Social Impact Summit 2024

George delivered a condensed How to write a 100-year plan workshop at the Social Impact Summit, hosted by the Blockchain Law for Social Good Center (BL4SG) and the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW) at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

It was great to meet other groups from the FFDW funding cohort, like Crypto Council for Innovation, Ripple, Starling Labs, TechSoup, California Department of Justice, Creative Commons, Africa Blockchain Institute, the City of Berkeley, and more. 

George presenting

Postscript:Post-it transcriptions

The first section of the workshop is about thinking in centuries. Not something we do often, so we’ve found it helpful to expand our normal timeframes a bit at the start. We have an exercise in three parts, and participants note down their thoughts on post-its and we can all have a look afterwards.

  1. What in your life has lasted for 100 years?

    Memories, worries, places, artefacts, books, manuscripts, stars, trees, DNA/ancestry, epigenetics, Dickens set, our houses!!!, rock collection, Grandmother’s Bible, family silver, my apartment building, family house, my wife’s wedding ring, family bible and writing inside, my lineage (DNA, family stones(sp?), photo of grandpa), sewing machine, steamer trunk, my parents’ house, my local library, the LA River, the family farm, furniture & antiques at my mother’s, pics of my grandma, books, my house, Berkeley, Lady of the Lake book, great grandmother’s locket, mitochondrial DNA, Shakespeare, redwoods, books, records/cylinders, trees, family stories

  2. What in your life do you want to last for another 100 years?

    My library, R. Hooke “Micrographia” (Reproduction) 1665, thoughts & ideas, variety of film, books, art, media, natural beauty, diverse ecosystems, Yosemite, redwoods, family stories, democracy, freedom/liberty, trees, my local library, the LA River, trans/queer rights, solidarity, my novels, positive impacts and memories of my life, the tress I plant, Filecoin Foundation, my vinyl collection, family photos and stories, musical instruments (double bass, guitar), my kids healthy lives!, my family photo albums, family history, my legacy, hope, kindness, equity & justice, my writings, pics of my wife, my collection of artworks, family tree, my work for love

  3. What in your life do you not want to last 100 years?

    Capitalism, poverty, Facebook, Palantir, handguns, me, capitalism, patriarchy, borders, racism, my pollution, ecological impact/harm, copyrights, capitalism, text messages (disappearing!), pain and anger/family feuds, debt!, US military industrial complex, capitalism, digital dependency, trauma, inequity, limited beliefs, consumerism, capitalism, Disney, democracy, racism, oppressive systems, profit-centred economies,

Sketches of possible plans

This a relatively new addition to the workshop format, where, after we ask people to think in centuries, we ask them to quickly note down important things they think should be included in a 100-year plan. The results are always different, and it’s lovely that there are common threads too. You can see the sketches in this Flickr album, and here are a few examples:

100-year plan sketches

100-year plan sketches

And finally, from the great and the good Brewster Kahle himself!

100-year plan sketches

Make the Internet Archive last

  • Non-profits (plural)
  • Multi-jurisdictional
  • Stay essential
  • Invest in the young

And there you have it. Another great session with a really interesting group!