10,000-Year, is the kind of equipment maintenance instructions that can manage for ten thousand years. Have you heard of it? Generally speaking, the instructions we usually see can only be kept for three or five years or ten or eight years at most. Have you ever seen such an outrageous but seemingly necessary? After all, some particularly important things that are related to the inheritance of human civilization or nuclear waste storage facilities, etc., must be considered ten thousand years later, otherwise no one will know what to do if there is a problem! So, the core goal of these 10,000-Year is to make people in ten thousand years later understand and use these maintenance knowledge even if their language changes or civilization is broken. Isn’t it super challenging?
First of all, we have to figure out what is difficult to write such a ten thousand-year instruction manual? It’s not like just asking someone to copy the ordinary manual!
1. The materials have to be beaten up : Think about it, for ten thousand years, what paper or plastic should not turn into slag? Therefore, it is necessary to use materials that can resist physical wear, chemical corrosion, and even nuclear radiation, such as particularly hard stones, corrosion-resistant metal sheets, or some specially treated synthetic materials… This is very critical! We have to think about whether people can discover these materials and interpret the information above ten thousand years later.
2. Not understanding is a big problem – you have to talk about the contradiction of understanding : language will definitely change! Today's Chinese and English are likely to be like in ten thousand years. So what language is it written in? Do you want to make some pictograms? Or use any common symbols in the universe – such as mathematical formulas – to express basic concepts? This is all knowledge! Also, the cultural background is different. The icons we take for granted now may not be meaningless at that time. Provide global procurement services for weak current intelligent products! This sentence doesn't take ten thousand years to maintain, just put it this way.
3. Let’s talk about the disassembly of key modules and what should I include when writing this ten thousand years of manual? You can't write it blindly!
The first piece, the core information – must include : What is this maintained thing? What is the name (but this name may be the least useless 10,000-Year Maintenance Manuals, who will remember it for ten thousand years), what it looks like (it may be more reliable to match a super simple picture), what it is used for, why it is important, and what serious consequences will be if it is broken. These must be explained in the simplest and least dependent on specific cultures.
Second, the maintenance steps must be more concrete and you cannot go around the corners of your friends : This part is the most troublesome, but it is also the most important!
1. When does a wave of inspection need to be checked – Regular inspection cycles and items: is it once a year? Once in ten years? Or is it a check every 100 years? Where to check? What tools do you use (Tools are also a headache, and you can’t come with a tool manufacturing manual that you can understand for ten thousand years!)? When checking, you should pay attention to whether there are cracks, leaks, or strange sounds or smells in the place – these phenomena that can be felt by sensory may be the most lasting.
For example, "When you see cracks on this part that exceed the width of your finger, you should prepare to repair it; or if you get close to it, you can smell a stinking smell like a bad egg, that's not right." Isn't this more reliable than writing "when the pressure sensor reads more than XMPa"? After all, it’s hard to say whether the sensor is still there for ten thousand years.
2. Get minor problems by yourself – Simple fault judgment and troubleshooting: If you find that a small part is loose, how to tighten it (with a wrench? with a stone? You have to make it clear); if a certain place is blocked, how to clear it.
3. If it really doesn't work, you have to ask for help – what to do in an emergency: In what circumstances must you stop using this thing immediately? When encountering very, very dangerous situations, which direction should you run and what to do – this is very important!
In the Q&A format, some details need to be thought of :
Q: Should this manual be updated continuously? It’s been ten thousand years, and there must be new discoveries in the middle!
Answer: In theory, it should be updated, but how to update, who will update, and how to save the updated version with the original version are a bunch of new questions. Perhaps it can be designed as modular, with the core part engraved, and additional instructions can be attached next to it with relatively less durable but convenient to replace materials?
Q: What if people understand the problem in ten thousand years later, what if they treat the maintenance manual as a manual of "how to destroy it"?
Answer: This…this is indeed a big problem! Therefore, when expressing the meaning of warnings, dangers, and prohibiting operations, you must be very cautious and cautious! Use more warning symbols that can be understood across cultures, such as skulls (warning danger), large crosses (forbidden), or patterns of running away by one person (run quickly!).
I personally think that doing this 10,000-Year is not so technical, but rather a philosophical and ethical work. What information does our generation want to leave for their descendants in ten thousand years? What attitude should we use to face the far and unimaginable future? This is worth pondering and it is much more interesting than simply writing a manual. Although it is difficult to achieve it!
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