Slow
misc sb What problems can human beings only solve over a very long period of time? And how can we build institutions that solve those problems? Below is a list of marvellous projects which human beings have undertaken over an exceptionally long time. Many examples contributed by people on Twitter. The focus is on goal-directed projects (e.g., a scientific experiment or a building), less on more decentralized or unplanned changes (e.g., languages, domestication of livestock, cities, religions). Of course, those are also fascinating, but they have less of a sense of a long-term goal. Jericho is incredible, but the founders probably weren’t thinking “I hope this is still here in 9,000 years”. This page is a riff on Patrick Collison’s list of /fast projects. There are surprisingly many…
