Aryeh Gregor wrote:
Yeah, I'm still going to say the entire idea is
ridiculous.
I wouldn't go quite that far. The idea of doing it (or having done it)
makes people feel good, due to the collective sci-fi-like fantasy
implicitly promulgated by the project itself -- a future world of
poverty and decay, saved by the serendipitous discovery of a
time-capsule sent from the past. It's a spectacle, a stunt, and it has
PR value.
I certainly don't begrudge the Long Now Foundation for having done
this with the Rosetta Project, since their primary goal is to
encourage long-term thinking, and expensive stunts are obviously a key
part of that.
But Wikimedia's goals are somewhat different, and we could probably
find some stunts which are more relevant to our mission.
-- Tim Starling