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The Far Future

What fragments of our civilisation will persist 10,000 years in the future? How can we shape society for distant descendants? Helen Keen meets the people and projects with a plan.

How do we prepare for the distant future? Helen Keen meets the people who try to.

If our tech society continues then we can leave data for future generations in huge, mundane quantities, detailing our every tweet and Facebook 'like'. But how long could this information be stored? And if society as we know it ends, will our achievements vanish with it? How do we plan for and protect those who will be our distant descendants and yet may have hopes, fears, languages, beliefs, even religions that we simply cannot predict? What if anything can we, should we, pass on?

Picture: Filing cabinets, Credit: fotofrog

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27 minutes

Last on

Mon 2 Apr 201800:32GMT
BBC World Service West and Central Africa

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Broadcasts

  • Mon 26 Mar 201819:32GMT
    BBC World Service except News Internet
  • Tue 27 Mar 201804:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Australasia, East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
  • Tue 27 Mar 201806:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia & East and Southern Africa only
  • Tue 27 Mar 201810:32GMT
    BBC World Service West and Central Africa
  • Tue 27 Mar 201814:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia
  • Sun 1 Apr 201801:32GMT
    BBC World Service except News Internet & West and Central Africa
  • Mon 2 Apr 201800:32GMT
    BBC World Service West and Central Africa

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