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Time Capsule Research Paper

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A time capsule represents a culture in a bottle. And so, in order to create a relevant time capsule, this class must ask the question; “What three facets of a society clearly represent its culture?” Because archeology specializes in the deciphering of long-dead cultures, a look at archeology’s perspective is most beneficial in answering this question. A review of the archeological literature reveals three topics consistently dominating the conversation. The technology, belief system, and pastimes peculiar to a nation define its culture to observers viewing it from a future date. Therefore, a time capsule to be opened in the year 2115 must include an artifact specific to the area of innovation, a relic representative of America’s dominant religion and the main contender, and something to present a picture of popular entertainment. The smartphone presents itself as the obvious choice for an artifact to represent technology. However, it seems the only constant in computer science is that no constants exist. Technology grows at such a rapid rate that merely …show more content…

As the main religion, a relic of unembellished, mainstream Christianity deserves a spot in any time capsule. Also, since America in form and function is now primarily secular, secular humanism should provide part of this item. Audio recordings of a Southern Baptist minister and a vocal atheist, such as Richard Dawkins, would supply the perfect relic. Because of the difficulty of acquiring a playback mechanism for vocal mediums found in time capsules, the smartphones should carry them as files. This raises another problem, however, a charging cable attached to a hand cranked generator or similar method is necessary to preserve the information should the future lose today’s technology. In conclusion, the smartphones ought to include files which represent the current religious landscape, and a method for perpetuating the files’ life put in

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