Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder2.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Charles Packer Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom Subject: Re: Longest plan Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2024 08:58:59 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 27 Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2024 09:58:59 +0100 (CET) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="ff3200cd9bfd5b5fa0623aaaff547bff"; logging-data="606987"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+ZJjVOqrLHvbCzlExxBL4B" User-Agent: Pan/0.158 (Avdiivka; ) Cancel-Lock: sha1:i5rUdJEcEHH+oierp+GFP2NQ3XI= Bytes: 2451 On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:05:51 -0000 (UTC), Keith F. Lynch wrote: > Charles Packer wrote: >> Did you mean specifically a financial instrument? > > No. Any intention by any person or organization that a particular thing > will happen at a particular future date. > ... > What's the longest it took to build any cathedral? Maybe that shouldn't > count if it didn't have a specific completion date specified ahead of > time. The plans of that type that are known to the public are of course the sending of probes to the outer planets. The completion of some of those projects will be after the lifetimes of some of their originators. But none of these projects are as long as 200 years -- yet. The most likely place to find really long-range plans is probably in the realm of religion, perhaps the literal realization of religious prophecy. In fact, we are talking cathedrals -- but metaphorical ones -- say, like the creation of a world religion to succeed Christianity. In fact, I've been researching that subject for several years. I think in terms of the probability that such a project is ongoing and when it began. If there is such a project, I think the most likely origination would have been the late 19th century, when visionaries could have tapped into the most highly concentrated wealth in history. But that's still not 200 years...you've set a high bar.