Retrospect
Retrospect
A Letter To And From The Future | Retrospect Ep.245
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In this week’s episode we discussed America celebrating its 250th anniversary, we're taking a look inside the nation's official time capsule and exploring the stories, symbols, and artifacts chosen to represent our era. Then we turn the question to the future: If people 250 years from now were creating a new time capsule, what should they include from today's world?
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Keywords
Time capsule, America's history, Independence Day, technology, artificial intelligence, misinformation, liberty, values, future generations, digital media, physical media, historical preservation, personal stories, genealogy.
Jason
250 years ago, a bold experiment began in 1776, 56 men signed a document that declared an extraordinary idea that our rights come not from kings, governments, or armies, but from our Creator. Against impossible odds, that idea survived revolution, civil war, depression, world wars, and moments when it seemed America itself might not make it. Now, a quarter of a millennium later, we stand at another crossroads. If we were to bury a time capsule today, one not to be open for another 250 years, what would we leave behind? We would leave behind a nation divided by politics, connected by technology, watched by algorithms, debating artificial intelligence, wrestling with truth in the age of misinformation, and wondering whether our greatest inventions were making us freer or simply more dependent. The question isn't what future Americans will think of our technology. Question is what they'll think of us. Will they see a generation that preserved liberty or traded it for convenience? A people who built remarkable machines but forgot timeless values, or citizens who understood that while every generation inherits a nation, every generation also leaves one behind because every time capsule tells two stories: what a civilization possessed and what it believed was worth preserving. Happy 250th birthday, America! The next chapter is already being written, and one day it will be history.
Ian
Welcome to the Retrospect Podcast, a show where people come together from different walks of life and discuss a topic from their generation's perspective. My name is Ian, and as always, I'm joined by Stoney.
Stoney
hello,
Ian
and Jason.
Jason
Hello, everyone.
Ian
How's it going? It's going pretty good.
Stoney
Everybody still have all their fingers and toes from the fireworks.
Ian
Yes.
Jason
Yeah, I'm gonna tell you what it was like a ding firework war in my my subdivision. Really? Yeah, that's when I got home.
Stoney
My favorite thing about the fireworks was Mandami made firing fireworks illegal in New York City. Did you see the videos from the skyscrapers? No, I
Ian
didn't. Oh, they probably
Jason
gave him the middle finger. Oh, they gave
Stoney
him middle fingers all over that town. It was brilliant. The amount of fireworks going off in New York City. It was awesome.
Ian
That's awesome. There was a the local city I'm a part of. I think the week before Fourth of July, they had like a big celebration out, and I didn't realize that it was taking place on the day that it was. I think I had it written down, but I just forgot about it because I was busy with a bunch of other stuff. And sure enough, like I think the the finale was like at 10 p.m. So I think like preceding that there was like a bunch of fireworks, like in a big a big spectacular thing. And I remember being in the kitchen, being like, "What is all this racket going on? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What all these explosions, all this stuff? And then of course, once it got to 10 o'clock, it just like as you imagine from a fireworks show, they just they let it all go. Yeah, and so of course it was 10 o'clock, and I was like, "What is happening? And I looked at the calendar. I was like, "Oh, it's that big celebration that I had forgotten about. It's like, okay, that's when they
Stoney
were doing the fireworks thing for the country. Yeah,
Ian
yeah.
Stoney
You know, Philadelphia kind of came back, and and it kind of became the center again of the country because at one time it kind of was and they were going to try to set a world record for almost a million fireworks. I think almost 850 to 900,000 fireworks. But as they were exploding the fireworks, the air quality went slow to so much smoke they kind of had to curtail it, so I don't know if they actually did
Ian
the the 1 million. The one, you know, I'm like,
Stoney
oh wow, that's crazy.
Ian
That is crazy.
Stoney
It just pushed so bad, you know. It was rough on the lungs for people. People were having a lot of smoke. Yeah,
Ian
smelling gunpowder. It is gunpowder. Yep. Yeah, that's interesting. There's that,
Stoney
and you know every, and this was a big
Ian
one. So 250 years.
Stoney
So you know even in our town, they they were going crazy, but definitely reminded everybody that hold my beer is not a great safety plan. No, you know because this this was crazy. They had a the the the hospitals around here had quite a few incidents of people coming in and you know having some injuries due to fireworks.
Ian
Right, of course.
Stoney
And it probably was a little bit more this time because there was an exorbitant amount of people burning fireworks.
Ian
My my brother being a first responder. Did he have anything? No, no, not really. That's actually the funny part was he was like, a lot of the complaints who or a lot of the calls and concerns were like, I have a tummy ache, or like grandma's not feeling too well, or she may have fallen over and things like that. But it was one comment he was making in particular where like he was bringing somebody into the hospital as one of his like fellow units was like leaving, and the person they had had like a bandaged up, burned hand or whatever, and he's like, "Ah, come on! Why could we have got that one? That's he was. It was very. He worked a Fourth of July night, and he was like, "It was not very. Everyone in his neck of the woods were pretty safe, not eventful. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He was like, you know, I mean, exactly. As I guess, I guess I can't complain, but he was definitely he was like, of all the nights to work a little extra, you know, you expect to get a little, you know, a little fun call every now and then for something crazy happening, and he was like, that wasn't anything too too crazy. So, but yeah,
Stoney
well, the in San Francisco they always do the Golden Gate fireworks show, yeah, and it's kind of a big thing. They had 100,000 people there.
Ian
Dang,
Stoney
that's like going to a professional football game or something, or a massive college game. Do they are
Ian
they on the bridge or is it like? I don't know exactly, but I
Stoney
think going to and from because there was so much fog in the area, and then the fireworks. Yeah, it was a gridlock. It was it was a tall parking lot.
Ian
I want to say it wasn't this past New Year's. It was the one before that. So the New Year's going into 24 I think we had like some rain or like a lot of humidity in the air or something, but in the local area I'm in, with all the fireworks that were taking place, the it like the the smoke lingered and it didn't dissipate at all, and so I remember like it was it was very hard to drive. Whereas and I had you know I had five or six friends here as well, and we were, you know, doing our little little thing, and it was obviously past midnight, and everyone's like, "Well, I guess we'll go and try and drive home, and like those the smoke was so bad, they were like, "We'll just hang out here for a little while. So I got a bunch of extra pillows and blankets. I think you told me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have a big, have a pretty big sectional, and so I was able to, you know, finagle everyone around when everyone was comfortable enough on the couch where they chilled here for a couple hours until it was safe to drive. But yeah, that's it's. It gets kind of scary when I remember one
Stoney
New Year's Eve, Miranda and I went to one of my god kids' houses. Actually, all four of the kids are my god kids in that family. Right, and we're coming back after midnight, and it's so foggy that this this main bridge road it was so foggy we literally could not see 10 feet in front of the vehicle. We were both had our heads outside of the car window, looking down at those one, and we were just newly together.
Ian
Okay,
Stoney
and so this is a test for us. Yeah, and it just kind of showed us what we're capable of because we're like, no, two inches to the right, six inches to the left, and my hand on the steering wheel, but talking all the way down,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
the main road coming from one of the Ascension Parish,
Ian
right, right,
Stoney
and to the city that we live in, right, and it was tense.
Ian
I bet,
Stoney
but and then people were oh, flashing lights, and it was the fog was so heavy,
Ian
yep,
Stoney
that people were putting on their flashing lights, which is actually illegal flashing lights. For the record, people is when you were stopped, yeah, not when you were moving,
Ian
right.
Stoney
So it was just blinding every. But we made it home. We made it home safe. But
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
yeah, the the smoke was pretty bad. Yeah,
Ian
that's crazy. But yeah, I I didn't realize. Go ahead. No, no,
Stoney
I was just going to say. In addition to the San Francisco thing, you know, this is one of those walk and bicycle cities. Yeah, a lot of mass transit, mass transit stuff. They they collapsed. Really said it was not designed to handle an additional 41,000 people. Oh my gosh! And I'm like, oops. Yep. Welcome to socialism. Right.
Ian
Well,
Stoney
yeah. It's not made for that.
Ian
Yeah. Yeah. But if
Stoney
you're trying to generate your city as this thing,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
you're just showed us. Okay, we're not ready for it yet.
Ian
Yeah, we're not
Stoney
ready for a 15 minute city. Well,
Ian
what I was going to say was I didn't realize that they had a time capsule, like that they had this time capsule that you guys were referring to. That I think is well, they
Stoney
picked one up and they put one down. Right. So yeah.
Ian
What was it? Where was it located at again? Was it Philadelphia?
Stoney
Philadelphia.
Jason
Tell me, what do you? What is? I just kind of, you know, since we are right now celebrating the birth of of the United States,
Ian
right?
Jason
What is the fourth? Mean to you
Ian
all? I mean, do you
Jason
really think about it?
Stoney
Well, this is how I think about it. Okay, I'm gonna put it simple to y'all. I want you to know that you just paid taxes for fireworks to celebrate our independence from taxation from England. Yeah, that's
Jason
right.
Stoney
That's what it means to me. That's what our fourth has come down to. We're paying taxes to celebrate not having to pay taxes anymore.
Jason
Yeah, well, they had a problem paying the tax on tea at that time.
Stoney
Breakfast beverage. Yeah.
Jason
Well, you know, the King of England had gotten himself in debt with his war with France, and so he was going to use the American colonies as a way to to fill the coffers back up, and unfortunately didn't go well for him. But but yeah, I mean, I've often sometimes I you know I don't think about it a whole lot, but occasionally I do when these days come about to really kind of think about a world without America.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
and what would that be like? And a
Stoney
lot of people would be speaking German. Yeah,
Jason
that or some other. I mean, I mean, throughout throughout world history, I mean, you know, the people have, you know, countries have conquered other countries, and tribes have conquered other tribes, and I think it's kind of something that's just endemic of the human, the human condition.
Ian
Yep. I mean, just
Stoney
look look at the look at the technology that's come from America, the plane, the car, the bicycle, you know how many things have come from America.
Ian
Yeah, I I feel like for a lot of people it becomes like Memorial Day or Veterans Day, like they they appreciate the time off they get and they they plan the vacation, and they focus on those things more than like what the meaning of the holiday really means.
Stoney
I agree. Most people don't even realize there's a difference. Yeah,
Ian
yeah, yeah.
Stoney
What's the difference between veterans and Memorial Day?
Ian
Right.
Stoney
What is it?
Ian
Right. I do.
Stoney
Yeah, I know. Go ahead. Let's inform our our listeners. Memorial Day is
Ian
for the for the the people of the military who have passed on already, whether in service or I think are not in service, and I think Veterans Day are usually for the ones that are still alive or active. You know,
Jason
yeah, Veterans Day just recognizes all service people. Memorial Day is actually those who died in battle, and that's where that. I mean, its origins goes back to the Civil War, is where Memorial Day came about. I think they used to call it Decoration Day, if I if I remember right. But that was really the kind of the first time that the country kind of like right special attention to soldiers that died and died, which I'm not,
Ian
which I'm not opposed to. Like you know, focusing on the, you know, obviously the the vacation that you get because of it. Like, I mean, I know that obviously sometimes, like you know, I'm not saying you can't appreciate that. You know, like the same thing for Labor Day, like obviously it's nice to have a little extra day every day. Well, Labor Day celebrates
Stoney
Labor, so you can have a day off from Labor to actually go celebrate. Right, but
Ian
the thing is, it's like when
Stoney
people get the day off to go vote.
Ian
Yes,
Stoney
and they don't go vote. Well, wait a minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait a minute. The whole point was so you could go. Right, but
Ian
I feel like it's the same sort of thing. I feel like it is. There's not like there's nothing wrong with with appreciating and having a little extra vacation and using that time. There's nothing wrong with that. But also, like, know like there is like a significance to the day. And there's a especially with as we talked about with veterans and Memorial Day. There's a lot that there's a lot of heaviness that comes with that for a lot of individuals. Maybe not for you individual, you know, you specifically, but is I think I try to have some reverence for that, you know, alongside also appreciating the time off that I might have. But I feel like sometimes the reason I'm saying all this because I feel like sometimes Fourth of July becomes another one of those, just like oh, it's the barbecue time. It's the it's the time off. Look how many people
Stoney
were on social media saying I'm not celebrating it. No, I'm not celebrating. Maybe so. Or what was that that woman on what was it? The View saying that anytime I pull into a neighborhood that has American flags in it. I don't feel safe. I
Ian
hate that.
Stoney
Are you kidding me? That's unfortunate. Are you kidding me? Every
Ian
symbol of the country you live in makes you feel that way. That lets you
Stoney
make the money and do what you do. We
Ian
talked about. I think we talked about this very thing at like the tail end of last episode, which I think is interesting that we're talking about this. Now, is like I feel like there's a lot of people I think that take for granted the freedoms that they have. The fact that you live in a country that allows you to say that that you don't want to celebrate its Independence Day and it not be like you not get in trouble for that or get put in prison or hurt or killed or whatever is like that's you are that's a freedom that you are given, and the fact that you can feel that way, and the fact that you take that for granted is the part that kind of shocks me sometimes. Just so y'all know, I'm pointing it and going, "Yeah, yeah, that's the thing that's kind of interesting. Exactly, and I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say that I'm perfect. Like there are times again where I, I forget the the significance of some of these days, but it's also times like this that's like 250 years is obviously a drop in the bucket for some other countries that have been long for a lot longer. But like also, it's a it's a big time. And like even though you may not like the current the current leadership, you may not like the current trajectory. Like the the the boiling it down to its fundamental roots. It's what this country is based on, you know, the freedoms that you were given in this country, like those kind of things, are the stuff that's like, that's the stuff to focus on. I may not agree with all the politics. I may not agree with the the government or the governor you have in your city, or or what or what what if we believe in, or what if we feel like, or the the fact that there's sections of this country that are really trying to push their way into socialism. Besides all that, like at its core, like we live in a country that has afforded us a lot of freedoms and has given us a lot of a lot of great opportunities. And even though it's not, you know, it's not perfect and it has its mistakes, I still am proud to be an American. And the fact that you can celebrate a day like this, I don't take that lightly, and I feel like a lot of people have.
Jason
Just think of you know, I mean, if you read about what happened to those men that signed that document, yeah, most of them it didn't end well, right?
Stoney
You know, it's kind of like Jesus's disciples. Yeah, do you know how old they were?
Jason
No, I don't.
Ian
Probably not. Can
Stoney
you Google that for us? 20s
Ian
or 30s? I imagine
Jason
they were probably young because they were very young. Because back then, I mean, when you were young, I mean, a 25 year old back at that time, that was a grown man. That was a grown man. You know, well, considering this is going to
Stoney
surprise y'all right here.
Jason
I'm I'm sure life, the life expectancy, you know, what it was, it had to get started early. Well, it's not. It's gonna be a bunch of other random stuff. Okay, it
Ian
says that the Bible does not explicitly state the exact ages of Jesus' disciples. However, oh, I'm into
Stoney
the Congress, the signers, signers, oh, I didn't know that. Signers of the decoration. Okay, okay. Let's see.
Ian
Let me look that up real quick.
Stoney
Yeah, we won't know the disciples. Yeah, yeah.
Ian
Unless I was looking up, but but but to answer that question, it was basically between the ages of like 15 to 25 or so was the the ages for the disciples. Let's look it up. It says the 50-six signers of the Declaration of Independence had the average age of about 40-four. The oldest was Benjamin Franklin at the age of 70 years old. The youngest was Edward Rutledger at 20-six years old. And think about
Stoney
that. These guys 4040,
Ian
4056, 3326 So yeah, you know, a big a big span of ages from and and
Jason
some some were just you know that it really ended bad for most of those guys. I mean, some of them came through okay, but a lot of them, I would say, the vast majority of them suffered tremendous loss in the in the revolution and and their and their, I mean they were basically they were severing everything they knew. I was supposed to say they were cutting ties with everybody,
Stoney
everything, and think about this funding the whole thing,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
with their own money they were funding this whole thing,
Ian
right?
Jason
Yeah. It's. It's. And do
Stoney
you know what their main crop was?
Jason
Crop. Was it tobacco?
Stoney
Somewhat.
Ian
Okay.
Stoney
Hemp. Really.
Jason
Hemp. Yeah. Okay.
Stoney
Yeah. Somewhat. Right.
Ian
Right. Right. Yeah. I
Jason
knew it was kind of. I thought it was in that. Yeah, I think I think five
Stoney
or six of the signers of the Declaration of Independence grew hemp, grew marijuana.
Ian
Interesting.
Stoney
Yeah. Now regular tobacco too, also and other crops. But you know, there's there's reportedly, and I think it's in the Smithsonian, there is a sweater made at the time of the revolution out of hemp yarn that looks brand new today,
Jason
wow,
Stoney
brand new today, which would make it around 250 years old. I mean, yeah,
Jason
yeah, it's a. I mean, I'm in awe. I'll be honest with you, what they. Hend at the time, the idea of inalienable rights.
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
Well, see, that's one of the things that kind of gets me. the The separation of church and state is not what people today make it to be. These were God fearing, Jesus worshiping people that said God gave you these rights and put it down in the Constitution forever. This wasn't a church, and this wasn't a separation of church and state where you can't talk about religion. No, you. This was the government can't dictate because at the time it was the Church of England, and the king told you where you were going to go to church, and what the Constitution says, you feel free to go wherever you want to go.
Jason
Right,
Stoney
you worship what you want. The government again, that's what the Constitution does. It doesn't restrict the citizen; it restricts what the government can do to the citizen, and a lot of people get that wrong.
Jason
Yeah, I matter of fact, I was just listening to a another podcast regarding this very topic. Wait,
Stoney
other podcasts than ours? Yes, believe it. Believe it or not,
Jason
and and what it was, I mean, they did talk about the these original founders, they they really they really wrestled with this whole thing of religion and and how that because they're coming from a world that religion was a lot more intertwined
Stoney
yes
Jason
in the everyday life and of of an individual and so what they did was they basically said, "Look, we're going to leave that to the states to figure out. And and so because if you look at some of the early state constitutions, there was a professed belief in Jesus Christ.
Stoney
Right. A
Jason
lot of people don't like to think about that. Do you know what they did? Akin Bible, the AKN Bible. Have you ever heard of this? I sure haven't.
Stoney
I I want us to do actually a show on this, but the Achan Bible, I think there's only seven left in existence.
Jason
Okay,
Stoney
but it comes back from this time.
Jason
Okay,
Stoney
and it has something, a support from Congress on the very first page,
Jason
right? They like it endorse it endorsements, right?
Stoney
Of the by this Bible,
Jason
yeah,
Stoney
by the government. Yeah, I mean, think about it. In God we trust,
Jason
right?
Stoney
You know, if you
Jason
yes, I agree totally with you. I I think it's it's a I think it's a mistake for people today that I hear a lot of time. They say the founders would deist, and I'm not saying some of them were not. Some of them were, but not all of them.
Stoney
Right?
Jason
You know, it's just the ones you hear about. You know that that kind of are known, but there are a lot that were that were would basically tell you that yes, Jesus Christ is my you know Lord and Savior type of type of you know response deal. So yeah, I mean, so I think what what makes you know me proud as an American is is this this bold step that basically tell that I have dignity
Ian
as
Jason
an individual because my Creator gave me that. That doesn't come from you. I don't have some earthly person telling me I'm worth this or I'm worth. Well, your
Stoney
rights don't come from the government. Your rights come from the higher power.
Jason
That's a people don't understand how how radical that was.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
I mean, 250 years ago is not really that long ago in the scope of human oh
Ian
yeah
Jason
human history that they that yeah
Ian
they they thought that like bloodline was like like where your worth was, and if you did what didn't come from like a certain high quality of bloodline. Well, like it it
Jason
varied. It depends on where. Like for example, the English the English had a a little bit more of a milder version of that. The French were very heavy into that. As far as you know, some people were just born that you were just born to be a leader, and you were born to be and have wealth and and royalty. Unfortunately, that's what led to the French Revolution, and and that that was a whole different right. But it's that
Ian
kind of stuff of like your wealth is not right tied up in that. But you know,
Stoney
in 18 in 1781 Robert Attican petitioned Congress for the Bible, which he was going to do at his own expense, and Congress later passed a resolution endorsing the Bible. It was the first English printed Bible, and it just grew right after the the revolution.
Ian
Interesting. So Congress didn't
Stoney
print it or fund it, yeah, but they did endorse it, and the Library of Congress says that he did it at his own expense. So they
Jason
must have a copy in the Library of Congress. I
Stoney
would guess that's cool, and I know there's some religious group that has three of them. So that means there's still maybe three maybe private
Jason
collectors or somebody may have cool. Can you imagine the worst sucker would be worth right
Stoney
now?
Ian
I want to see what it looks. I want to see what is because that's not very
Stoney
big. I saw a picture of one. Okay, it looks like it may be five by six inches, but it's pretty thick.
Ian
Of course, yeah, it's got the whole Bible. Yeah, it's pretty
Stoney
thick. But that one page on there just you know, endorsement from Congress. So you can't say that our forefathers,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
weren't thinking of this.
Ian
Founded this country on that. Think
Jason
about those people at that time. If if they would wake up and see what their country that they yeah yeah would be today. I often you know it's it's fun to think about what would George Washington or Thomas Jefferson or John Adams any of the early you know Alexander all these people what would they think of
Stoney
they say what of America I think we need to do a spinoff of Bill and Ted's excellent adventure, and and and and let AI generate what our founding fathers, knowing what they know about our founding fathers, and let them write the lay I write the movie saying what our founding fathers would actually think about today.
Jason
So I'm. This is really a philosophical question: Is what do you think people 250 years from now will think about us when they read? Oh gosh,
Ian
yeah.
Jason
Read a history book. It's scary
Ian
to think about. Actually, I think
Stoney
what we ought to do. I want to go that route. Yeah. But let's put a little caveat in there, and what would? Okay, they're going to open up a time capsule,
Jason
right?
Stoney
So what would you put in that time capsule to give them some information on what they would think of us today?
Ian
I I really thought about this whenever this topic was posed, and for me it was hard because there's so much of our media, there's so much of our stuff is not physical anymore. Right. So so much of it is digital now. It's like how when I started to think about all the things that like I feel like are so relevant right now, or so in, or whatever you want to call it, it all is some sort of it's all streaming services. It's all cloud-based stuff. It's all-it's all digital media, and it's like and everything. Even like even as far as like video games, like I grew up with, it was on physical media. Now a lot of that's all digital. Even whenever you buy a physical game, it's an empty plastic case with a code in it. It's things like that. That's like well, what is that
Stoney
one service said by 2032 they're not going to do any more box editions of anything? I know, right? They're done, right? Completely done. Is it 2032 I think you're
Ian
probably right. More
Jason
stuff to go in a landfill. Exactly. I mean, what's the point, right? But
Ian
that's but that's the thing is, I I miss the I miss the physical media, because I'm thinking about things again. So this kind of also brought back my parents and my grandparents made a time capsule for me whenever I was born, and I was and I wasn't supposed to open it until I was 20 or 25. I don't remember. I think it was 20 because I think it was yeah. I think anyways. Regardless, it was like a. I think the the hospital that I was born in I think gave them like a like a like a metal drum kind of and almost like if you ever if if anybody in the audience has ever like around Christmas time you know they have like those tins of popcorn it's kind of like it's pretty deep probably about you know maybe like a foot deep about a foot round or whatever as well, it was kind of one of those, and it had like a you know don't open until such and such year or whatever, and and again bringing up this topic, it made me think about opening that time capsule with my mom and my dad, and thinking about it because again at that time my grandparents had passed away through. through through old age, through some with cancer and some other situations. So at the time, it really hit a little different that like all the grandparents that also helped put things in here that was so special are all no longer with me, and the fact my parents were, you know, and and so it was just a really awesome experience to see newspaper clippings of whenever I was born and I got put in the newspaper. You know, or like my my grandfather was a professional bass fisherman and was part of like a big organization in in our in in like. Louisiana. I'm not sure if it was just Louisiana or like the other surrounding states, but like he was kind of a big deal. He like had trophies and like was like part of this magazine that like his whole group used to like make or whatever, and and and a page that was taken out of the edition of the month that I was born, was all of his, all of his seniors and all his compatriots and everyone else that was with him was congratulating him because I was his first grandson. So they were congratulating him in this news or in this this magazine edition for becoming a grandfather, and it was just this like cool stuff like that. That's like all these like physical things that I had, CDs and.
Stoney
But you see, I think that that's a great example of what they're going to think about us in the future because your group, your time is going to want to put some type of a drive, USB drive with 10,000 pictures on it. Yeah. In my time, we didn't need 10,000 pictures. We may have had 20 to 40, right? And they meant way much more to us. You're right. Okay. When you when you had that in the flood, you were saving the pictures.
Ian
Yeah. Yeah.
Stoney
Okay. And so I wonder if that's not going to enhance what they think about
Ian
us.
Stoney
Yeah. Because you know you're going to have the boomers going to put their little thing, and next gen's going to put theirs, and then the millennials and the the Gen Zs and Gen Alphas. What do you know? What are they? They're going to think about oil. They they had these paper pictures, and they sure seem to appreciate them more than you know duck lips and you know twerking and and pictures. You know, I mean, I started. So, will that be something that they? I don't want to say concentrate, but for the lack of a better word, something that they dwell on while they're thinking about what was the value of these images.
Ian
I don't remember the. I don't remember the company that did it, but there was like a local. It was. It was a. It was a nationwide company, but they were also pretty local. They would make pictures, and they would have like matte prints with a little gold foil in the bottom corner. I can't remember what the name of it was now, but like there was a handful of photos like that that my mom has, and like a scrapbook that she's been making, and and it's like looking back on like photos like that. My grandmother on my mom's side had like a subscription where like you could go every month or every couple of months and get like she would like pay for this service where like you could go in and like get family pictures or like or like a group photo. Didn't
Stoney
J.C. Penney's do that? I think yeah, it's something like J.C. Penney's used to have the little Photoshop boats there, and you're right. Go get pictures. Well, she
Ian
would have a subscription because obviously it was I. It's my myself and my two younger brothers, and we were like the first of the grandkids. So obviously, you know, all the grandparents are you know they're you know they're they're they're willing to to spend money on on pictures and things like that, especially like I said, in our younger years, where you know every month is you know you know children change so much at like a younger age, and so again, my mom has all these very very beautifully made like photos from from then, and again, it's like every month, and you can see the changes that I'm going through, and my two younger brothers as well, and it's and she again she's making this scrapbook and for each one of us kids, and it's just interesting to look back at all these these like physical these physical forms of media that she has that is so special, and and again it has this little added special sentimental value that like my grandmother had a subscription to like make sure that we always were there, we always had that done, and it's like she is she's no longer with us, but like I still have these like physical, these physical photos of myself, knowing that it was something that my grandmother really wanted
Stoney
for
Ian
each of us, and it's like that's so special, and like anyway, it's just this topic was like making me think about all that stuff as well. Where it's like, man, when I start to think about the things that I would put in there, I'm like, I'm not even sure any of it would survive. When
Stoney
I was growing up, we had kind of like an L-shaped kitchen, and there was a little bar section, and that's where the three kids sat when we weren't having dinner at the big table, and there was a little macrame initial for each one of us, and then there was a bar. It was an old wine barrel that my mom painted or stained a certain way and put a little cushion on it, and it had a little flip lid on
Ian
it.
Stoney
And our whole life, every time we did something, my my baby silver is in there. My baby blanket is in there. We didn't know the whole time she was collecting stuff for us. Yeah. And when we finally moved out, that's what she would give you as you moved out, and it was all of your baby stuff, your your hair from your first haircut, all of these things that you don't even. Realize, and I was like, "Wow, that's kind of neat. Yeah, and I wonder if people still do that kind of stuff. Well, or do they just take a million and a half pictures on their cell phone? And
Jason
I've got all my old like stuff, my report cards from when I was in grade school. I got my baptismal certificate. I've got all my that stuff. I've kind of often wondered if I wanted to plant a time capsule in my yard.
Ian
Yeah,
Jason
and you know what people would think of me 250 years as just random guy they dig up at a construction site somewhere. Yeah, they know like who is this guy? You know, I often wonder what would I put in there, and I, I think I would put. I've thought about this a little bit. I think I would put like a. Of course, I would put like my a report card for my grade school years. I'd probably put a a photograph. I would put a picture of maybe some pets that I had, maybe a bill. Think about that. A bill, you know. Yeah. You know, maybe a ring.
Ian
Yeah, I found the name of it. By the way, it was Olin Mills. Okay, is the company, and I couldn't think of. I knew it was O something. It was Olin Mills was the company, but J.C. Penney's did. You're right. You're right. I think Walmart had something like that.
Stoney
Olin Mills and J.C. I think you're right. Yeah, it
Ian
was a company like that. And again, I think it was like I think it was nationwide, and I don't think they're around anymore, which is unfortunate. But like it was that again. It was it was in that time in like the '80s and the '90s where like I don't know, like there's like this sweet spot where like cameras were good enough for like really good professional photos, but like wasn't so widely spread for consumers to have them all the time, and so they had these interesting like circles. Jason is is the
Stoney
bridge generation between the print and the paper to the digital, and you're kind of fully in digital, who still appreciates the art because you're kind of that artsy, right? You appreciate the old stuff, yeah, yeah. But his generation is the one who,
Jason
you know, we still have photo albums. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, like you know, I still have all that stuff. You know, that I'll I'll inherit that from my mom, and you know when you know they pass on, and
Ian
yeah,
Jason
you know we'll keep that. The question is, you know, who who gets that because it becomes less and less meaningful as time goes on. There's no connection, and
Ian
right. But you know, now what one of
Stoney
the big companies is is you take that photo album, or you can even take the what is the old eight millimeter film or whatever and have it digitized. Digitized, yeah, yeah. All the pictures, all of even my my mom and dad had that old camera. Yep, and and you could hear it. Then you had the big projector thing, you know, with the wheels on it. Yeah, yeah. And I have all of those, and I've thought about sending those off and getting them digitized, just to keep them for posterity, you know, because eventually that old plastic is going to run away. Well, yeah, I
Jason
think of people like when floods and stuff like that, they lose all those valuable things. And the thing is, is like what happens to it after you know? I mean, it's still
Ian
right.
Jason
It's stored somewhere. The question is, who would access it as time goes on, and yeah, and stuff like that. Maybe it would go into some hall of records, right? Right. You know, of some. But but the
Ian
thing is, like, it's you know, I think that I don't know. It becomes like you said. Once you get so far removed, it's harder and harder to have like personal significance on it because
Stoney
sometimes you don't even know who these people are. You're right. We look at these pictures, and I mean, dinner. No, no, no. You're good. You're good. And you go. I don't know who that is.
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
So I know who that is. Yeah. And I kind of know. Oh wait, that's me. And I kind of know who that is.
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
But who are these eight other people?
Ian
You're right. My mom has done a pretty good job of like she likes to do ancestry type stuff. I see. Who does that? And so she's been like collecting a bunch of photos and like expanding upon family trees and like putting names to faces and and birth and death dates to a lot of people, and so like it's stuff that I haven't really dug into, but I know that like she's preserving my family's history in a in a really interesting way. That's like super cool. Okay, that like I I haven't really done, and I don't think a lot of other I don't think anybody has done specifically like this, but it's just interesting. Like, I think you're right that it gets to a point where we don't have personal like attachment to the people or to like the history of it, but like it's still part of our history, though. And it's like there's like a level of importance to I think put or to like teach other people about, or you know younger generations like you may not know who this is but like you wouldn't be here without them in a certain way and it's like and anyways it's just cool stuff like that that like I've been able to learn more about like extended relatives that I've never met or never heard of you know and have done cool and interesting things and it's like wow that's so cool but anyways. Yeah, I
Jason
mean, this is a. I find it interesting that you know what what will people
Ian
yeah
Jason
250 years from now
Ian
do we know do we know what was what was in the time cap? Do we get like a
Jason
in Philadelphia?
Ian
Yeah, yeah. Did they tell us what was in it?
Jason
I don't remember Stoney. Do you remember what it was?
Stoney
Are y'all asking me to? Well, I'm just asking. I didn't know if you knew
Jason
or not. But I want to. I
Ian
want to see if we have like a what's yeah what was in it because I'm I'm curious
Jason
if I mean I I just can only imagine what the world will look like 250 years from now, if if
Ian
it's changed so much,
Jason
exactly. I can only imagine what another two and a half,
Stoney
yeah,
Jason
you know, centuries is going to look like. I mean, will we still be here? I mean, will we? Will will a fourth turning have happened? Will America exist as we know it today. Will it? Will will will world governments come about? There is no sovereign. It's just like one world government. I mean, we don't know. We don't know what natural disasters, what sort of man made disasters, you know, might might forever shape something that we can't even fathom right now, you know. We always talk about AI. You don't know how AI is going to ultimately change,
Ian
yeah,
Jason
change the world. Okay,
Stoney
I will say that I didn't mean to interrupt you. It says one was not opened. One was opened in the bicentennial.
Ian
One
Stoney
was just buried.
Ian
I see.
Stoney
It's to call the America 250 time capsule, and the top items were an iPhone 17 Pro Max, gross, a molecular DNA data storage device from the Library of Congress, synthetic DNA encoded with historical materials, including Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Independents,
Ian
really
Stoney
Francis Key Scott's handwritten lyrics for the Star-Spangled Banner, etc. A handheld commemorative flag from the 2026 Rose Parade, the Philadelphia Phillies 2026 Opening Day lineup card,
Ian
okay,
Stoney
a letter from Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro, a booklet for Pennsylvania history, stainless steel plaque from New Jersey with future generations, Liberty and and just a nice list of stuff.
Ian
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stoney
But I think that that that phone is kind of neat.
Ian
Yeah, yeah. But
Stoney
I be honest with you, thinking about it, I think they missed the boat on the phone. Because if you're trying to tell people,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
about today,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
what did they do wrong? What they did wrong was it needs to have a 1% battery and a 30-seven unopened notifications. Okay, that would tell people what we went through today. Okay, that would make a little bit better sense to me, right? Yeah, okay, because isn't that what we live with today? All the little ding, you know, Jason gets his little ring dings and stuff like that. I'm
Jason
dinged out.
Stoney
You know, wouldn't that be more suitable?
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
If you could make the equivalent of that, so they. Oh my God! You know, what does that mean? What was
Jason
that? I'm gonna tell you some things that you would stick in a time capsule that I think would be interesting.
Ian
Okay,
Jason
an Amazon shipping box. Ah, the thing is that I know I know you're probably right, but I I just I would
Ian
hate that because that's that's what that's what world we're in right now. Everyone's making jokes about the Amazon drones right now. Oh yes, I'm like gosh, I hate this. I hate that Amazon is like slowly has over the past like 1020 years has like slowly creeped its way into just being everyone's default. I hate it. It makes me so upset.
Jason
Yeah, like they're shutting
Ian
down all these brick and mortar stores because everyone's like, oh, just fly it over with a drone. Did you see?
Jason
Did you see video of it?
Ian
I have not. No. Yeah,
Jason
I have. Oh, really? Okay. Yes. In in actually yeah yeah,
Ian
and where we live, yeah,
Jason
and it's it's pretty interesting. It it hovers down, it opens up like the back of a c4 yeah, yeah, drops the stuff right in your yard.
Ian
Wow,
Jason
yeah, I
Ian
don't, I don't, that's creepy, man. I don't like that at all. We should lock away a drone. There you go, just lock away an Amazon drone and have it be. That's what art. That's what we were going through. You know, I mean, I
Jason
think that you could put. Do you think about maybe a Starbucks cup?
Ian
Okay, probably. Yeah,
Stoney
Starbucks cup specifically. Okay, that was left on the table in the Game of Thrones. There you go. Yes, yeah, yeah. Okay, it has to be that cup. Yeah, with a picture of yeah. Where it was, yeah, yeah, yeah, and the cup that that's got it's got to be that cup,
Ian
yeah, yeah,
Jason
of maybe a voter registration card. That would be something else. That would be pretty interesting. Maybe a driver's license.
Ian
I wonder. I wonder. I don't. I just don't know. Because again, like I like we said before, I feel like someone would put like a thumb drive in there with like a bunch of stuff on it, but again, it's like, do we know if the in the past 25 years connections between devices have changed so much? Well, you would have to
Stoney
leave multiple things. Yeah, you would have to have like a removable hard drive, a thumb drive, yeah, a couple of disk drives. You know, just as much as our technology has, leave it. But I
Ian
think about I think about the fact of like, what if you were to have somebody handwriting it all? So I'm saying it's like what, like if someone hype. Now I know I'm. This is obviously I'm like hyperbole. I'm like I'm I'm being a little facetious here. If someone was to like put a floppy disk in a time capsule, and we open it 25 years later. Like, like right now, there are certain individuals that can insert a floppy disk and actually do it. I don't. Right. If I open up this capsule, I'm like, oh, look at this. I wonder what to do with it. Right. And even if I look back, even if I look back through history and and figure out how they would actually read this, I would go, man. I don't even. I can't even. There's probably a way again with science and stuff. We could probably decode what's on it, but it just it's like things like that. It's like if you just right now, I feel like a thumb drive feels ubiquitous, but maybe that's not in 50 years from now. Maybe it's something totally different. You know who knows?
Stoney
Hear me out on this one.
Ian
Okay,
Stoney
a month's worth of bills.
Ian
Okay, why why that?
Stoney
So people would know what we were living with in today's society. That's a good point. You know, just a month where all your gas receipts, all your grocery bills, your your your rent, your mortgage, your insurances, car insurances, Walmart receipts, Walmart, everything that you spent in a month,
Ian
right? A
Stoney
receipt for your phone bill.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
everything.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
and have that in an envelope.
Ian
And that's interesting that you think about it like that. Yeah, because I do. So they could
Stoney
see what we had to really live with. Because I
Ian
do think I've looked back at receipts from like you know a McDonald's from back in like the 50s or whatever. You know, it's like you know, 10 cents for a cheeseburger or whatever. It's like that's crazy. Yeah, it's it's
Jason
hard to capture. I mean, in a time capsule, really the context in which these items were. You know, we know that because we live it. But you know, it's just like people 250 years ago, if they had put something in a time capsule and we opened it up today, I mean, we would see the item, but we would probably not appreciate the context in which those items were there because we're not living 250 years ago. It was completely different world at that time.
Ian
I feel like somebody would. I feel like some really intelligent people would probably put some some sort of scientific data in there, like which I think we like, we've talked about. They did in this. They did in this one, but like something like that, like some sort of crazy supercomputer type thing, or like what is like something high tech that we have currently that like is kind of you know crazy to think about now. But imagine you know 50 to 100 250 years from now, we look back on and go. Look at that old dinosaur, right? You know, sound like that would be kind of cool. I think. I mean, that
Jason
would be ancient. Yeah, yeah, right. Exactly old. I mean, probably worth a lot of money. Yeah, yeah,
Ian
exactly.
Jason
You know, to to them. Yeah, it's sort of like what they did when they launched a blue Voyager. You know, Voyager is
Stoney
reaching. It takes 24 hours for its signal to get to us. Now it's one light year away, and it's or something, and it's leaving the dust. It's leaving everything from our our our galaxy or universe or somewhere we are. Our galaxy. Our galaxy. It's leaving that now.
Jason
It's leaving the galaxy, but it's probably leaving our solar system.
Stoney
Maybe so something. Yeah, probably our solar system. Right. So it's leaving something and going into the vast where it may not see anything.
Jason
Right. Interstellar space. Yeah.
Ian
Ooh, in like the dark zone.
Stoney
That's it. The dark zone. That's it. Yes.
Jason
Yeah. But they they put like it was like a record, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I think it was a gold record. Yeah, gold record with all sort of stuff. I think, if I'm mistaken,
Ian
I think it it has a bunch of different greetings in like every language, I believe, and a bunch of other stuff with
Jason
some songs and yeah,
Ian
yeah, yeah. I think also it has like molecular molecular all of our elements. Yeah, yeah, something to do with our elements or something.
Jason
Yeah, can you have that way in case they said if somebody got it out there, they would might be able to. So
Stoney
let me ask you all this: knowing what we know about McDonald's fast food and Twinkies, would. You leave a hamburger and a Twinkie in the time capsule for 250 years from now. It would still be there. It would still be there.
Jason
I know. I know the French fries would, especially in a time capsule. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Stoney
Would would y'all leave those in there? Yeah,
Ian
definitely. Okay. Well, well, you know, I feel like it'd be a bit gross, but maybe you know, who knows? It would probably be preserved. That's interesting.
Jason
They probably would put it some sort of ziplock bag. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stoney
Something.
Jason
Yeah, and then you know.
Stoney
I don't think you'd have to though. The way it lasts now, you got people with a hamburger 25 years later. It looks like you could eat it today. I
Jason
mean, you seal it off from from air. I mean, it could pretty much. Yeah, but what
Stoney
about these people that find them under their car seats? Yeah, you know, from 10 or 15 years ago, and it looks like they made it. That's where that
Jason
fry went.
Ian
I I looked it up just to to go back, and it's I don't think it's technically left the solar system, but it says the boundary of the probes have crossed what is called the heliopause, which I guess is like that, like that farthest extent of the sun, potentially the solar winds. Okay. So it says at this point the outward push of the solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium, which whatever that means. So the probes are now traveling through interstellar space, measuring cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and plasma and stuff like that. So I think it's it's, I think it's potentially not getting pushed by our sun, but potentially just going with their ways. Yeah, yeah, whatever. But you're right, though. I think it's it's getting that point where it's like it's crossing some thresholds that it hasn't no no other has so far, which is actually really cool to to hear about. That's super sick, but also kind of crazy to think about. But yeah, I'm I I don't know. There's a lot of different stuff. I feel like people could put in a in a time capsule. I'm also curious to hear, like, you know, if anybody else has ever had like a time capsule that they've done. I I attended a church for a long time that I think had put there. I'm not sure when it was. I believe it was supposed to be for 50 years, and I think it was put there in the 80s. I believe whenever the current sanctuary was built, an Eagle Scout had made like a cairn of stones, like a little like memorial stone thing, and in there they put there's like a removable stone in the front of it that you can like put they they put a time capsule in I believe, and they put a bunch of stuff from the '80s in there, and they sealed it away with the rock that I think is supposed to be, and I'm not sure if that's you know if that's still there or or how that would work or not, but it's just curious to think about that like potentially in 2030, I believe they're supposed to open it, and so you know trying to I'm interested to see what's in it. That's cool, and it's it's fascinating and it's interesting and it kind of gets me excited. And so I wonder like who else has kind of done you know, time capsules. Not only like for myself when I was born, but like it kind of got me interested in, like you had said, making your own and figuring out how you would put some things into it and finding some interesting ways. So
Stoney
I got one more thing to throw. Yeah, looking at all of us.
Ian
Okay, for
Stoney
different reasons, which I'll put a pair of glasses in there.
Ian
Okay.
Stoney
Yes. Because in 250 years, yeah, I doubt they'll need them. Right.
Ian
Really. Okay. Think about that. Think about that. I have new
Stoney
toric lenses in my eyes that I only need something to read with now. Correct. They'll probably have cybernetics. They'll have awkward. So would putting a nice pair of readers and bifocals and trifocals in there, right? So that oh, you know, what is this? You know, would that be interesting? And what what would that say about us?
Ian
That is true. It also is going to be thinking about other like medical type stuff. You know, like pacemaker,
Ian
some band aids. You know, yeah, yeah. It's just like a common thing that we have. The Esporin, yeah, yeah, yeah, or whatever. Bottle of
Jason
Tylenol, yeah, and stuff like that. That's like crazy
Ian
to think about. That again, you know, because I feel like I feel like I've I've also looked back at like old bottles of like Coke and things like that, or you know, you know, Coca Cola and things like that from like a from a bygone era and in the glass bottles,
Stoney
and what about a nice bottle of brandy? There
Ian
you go. Hey, you know,
Stoney
because if it's sealed and don't get any air in it, it'll be good. It'll be good.
Ian
That's interesting.
Stoney
Yeah,
Ian
celebration upon opening. Yeah,
Jason
I mean, they find that stuff like in shipwrecks. Yeah, they found
Stoney
honey back from the Egyptian, you know, pyramid times-that's still edible.
Ian
That's crazy. Think about that. That's
Jason
that's wild. Yeah. Think about that.
Ian
Speaking of like shipwrecks, putting currency, not maybe not like a large sum of money in there, but like a bill. Yeah, a couple of quarters or whatever we have in there. Penny or nickel. Yeah. Right. You know, just especially now that the penny's not. Not in circulation, or not in what? What is the proper term? Not in circulation. They stopped making it. Yeah, yeah. So yeah,
Jason
they stopped production of it. So basically, what's the outcome? There's still a
Stoney
trillion pennies out there. It's like they don't really need to make any more exactly,
Ian
but still. So yeah, it's fascinating, and I'm I'm interested to see. Do they say when this 250 capsule they put in the ground is supposed to be opened. Do they? They
Stoney
do have a date. Hold on, let me see here. Was it
Ian
supposed to be another 250? Yeah, it's in
Jason
2022 76.
Ian
Oh my gosh,
Stoney
July the fourth, 2276.
Ian
Okay, you're right. Thinking about that date, 2276
Jason
We'll be long. I mean, we won't. Oh, we'll
Stoney
definitely be long gone. Yeah,
Ian
yeah.
Jason
Well, you think about. I plan
Stoney
on being around. I mean, look. I think about. I think about the
Jason
voice records of this podcast. You're right. I would. I would put that. They probably be somewhere in some archive somewhere, that that's
Ian
interesting to think about. We can do that
Stoney
ourselves. We could do that. Yeah, you know,
Jason
I mean, I got I got
Stoney
a 16 gigabyte um or what is the big one? 664 No, what what is it?
Ian
Terabyte.
Stoney
Terabyte.
Ian
There you go.
Stoney
And we'll just put them all on there.
Ian
There you go.
Stoney
We'll do our own. Yeah,
Jason
I mean,
Ian
for all of history, I
Jason
would be very interesting to see if you know if that would you know somebody 250 years would somehow uncover this or hear these guys talking.
Ian
Wouldn't it be interesting? You know, for for me, I'm thinking of my own personal situation. Like, wouldn't it be interesting if like my grandchildren were to listen to
Jason
you,
Ian
yeah,
Jason
that's right.
Ian
My thoughts and feelings after
Jason
yeah, think after you're gone, and they listened as an adult. There was
Stoney
there was a man that I was a bodyguard for back in the the mid '80s, and he was one of the the long cronies, the Huey P. Long cronies. He came in the time when Louisiana and Baton Rouge and New Orleans were really taken off with the Huey P. Long era, and I really wanted to just write down what he knew. Yeah, because he saw it all. He came to Baton Rouge at 18 years old with his parents' life savings, I think it was 60-$4
Ian
Get out! He
Stoney
had an eighth-degree education and passed in 80-nine as one of the wealthiest men in Louisiana.
Jason
Wow!
Stoney
And he was just an amazing individual. But the stuff that he knew and saw,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
I would have really. But he kind of passed before we had talked about doing that,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
and he passed before then. And it's just such a shame because to have that knowledge,
Ian
yeah,
Stoney
pass away and just be gone. You know, it's like I tell everybody, my deathbed confession is going to be fricking awesome, but you know, we're in the age now where we can put those things down.
Jason
Yeah, yeah. I remember my grandmother when she was, you know, getting to that point. I remember talking about her youth and and you know living through the 27 flood and and I mean and all that that what that involved I mean that's a completely different world you know from we can't even imagine that yeah but I was going to say it sounds like that
Ian
person that you're talking about Stoney is from a from a different world it is now he lived and he lived
Stoney
a couple of different worlds right if you think about it, yeah, I think he was 80 years old in 1889 So he was the turn of the century when he was when he was. That's what that's on. How much did he see? He saw pre war. Yeah, yeah. You know, during the war, he saw post war.
Ian
What I and I agree with what you're saying. What I meant by that is like he he, that was 100 years ago or 120 years ago or whatever that would be, and it's crazy to think that like that is a different world. All that that span of time, like you said, all the different things that took place throughout history is a different thing altogether. Let alone 250 years, like you like you had said, Jason. With like you know, at one point in time, you know, people were not created equal in a lot of different ways, and it's just
Jason
that's right. But I mean, if you go, I mean, you go by far enough. That's what I'm saying. That's what makes yeah this country unique.
Ian
Yeah, it
Jason
was the first really country to really make that kind of statement.
Stoney
Yeah,
Jason
because for most of human history, there is no equality. I mean, that the idea that people had dignity and all-I mean, it just didn't exist. That wasn't even part of the lexicon. I mean, so it is. I mean, but if
Stoney
you think about it, the this generation now that's coming of. Age, was it Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha?
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
What's one of the things you see on social media popping up all the time? Dad, tell me your story. Mom, tell me your story. You see these books and these recording things where you're asking these older generations to tell me who you are.
Ian
Yeah.
Stoney
They're longing for that. They're looking back for that.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
and I think that's really interesting. And I wonder if that wouldn't be something that we could put a time in the time capsule of how these generations were going back to the older ways or looking back to
Ian
it. Yeah,
Stoney
I think that would be fascinating. You know, 250 years from now, oh look here-they were on this track, but then all of a sudden, willingly they wanted to go in this direction that was more the old ways.
Ian
Yeah,
Stoney
and I think that would be fascinating too.
Ian
I agree.
Stoney
Just a thought. Yeah, you know, yeah,
Ian
that's that's that's absolutely that's really crazy. But as I had said earlier, and to to kind of wrap out this episode, I'm I'm interested to hear if anybody else in the comment sections or on our email has experienced a time capsule, whether it be that
Stoney
is a good thing about this show.
Ian
Yeah, squirrel, squirrel. You're right. You're right. Sorry. No, no, no, no. I I I'm I'm not saying anything bad about that. I like I love our conversations, especially when they I feel like they so seamlessly evolve into the next thing into the next thing. But if anybody has you know has has experienced what it's like to open up a time capsule, whether it be personal or you know school wise or for a church or for whatever schools used to do that a lot. I believe back back in like the
Stoney
50s and 40s and 60s. Lots of schools had their time capsules put in there. Yeah,
Ian
that's so nice. But we have comment sections on Spotify and on YouTube where you can leave those short form responses. Or if you have a really long form response you want to give us, we have an email address getoffended together@gmail.com where you can send it in. We appreciate you listening, and until next time, bye bye.
Jason
Ian, I have a letter, a little short letter. I just want to read it. Maybe you can incorporate it. If not, I just got ID. I just kind of was curious. I it says a letter to 2276 If you're reading this, we're long gone. We were the generation that grew up riding bicycles until the streetlights came on, but ended our lives asking artificial intelligence for answers. We witnessed the birth of the internet, watched computers shrink into our pockets, and wondered whether machines would someday think like us. We hoped technology would make life better. Sometimes it did. Sometimes it made us forget to look up from our screens. If your world is richer, kinder, and wiser than ours, then perhaps we left you more than artifacts. We left you a foundation. And if you're still searching for meaning after all your technological miracles, remember the greatest innovations were never computers or rockets-they were love, family, faith, freedom, and the courage to imagine a better tomorrow. Goodbye, everyone, and God bless.
Stoney
America at 250 is still loud, stubborn, brilliant, wounded, funny, faithful, divided, generous, and alive. The question is whether America at 500 will thank us for what we preserved or forgive us for what we wasted. Thanks for joining us today. You're the best. Peace.