What Are We Leaving Behind?

There is a common perception that people in the past were better builders, writers, thinkers, and craftsmen. This is in part nostalgia, and in part survivorship bias. What does this tell us today? And will my rambling thoughts lead to any coherent point? This is not a carefully structured essay, just musings set in digital stone.

Old buildings which survived decades or centuries are the exception, rather than the rule, because poorly-built structures collapsed or were replaced. Even many good buildings lost favor as tastes changed and were demolished, or succumbed to natural disasters. What is left does not represent the norm of ages past, but the outliers and the fortunate. When we build today, what is our goal? There's nothing inherently wrong with building something with a deliberate lifespan in mind, and there is a tension between budget and durability, but is that what you want to build?

When I was a librarian, I saw many novels from today come and go. Something might be a bestseller when released, but fade into obscurity within a year. Popular fiction is not high literature, and different audiences want different kinds of books. James Patterson turned himself into a publishing industry, and people enjoy each new book emblazoned with his name no matter his level of involvement in the actual writing, but will it be remembered in a century? Then again, many great authors who wrote novels revered today died penniless, or at least in relative obscurity. It's almost a miracle we have any ancient literature at all.

Consider also popular music. We look back on the past with nostalgia for certain songs which formed the soundtrack of our youth, but we forget the filler surrounding them. What little survives when nostalgia fades is considered great, but it does not represent the media of the time as a whole. Folk music traditions date back to antiquity, but widespread sheet music is relatively new. Almost all ancient music is lost forever, not because it was obsolete, but because memory fades and records are lost. Many songs died with the bards who sang them.

Film, too, fades into obscurity despite being barely over a century old. Consider 1993, just 32 years ago as of this post. Aside from big blockbusters like Jurassic Park, which films had staying power in popular culture compared to the number released?

The Hebrew Torah was doubtless an oral history for generations before being written down. The Christian New Testament is a collection of memoirs and letters which were copied and shared by the early church before being curated centuries later as the modern canon. The Muslim Koran is literally "the recitations," first an oral tradition which was only later set in text. These are traditions which were preserved, but what has been lost? We know a lot about Egyptian mythology, but archaeologists are excited when new excerpts from the Epic of Gilgamesh are discovered.

We often look back at tools, art, and household goods from the past with awe. Many are objectively superior to mass-market goods today. This, too, represents an exception rather than the norm. However, goods in the past represented considerable human capital invested in the project, and the pride of the craftsman often brought about durable and beautiful things because that investment needed to pay off. But in the past, there were also cheap tools. Even good tools broke or got used up over many lifetimes. In relatively recent American history, we hear of furniture, fine china, and more being just abandoned along the Oregon Trail because the harsh reality of the frontier overcame sentiment and the market value of those goods back east. It is still possible to buy fine art, hardwood furniture, well-made tools, and the like, but are we willing to make that investment for ourselves? Is it necessity, or frivolity? Each individual must choose.

Finally, there is the question of what you create now, whether in your career or your personal life. How do you balance short-term survival or comfort against long-term value? This isn't just about mundane objects, either. If you're here on Hive, why are you writing? Is it something you hope will be of value to the digital archaeologists of the future, something you share for immediate responses, or just a project for your own enjoyment? None of these are wrong, either, but we need to be cognizant of our choices since the blockchain is theoretically eternal.

Consider also how archaeologists today value mundane diaries and potsherds more than jeweled royal treasures because the latter says nothing about real life for the people. What you do matters, for better or worse, and may echo across time even when your name is forgotten. Is that comforting, or frightening? Maybe both.

Many look to politics as their means of leaving a legacy, but that can only be built on a foundation of theft and violence. Is that really what you value? Our communities and friendships are the real bedrock of society, not distant bureaucracies. Our choices and actions directly affect our futures far more than pompous ceremonies and proclamations from afar. If you made it to the end, share something you think deserved to be remembered by strangers in the far future, whether mundane or profound. And if this incoherent disjointed ramble meant anything, share your own tangential thoughts, disagreements, or counterpoints below as well.