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Memory of Mankind
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Memory of Mankind
Memory of Mankind (MOM) is a preservation project founded by Martin Kunze in Hallstatt, Austria, in 2012. Its main goal is to preserve knowledge about present human civilization from oblivion and collective amnesia. Information is printed on ceramic tablets and stored in the local salt mine. The project aims to create the "time capsule of our era", letting anyone participate by allowing them to submit texts and images. In contrast to national archives, content for MOM is collected by those who take part, and it constitutes a collective, "bottom-up" history.
The project was started by ceramicist Martin Kunze. His earliest experience with a time capsule was in the early 1980s, when, as a 13-year-old, he buried a bottle at a beach with a message containing his name and phone number. Thirty years later, someone found it.
Circa 2008, Kunze read Alan Weisman's nonfiction work The World Without Us, which included the claim that ceramic objects had the greatest chance to survive into the future. This, coupled with the knowledge that the internet already contributed 2% of CO2 emissions, led Kunze to think about a ceramic time capsule. Part of the inspiration came from an art project by a classmate, who had written "feminine experiences" on ceramic tablets.
In 2012, the Memory of Mankind started with the first tablet, which had a greeting to future finders, an explanation about the project, and a date expressed in terms of astronomical events. By 2018, the project had over 500 tablets.
The primary ambition of MOM is to preserve an image of the current era, created by numerous participants from all over the planet. It also intends to contain information that our society is obligated to forward to the future, e.g., descriptions of nuclear waste repositories. MOM collaborates with the nuclear agency NEA and the Swedish nuclear waste company SKB.[citation needed]
The project is also intended as a critique of our digital civilization. According to Kunze, nothing of the 21st century may last in the future, since most of our interactions are now virtual. The conflict of accuracy is one of the main themes of the MOM project. The project aims to save a fragment of the information produced until today, Kunze says, but this fragment has to be representative.
The project is open to the public, and its creator emphasizes that it is not a "doomsday project".
Collecting content for the MOM is subject to bias. In order to take this into account, it is split into three sections, and as much meta-information as necessary is added to any contribution in order to enable future finders to apply source criticism. The collecting process is not centralized, and it is specifically relevant to each country/region/entity.
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Memory of Mankind
Memory of Mankind (MOM) is a preservation project founded by Martin Kunze in Hallstatt, Austria, in 2012. Its main goal is to preserve knowledge about present human civilization from oblivion and collective amnesia. Information is printed on ceramic tablets and stored in the local salt mine. The project aims to create the "time capsule of our era", letting anyone participate by allowing them to submit texts and images. In contrast to national archives, content for MOM is collected by those who take part, and it constitutes a collective, "bottom-up" history.
The project was started by ceramicist Martin Kunze. His earliest experience with a time capsule was in the early 1980s, when, as a 13-year-old, he buried a bottle at a beach with a message containing his name and phone number. Thirty years later, someone found it.
Circa 2008, Kunze read Alan Weisman's nonfiction work The World Without Us, which included the claim that ceramic objects had the greatest chance to survive into the future. This, coupled with the knowledge that the internet already contributed 2% of CO2 emissions, led Kunze to think about a ceramic time capsule. Part of the inspiration came from an art project by a classmate, who had written "feminine experiences" on ceramic tablets.
In 2012, the Memory of Mankind started with the first tablet, which had a greeting to future finders, an explanation about the project, and a date expressed in terms of astronomical events. By 2018, the project had over 500 tablets.
The primary ambition of MOM is to preserve an image of the current era, created by numerous participants from all over the planet. It also intends to contain information that our society is obligated to forward to the future, e.g., descriptions of nuclear waste repositories. MOM collaborates with the nuclear agency NEA and the Swedish nuclear waste company SKB.[citation needed]
The project is also intended as a critique of our digital civilization. According to Kunze, nothing of the 21st century may last in the future, since most of our interactions are now virtual. The conflict of accuracy is one of the main themes of the MOM project. The project aims to save a fragment of the information produced until today, Kunze says, but this fragment has to be representative.
The project is open to the public, and its creator emphasizes that it is not a "doomsday project".
Collecting content for the MOM is subject to bias. In order to take this into account, it is split into three sections, and as much meta-information as necessary is added to any contribution in order to enable future finders to apply source criticism. The collecting process is not centralized, and it is specifically relevant to each country/region/entity.
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