently
restored / repaired) brick and mortar (said abbey) or just brick (the
artificial mountains that are the Pyramids)?

~~~
dogma1138
Almost none and it’s not (Only) because of the construction method.

Today buildings are cheap which means that there is no incentive to keep them
around until they become historically significant.

That 1000 year old abbey on a hill somewhere likely used to be the only
masonry building for 100s of miles for a good chunk of its history and by the
time masonry buildings became cheap enough to be mass produced to be
considered a commodity it has gained sufficient historical value to be
preserved for it.

It’s also interesting to think about historic property laws.

Land ownership is relatively a new concept and in many places you still cannot
wholly own the land.

In the past you often couldn’t tear down a building and build a new one as you
would lose well essentially your squatting rights.

Today however land is just as much of a commodity as ahytbing else which adds
another factor that can against the value of the building.

~~~
melling
... or you could start a University like Oxford. It doesn't matter if the
buildings are gone in 1000 years.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1096](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1096)

------
ewretgg
Chances are, you won't be remembered in 1000 years. And you'll be too dead to
enjoy it if you are. Are you sure you have come to terms with that? Lots of
people I meet here are obsessed with "making their dent in the universe" and I
think some of it is driven by the fear of death.

That said, if you just want to better the lives of future generations, there
are plenty of things you can do now. Give money to good causes. Get involved
in politics. Plant a tree.

~~~
HankB99
Do you need to be remembered to be significant? I consider them to be two
different things.

For me the answer to both is to do what I can to have a positive impact on
those around me. I consider my efforts as a scout leader to be the most likely
thing I have done to affect our future, though I doubt I will be remembered
much beyond the next generation.

~~~
ewretgg
You don't need to be remembered to be significant. I'm trying to see if the OP
knows the difference.

I think it's great your a scout leader. It will help shape the lives of
children who will outlive you. And you're doing it out of a healthy desire to
help others, and not a vain quest to secure your fame after your death.

------
dougmwne
I've answered this question for myself. I work in support of environmental
protection and sustainability. In a thousand years maybe we will still have a
habitable Earth with diverse species and people living on it to appreciate our
effort to make it endure.

Though I suggest even if you narrow your time horizon to the lives of your
children you'll still find some worthy things to do with your life.

~~~
marktangotango
You kind of skipped over it, but I’ve solved this by transferring the gift I
received, by having children of my own, and raising them in a warm loving
environment, teaching them empathy and kindness. I posit this is a worthy
thing in itself.

~~~
HiroshiSan
You sound like a wonderful parent.

From my point of view, life is suffering and until you can justify passing
that suffering down, having children is a purely selfish desire.

------
zhdc1
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." \-
Benjamin Franklin

~~~
boxbag
How about a million years?

~~~
maratd
Focus on leaving a high fidelity fossil.

~~~
Cthulhu_
There's some interesting developments in that area, on the one side about
leaving warnings at nuclear waste sites (which probably won't work,
archeologists were warned about death and curses and such and still went into
Tutanchamun's tomb. IIRC some died from a mold spore active in there), on the
other about preserving knowledge for the ages (e.g. sapphire disks, 3d /
holographic storage). I don't feel like there's a working solution yet, or at
least not a high-tech one - chipping out a granite block and keeping it
relatively shielded from the weather still seems like the safest bet.

~~~
majewsky
> archeologists were warned about death and curses and such and still went
> into Tutanchamun's tomb. IIRC some died from a mold spore active in there

Correct. I saw a documentary last week about a 3000-year-old grave in Syria
where they pumped in fresh air for a week or so before going in to get rid of
the fungal spores in the air.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_pharaohs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_the_pharaohs)

------
d--b
Donate your sperm thrice a day for the rest of your life. Pretty sure one of
your descendant will have a significant impact in 1000 years.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
3 times a day?! Maybe in late teenage/early 20s but that's going to be
seriously painful after a few days.

------
sndean
Most won't like this answer. I think people dislike the idea of a nobody
impacting world history.

But, if I take "today" to mean literally one day, sadly I think assassinating
a world leader is one of the few ways to significantly impact the world 1000
years from now. (An example [0]). It would have to precipitate a major event
though (something like a world war).

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip)

~~~
conductr
Also sadly - my initial thought was something similar... time bomb with a 1000
year fuse.

------
craigsmansion
Contribute to Emacs.

And I'm only half joking. If any pieces of software we use now are actually
going to be used in 1000 years, Emacs is very high on my list of survivors.

In a million years? Architect the intelligence that supplants us? (unless that
intelligence turns out to be Emacs, then see answer 1)

------
panarky
1000 years ago saw the use of gunpowder in combat [0], the Norman conquest of
England [1], and the invention of paper money [2].

Assuming you're not going to start a war or a religion, what kind of weapon or
financial innovation could you invent that will change the world in a
millennium?

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_gunpowder#Gunpowder...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_gunpowder#Gunpowder_Age)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknote#Early_Chinese_paper_m...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banknote#Early_Chinese_paper_money)

------
xfactor973
There’s plenty of food bearing trees that would live that long. Olive,
chestnut and monkey puzzle come to mind. Plant a food forest for your
ancestors

~~~
jstx
Because I'm a pedant, I think you meant descendants?

------
mars4rp
If this a serious concern of yours, you are doing immortality project. Read
Denial of death
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denial_of_Death](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denial_of_Death)

------
antocv
Buy a bunch of radioactive substances, collect them from firealarms.

Put the radioactive substance in awkward lines, so it resembles some form of
writing.

Bury the radioactive substance, wait 1000 years for curious questions of how
it got there and what it means.

------
afoot
Have children. (and hope for plenty of grandchildren, great grandchildren etc)

1,000 years is time for a lot of generations to pass. Sure, your particular
DNA might only make up some small amount of someone walking around in 1,000
years, but that is an action you can take in your lifetime that will be
significant. Bonus points if you educate them well and give them the resources
to be as successful as possible.

~~~
LyndsySimon
I agree, but I think DNA is irrelevant.

Imparting your values on the next generation is the most durable thing an
individual can do. The way I see it, it's a multiplier. I can only do so much
in one lifetime, but I can raise my children to value the same things as me,
and thereby guide the impact that they and their children will have on the
world.

------
MadVikingGod
So most responses are things that you might to to be remembered in 1000 years,
I'm going to take a different tack, things that will most likely not be undone
in that time.

One of the first things we have to throw out is the reliance on people. You
can't statistically rely on 10-12 generations of people to do the same thing
that you intended today. Also it is very unlikely that any contract you make
today will exist and be enforceable in 1000 years. This eliminates setting up
trusts, preserves, buying land and doing something with it, or any other long
term project. And anyways something like this will take a number of people to
be successful, why should you get all of the credit?

Next lets talk about war. Unless the war wipes out a significant portion of
the population, I'm talking WAY more then the 3% of the population WW2 killed,
most of the damage done will either recover, or change to be mitigated.

So what's left? You could do something that changes maps. The scope of this is
__VERY __large, like build an island large. But there are cases where enough
labor has been put in to permanently divert rivers, not just a damn. Or build
"natural" structures that wind and rain haven't destroyed yet

You could do something that changes humans place in the universe. Create a
viable form of interstellar travel, find a way to represent a life without a
body (computer sim?), or maybe change our planet (before we escape it) so it's
not habitual for humans as we are now.

For me personally I think it's enough to contribute to science and knowledge
as a whole. I recognize that even if I have a profound discovery, given enough
time it will be taught to 12th graders, see calculus. It's really the
collection of discoveries that lead to profound discoveries that are the real
MVPs.

------
rayalez
Anything that has to do with creating an AI. Pretty much whatever will nudge
it in either direction(sooner/later, good/evil, whatever) will have impact,
everything else probably won't matter.

It's like imagine an ancient protofish asking "what can we do that will be
significant in a million years?" Get out of the water and try walking.

------
reitanqild
Not a direct answer but some of the things I'm most proud of that will
probably affect lives of people not born yet:

Convinced my boss to give the Polish woman who cleaned at the site I worked at
a position as IT consultant (in Norway). She married a long time friend of
mine a couple of years later (but I luckily had no influence on that except
helping her getting her a job worth staying in Norway for.)

Helped one man who did a great job to but lacked formal education to keep his
job by leaving a well paid job at the same team very voluntarily (although not
as big a sacrifice as it _might_ sound. I found the job extremely boring.)

Recently I also helped my neighbor to get a 50% pay rise.

In between I've made software to simplify life for people organizing work in
non profits. (Stupid web page connected to a sms api. Almost had to chase them
away from it as better options emerged and I got more and more afraid of
getting hacked and leaking a whole lot of data on the Internet.)

------
anon1253
"Initiate a process, to create an environment in which the solution will occur
independently of yourself" — Talos Principle
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmqA3pGe3Og&t=239s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmqA3pGe3Og&t=239s)

------
garettmd
I agree with a lot of people here that there's a distinction between doing
something significant and being remembered for it. Addressing the latter,
though, I think it's kind of a waste of time. Many here are pointing out
certain inventions or innovations or constructions or whatever from 1000 years
ago that people today appreciate. But I would venture to guess that 1000 years
ago those people wouldn't have thought the same of those accomplishments. My
point being that people 1000 years from now will value things differently than
we do, so it's really impossible to say what "thing" you could do today that
people would give a crap about in 1000 years.

------
LeoSolaris
Pioneering scientific discoveries and engineering new technologies are the
only two lasting, positive impacts one can ever have in life. Anything else is
either non-impactful or simply cultural changes, which are neutral to our
species in the long run.

What we can do as a species and what we actually understand about the universe
are the two fundamental aspects of humanity that have any significance just
ten generations later. And of the two, learning something new about the
universe and sharing it is far more significant of an impact. It will last
longer because of the nature of science to build upon previous discoveries.

~~~
timfrietas
Religion and/or morality is a cultural change that has definitely proven to be
not neutral to our species in the long run, so far.

~~~
Retric
I can't tell if you are suggesting Religion has been a positive or a negative.
Which I think is the point where there are people making arguments in either
direction, suggesting it's mostly a wash.

------
sharemywin
Are you limiting the discussion to positive outcomes? A friend on mine used to
say if you can't be famous you might as well be infamous. I don't really buy
in to that, but some people might need clarification.

------
cableshaft
I design board games. It will be a challenge to design one that will last 1000
years, but there's at least one that I have designed that I think has a
chance. It's called Proximity.

I made and released a web version of it 14 years ago, and it's still my most
played design (I desperately need to find the time to make a modern update,
though. HTML5 at least). Doesn't exist in physical board game format yet, but
I'm going to try to get a publisher for it in the next year or two (only been
networking with the board game industry the past two years).

~~~
AquiGorka
>I design board games.

About that, I'd like to get in touch with you, I develop boardgames into their
www version (well, in truth I've only done it for one Kuhhandel:
[https://github.com/AquiGorka/kuhhandel](https://github.com/AquiGorka/kuhhandel))
let me know if it is something that might interest you.

Best, GOrka

------
hprotagonist
_“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we
must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any
immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must
be saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe
as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of
love which is forgiveness.”_

Neibuhr, "The Irony of American History" (1952).

------
jacknews
Mass murder, or having kids (or both!). Also saving lives. It changes who
exists in 1000 years.

But if you mean "what will people still be talking about in 1000 years:", of
course it won't be all the bloodlines that didn't survive, or who their
great^20 ancestor was. It'll be significant "historical events".

Are you really smart? Cure cancer. Unify quantum mechanics and gravity.

A great artist, composer, writer? Do your thing.

Grossly rich? Start a foundation.

Otherwise do something truly exceptional or outrageous.

------
anExcitedBeast
Oxford has a project on impactful careers you might find interesting.

[https://80000hours.org/](https://80000hours.org/)

------
tomcooks
Plant a bunch of trees.

In 1000 they will be a forest, providing everyone with fruit, shade and
lowering the temperature by 4 degrees on average.

------
teilo
To quote Fleet Foxes' Helplessness Blues:

    
    
      I was raised up believing I was somehow unique
      Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
      And now after some thinking, I'd say I'd rather be
      A functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me

------
calciphus
Pretty sure at this point it's "commit global war crimes" or "cure aging".
Anything short of that and your odds diminish significantly. Even if you
create an art-defining advancement in some field and name it for yourself,
anything about you will be lost.

------
rhplus
You could build a megalithic concrete structure like the Hoover Dam.

[https://www.quora.com/If-humans-vanished-from-the-earth-
how-...](https://www.quora.com/If-humans-vanished-from-the-earth-how-long-is-
it-estimated-that-the-Hoover-Dam-will-hold-up)

------
stillsut
Become an archivist of the present. Something like _Humans of New York_ where
you use photographs and interviews of the heart, to portray the myriad ways
life was experienced back when people were mortal, ate meat, and had children.

------
akud
You want to work on something that will inspire people to inspire people to
inspire people to create.

Art, new ways of thinking.

I think the _My Struggle_ series by Karl Ove Knaussgard will have changed the
way people conceive of the written word over future generations.

------
jaddood
Be crazy. Do crazy things like Elon Musk does. Everything remembered was not
ordinary.

~~~
Cthulhu_
There's plenty of people that do crazy things but they'll be forgotten. It
helps if you've got dank internet startup money.

------
kyoob
This seems like as good a time as any to trot out Beatles 3000:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z2vU8M6CYI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z2vU8M6CYI)

------
SuddsMcDuff
We put so much focus on individual achievement. In the long run, it's
collective achievement that matters.

Why shouldn't we be content being a small cog in a much larger machine?

~~~
elyrly
because everyone wants to be a linchpin

------
OrganicMSG
Make or commission an observational sculpture from nature, a bust being the
most common example, carved in stone or cast in metal.

------
bcoates
Iconoclasm. Find something dumb people have been fighting over for a few
hundred years or more, and blow it up.

~~~
Cthulhu_
ISIS is trying to do that, the world isn't really fond of what they're trying
to do.

------
Aardwolf
Due to the butterfly effect, any tiny thing you do today has significant
impact in 1000 years

------
dustingetz
Teach a poor child how to read

------
mabynogy
Raising kids but I'm not even sure about that.

------
euparkeria
A good time capsule.

------
gremlinsinc
Invent immortality tech, live to be 1000 years old.

------
conductr
Colonize a planet, name colony after yourself

------
nyxtom
Produce trash

------
seniorivn
for million it's simple, do anything, butterfly effect will do the rest for
you.

------
mikert5671
write a groundbreaking philosophy book like nietzsche

~~~
dvfjsdhgfv
Which book? And what impact did it have?

~~~
IpV8
Beyond good and evil? Changed the way all future philosophers defined and
thought about objective morality.

~~~
benkoller
I expect his comment to be a nihilist remark.

------
Simulacra
That is an extremely long time line, and the likelihood that anyone reading
this will do something that significant, aside from genocide, I don’t think is
going to be all that significant then.

------
yehohanan7
invent a time machine

