An Ambitious Project.

I wasn't sure which section I should post this in, but I figured this was a good place to start. The thing is, me and a friend of mine have been slowly working on this massively ambitious project for something like... 8 months with much progress in terms of the progression and generation of ideas for the project, but with little or no actual work done. I am trying to see who is interested in spending a lot of time and effort on an extremely ambitious project which involves a lot of research and even more writing. I have decided that, instead of wasting space by explaining the project in the first post on this thread, I should see who is the kind of person who would be willing to adopt such a project and spend a large portion of their life on it with the feeling that it is as much theirs as my own. If anyone has the mindset, time, and ambition to throw themselves into that kind of endeavor then I will explain what the project is. Thank you for your time.

(Note: I could have posted this in almost any of the sections of this site, but I felt that it would not get any exposure at all if I posted it in the Free Thoughts section.)

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

You're not gonna find too many interested people here unless you come out and say what you want.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

If you dont say what you're project is about then im not sure how anyone could be interested as they'd have no idea if they like the idea or even agree with it, im sure if someone did agree they'd be prepared to help in some way.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Just explain what the project is.

 

Dude, this is so ambiguous...

You're asking for people who are the calibur to take on a project like this. What you fail to understand is that potentially everyone can take on a project like that if the subject of the project intrests them greatly. So, what's it about?

 

Sorry for not specifying. I kind of wrote that in a hurry and didn't reread it, so I didn't realize that I hadn't even said what the project was about. My apologies. This is, roughly, what the project is about, although a single explanation probably won't cover all the bases. Here goes:

It's a shared world building project which will eventually be turned into a web site, but the form of it is a bit different than any I know of (in that it consists of different components), and that is of a vast library or archive of historical information set in the very distant future (we haven't specified how far into the future it is, and I don't think that we will since we want to give ourselves a lot of room to work with). The project consists of two distinct sections.

The first section (and in the beginning it will undoubtedly be the larger of the two) is of "source" material, that is, all of the material that a historian researching events in the past would sort through while writing the history of a particular event or period in time, such as letters, reports, journals/diaries, news articles, or anything which would fall under the category of current to the event being studied. The second section would be of historical material, as in works which are written long after the event and are filtered through the perspective of hindsight and a fuller knowledge of the overarching context of the event or period.

As far as the accepted timeline thus far, we have come to the conclusion that certain accepted views of what the future will be like are seemingly inconsistent with historical precedent, and as such we have decided to stick very closely with what we know of the past while constucting our view of the future. Namely, traditionalism in social structuring has always been more prevalent over modern forms, and we believe that a traditional societal structure will once again become the norm among most human beings in most places that human beings come to exist in. Now, this does not mean that technology will stagnate in terms of development or that it will move backward toward an earlier time, but rather that change will take place over a greater span of time and existing technologies will be perfected, whereas new technologies will arise only as the need arises. Basic human psychology will not change at a greater rate than other evolutionary traits, so people will not be too enthusiastic about having computer chips implanted in their brains, for instance, and any Artificial Life or Intelligence will not come to dominate humanity as some believe. The fact is, such life or intelligences are still tools built for humanity's uses, and they will remain that way with few exceptions. Space travel will become common at some point, but true world governments will not exist, let alone interstellar ones. Colonization will occur, but it will take centuries or millenia to fully envelope a world to the point where it can really be considered human-dominated. Remember, planets are big places, and human beings are relatively small to medium sized animals who take a long time to multiply and spread, and as they do so different communities will develop on worlds being colonized, so none of these planets will be united in anything other than commerce. Alien civilizations will be fairly common in terms of prevalence, but in terms of capability they will rarely exceed human technological capacities. In fact, for the sake of literary convenience, human civilizations are among the most advanced in the galaxy that are encountered, again with few exceptions. Those few who do exceed human technological capabilities will not have their own world governments, and no interstellar ones either, just as humanity does not. There is not a single human language, just as there is not a single lingua franca of any alien civilization, although all works will be written in a single language (english, again for the sake of literary convenience), and references to translated text will be made as necessary for contextual depth. The biggest point we are trying to make with the timeline is that there must be a plausible connection between one time period to the next, from our own time to the closest period to our own, and from that to the next and to the next, etc... if an event or a societal change can not be satisfactorily connected without making huge leaps of faith, then it cannot be accepted into the canon of the project. Likewise, most, if not all technologies found in the future are extrapolated from existing technologies or scientific disciplines, and those which are not extrapolations on existing technologies are at least currently theoretical and somewhat plausible to a large portion of professional physicists and engineers. Only later in the project can we dabble in the exotic, and even then the technology must be rooted in current understanding. People of the distant future may seem powerful to the reader in terms of their capabilities, but they are as frail and flawed as human beings from other times in terms of their inner selves. At no time must their abilities make them appear beyond the understanding of the reader. They must remain as human as the people you know and speak to every day. And that is the main goal; realism. Realism within the bounds of literary convenience, and realism to the point where the person reading the material set forth in the project can forget that they are reading fiction (if that is possible) and be able to identify with the peoples from future times. I have more specific notes on the timeline, some of them getting down to specific dates and places, but I will not post all of those up here because they are subject to revision and my goal is to sell the concept to some of you guys, not to sell the details. I hope it doesn't seem too ambitious or daunting, and I certainly hope it sounds interesting.

As far as getting people to work on the project in a devoted fashion, the reason why I am looking for that type of person right now is because there are only two of us, and although there is much form to the ideas there is little work and we are in need of fresh perspectives which do not conflict but complement the ideas we have set forth. For the most part, I am looking for a senior staff to form the early core to the project, which I hope will eventually grow in size and depth, with the help of that core and with the help of the less devoted contributors on the periphery. If anyone thinks this is more than intrigueing, I would be happy to take questions on any of the things I have said, or even on the details of the current timeline. Thank you for your time.

 

Are you planning to use the material as the basis for a game or a book, or something similar? The historical archive idea kind of reminds me of all the history and "source" material that must have been needed to make a game like Morrowind or Oblivion. It's an intriguing idea. What are your plans for the web-site? I mean, what's the reasoning for the web-site? How will the web-site be used? By whom will it be used?

 

We haven't taken the web site idea as far as a game or a book because of the nature of the community that we want to build around it. That's really the focus of the site, to build a community that is interested in conjecturing over the future in a realistic manner. It's more like starting the reaction just to see where it goes. I, personally, have this thing about creating a vast community of people dedicated to just creating this huge story, so it doesn't particularly have a goal or a practical purpose. However, in the future I expect that it would be reasonable (should the community become large enough and the project deep enough) that sub-projects will be initiated using the archive/library as a background, but I would rather the web site always be the focus of the project. It really is just for the sake of creating something deep and compelling, and I chose this form because despite all of my technical and philosophical interests I am a history fanatic at the core, and I wanted to create something that honestly feels like a library filled with history books about times that have not yet come to pass.

I wanted it to be a web site because I feel that a web site is the best means of public exposure that this project could ever get, and of all things I want this project to grow through that exposure. To be honest, the site and the information on it can be used by anyone who wants to use it as a basis for anything else as long as the project is credited and the resulting work is consistent with the canon of the project. We don't really have any specific plans for the site as yet because we do not have enough of a volume of material to post anything up, and we do not yet have any money set aside for the costs of gaining and maintaining a dedicated server, which we will need if this gets as large as we desire. If you have any more questions, or if I have neglected to address one of your queries to your satisfaction, I will be happy to take more questions.

 

I wish you luck with the project, Jaster, but I fear that I would be most unreliable. I have a long history of being unreliable. I like your idea though, and if you do get it up and running someday, maybe you'd let me know about the web-site? It sounds like it could be interesting. I love science fiction, and I could see myself getting lost in the stories, the "source" material.

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

 

Jaster, Im interested, I tell you what. Your first request was keyed into motivated, people with determination. I didnt think that was an all bad way to get help.

Im in man, i also have some friends who are interested.

 

How's the levitation coming, Mavrix?

 

Thank you Mavrix. I greatly appreciate your interest, and if you are as serious as you sound then I could send you what the basic timeline we have so far is, or I could just post it up on this thread if you wish. If you could look over that and then tell me what parts you and your friends are interested in expounding upon, that would be good. At the moment, we are trying to work on the earliest period of the timeline, which begins only a couple of decades from now, if not closer. This is the most difficult part for us to construct since we have to be very careful about what we predict for the near future, which is why we are having so much trouble. After that, we should be able to easily extrapolate the later periods from that beginning. We are looking for the "source" material that I described, and then after that source material is established we will be free to write historical analysis of the era.

Also, for organizational purposes, it would be helpful if you could tell me exactly how many of you are "in", as you say, and exactly what area which is relavent to the project (few areas are not) is your best. If you do not have any specific expertises that you feel confident citing, that is fine. Anyone can contribute, if only in the realm of idea generation and community discussion. However, in terms of generation of ideas we are already very developed and so our ideas may only need tweaking and slight molding of areas which are more raw than others, rather than fundamental change or the building of foundations. I can send you everything we have so far (which is mostly outlining and raw research from unspecific sources such as Wikipedia), and from that you can feel free to make suggestions or take on whatever works you would like. If you have an AIM account then you should also feel comfortable contacting me through that, or also an ICQ account so that all of us can gather together and discuss the various aspects of the project.

Cottontop, I understand where you are coming from, and to be honest my friend and I are also mostly unreliable when it comes to doing work, even if we can stick with the project in our heads (probably easier since I came up with it and my friend was deeply involved in it's creation). I will definitely keep you updated on the progress of the project, and if at any point you would like to join in that would be good.

Oh yes... if anyone else reading this is interested, I am still looking for people so go ahead and continue with questions, suggestions, and comments. Thank you.

 

Jastor, why give acknowledgment to cottenpop when he deserves none?

He redicules me likely you as well. Anyhow, Im more interested in the concept of the team of intelligent people. Your first post was about the group. This is actually a very good place to start, wich is why I didnt mock you, and you got a ton of crude replies from people complaining. "how do i know if you dont tell me" wha wha.. Obviously some of those people might qualify to a idea group, however most of them clearly do not pass the qualifications.

What I want to do first of all, is we need to create a chat system, where we can all talk. Im not only interested in your project, my group is doing similar work.

Im interested very much in the group aspect of like minds, without the lameness of psycho skeptics.

We need to build an eviroment of productive qualities.

 

Jaster, please, keep me updated. If it's not too much trouble. I'd like to see the timeline, if you don't mind posting it here. You might get more feedback too if you post it here, though there is always the concern that someone might take it and use it in their own book or some such. I don't know what you think about that, or if you have even thought about it. If your project is just for fun, it shouldn't be a problem, but if you ever hope to make money off of a book or game (not that that is your plan), or even if you just want credit for your ideas, you should consider this.

 

Jaster, I advise not to post any valuable information. This is Just the breeding ground for thieves to steal information. Furthermore, if ther is no support (wich i havent seen much) then why bother posting your hard work and beliefs so others can most possiblly mock it up or something. Im sure certain skeptics would call this ther own given it will be deemed valuable.

Alas, do what you will, just my opinion.

 

I do not plan on ever making any money off of this project, and I would rather if no one ever did because it is just for the fun of building a large community of people. I have thought of someone trying to steal my ideas, but since I doubt that anyone would find any material potential in the story because it isn't developed to any reasonable point, I have not worried so much about it. Also, since it is in constant flux, such an action on the part of someone would be a waste of their time. I would rather keep all of the information that is tied into the development of the project on the inside of the group, so I apologize for not posting the timeline up on this site.

Mavrix, how large is your group and what kind of similar work are you guys doing that would make you interested in our project?

 

Jasper,

Like you stated, your in the developement stage, and you said also you dont do alot of physical work etc. Let me share something with you.

"I do not plan on ever making any money off of this project, and I would rather if no one ever did because it is just for the fun of building a large community of people."

I assume, this project shall be completed one day, else I wouldnt waste my time, and I wouldnt think you should either.

Now, if you want it for "building a large community" eventually, if this project is worthwhile, not for money, but for your goals. Then it would need to be released.

Either a book, a user database, or a game, like someone mentioned. Or you can just post it on a website.

Well I dont do alot just for myself, I cant speak for you, but (if) I begin to work on your project, I would only do so if it will be usefull, do something, be something, for others.

Thus once we have a working system, Im not even sure what it is you speak of, then we will need a vehicle to send it to the public. A book, A guide, free or one we charge, makes no difference, but intellectual property is still that.

You need to think realisticly, if you dont copywright your material, its like you never even created it. And whats the point in that?

Im not saying we need to sell a book and make money, just saying, if you have a cause, a book is a good way to support this cause. Bring credibility to you.

Now if you just want this for your own entertainment, that is another story, and Im not sure if I have the time for that.

Ther are 4 people in my group.

 

I don't believe in intellectual property, but I do plan on "releasing" it in some form, and that form will be a web site. It's not just for my entertainment, but for the entertainment of the reader. And no, it will never be "finished", but rather once the beginning phase is complete it will be large enough for new works within the project to be shown on the web site we are planning. It is on-going, which is part of the reason why I am looking for dedicated people to work on it, for their own entertainment and creative fulfillment as much as for my own. If you have the idea that I am going to limit the scope of the project by channeling all of that information into something as small as a book or a game or a movie, etc... then you are mistaken. The web site will be enough, and it will be there so that the reader can enjoy hat they are reading and be intrigued by the historical projection and the realistic characters we create within the world we are building. This is a purely creative endeavor, with no other goal in mind. Of course we will copyright everything that appears on the site to stop it from being stolen or used to make a profit, but it will be open to anyone who wants to contribute as long as what they contribute is consistent with the rest of the project.

 

"Jastor, why give acknowledgment to cottenpop when he deserves none?"

What happened Mavrix? Your so bitter now!!!