This is not directly related, but I’ve found the same to be true for travel souvenirs. Maybe not as mundane as fruit stickers, but useful everyday object have become much better souvenirs with time than object with no purpose other than recalling memories.

Interesting post, Kevin. I agree with the general premise that most time capsule contents miss the mark. However, I think the proposals here may not hit it either. Each of the collections are interesting not just in the future, but in the present. One coffee lid isn’t interesting now, and likely won’t be in the future. The collections here aren’t necessarily interesting as representing our penchant for coffee today, as they are as a form of art. I think these collections are as good as any other form of current art as an entry into a time capsule.

I think what makes good time capsule content are things that have become obsolete or undergone dramatic change. If I opened up a time capsule today, I’d like to see a buggy whip or a slide rule or a document written on parchment or a Pong video game. This obsolescence could have occurred not for technical reasons, but for moral or legal reasons, so finding something related to slavery or a bottle of Coca-cola containing cocaine would be interesting.

The problem is that no one knows exactly what will become obsolete between the sealing and opening of the capsule. Worse, I suspect that those who create time capsules tend to be historians rather than futurists, so they may not have the interest or insight that leads to including such content. Creating a good time capsule is an exercise in predicting the future.

If I were creating a time capsule today, I think I’d include: * a smart phone, presuming personal communications will change dramatically not just in the short-term, but continuously forward * Any of the many dying systems that exist today like newspapers or music on physical media that will be completely gone in 10 years. Maybe physical money as well * an implement or picture from a farm as I think in 20-30 years we’ll be be generating food differently (specifically meat that doesn’t come from animals), and that we’ll have different moral thoughts about how it’s done today * something related to our current energy system (a gas-powered car or such), as I think we’ll wean ourselves off of this in 20-30 years, and look back at it as both wasteful and potentially immoral in terms of wars caused and environmental destruction

@Bill Hunt: “If I opened up a time capsule today, I’d like to see a buggy whip or a slide rule or a document written on parchment or a Pong video game.”

You can find these things in most museums today. I claim what you want in a time capsule is stuff you will not find in a museum in the future. Ask any archeologist what they want. They don’t want the things of value, which are saved anyway.

Future museums will for sure have an ipod, smart phone, john deer tractor, etc. What they won’t have are bread bag ties.

After reading this post, I looked at my desk and there were two objects laying there. One of which is the obvious choice of what we would put in a time capsule: a pair of red and green 3D glasses. The other object is the one which is not so obvious: a used envelope with some scribbled notes on it.

As you point out, it is the latter object which will be most interesting to dig up in 100 years. On it I have written my ID code for my student finance account to remember it. Also my mum has written down the filmographic details of a film she wants me to try and torrent because we couldn’t find it on DVD. The 3D glasses, on the other hand, are exactly the same as the millions of other pairs around the world, and having no interesting details.

After reading this post, I looked at my desk and there were two objects laying there. One of which is the obvious choice of what we would put in a time capsule: a pair of red and green 3D glasses. The other object is the one which is not so obvious: a used envelope with some scribbled notes on it.

As you point out, it is the latter object which will be most interesting to dig up in 100 years. On it I have written my ID code for my student finance account to remember it. Also my mum has written down the filmographic details of a film she wants me to try and torrent because we couldn’t find it on DVD. The 3D glasses, on the other hand, are exactly the same as the millions of other pairs around the world, and having no interesting details.

The cambrian explosion of low end design. I think the collections are excellent exmamples of iterative deisgn solution for simple problems and great for showing creative response to an innovation/ problem “opportunity” Niche.

I’ve recently been watching a lot of videos that have similar qualities, small businesses recording their manufacturing process to show clients and things like that. There is a wealth of very dull but incredibly fascinating video archaeology to be done with the right keywords in youtube. It probably gives a more realistic impression of the conventions that emerge from the video-technology as used by most people.

Try typing in ‘manufacturing’ and going back about 20 pages of search results.

apologies for odd grammar in the last post - but it’s 3.30am here…