@cstross Okay - what about a group that takes as given that neither they nor their descendants will be alive aim to establish a foundation/group/club/whatever that can wants to *eventually* build an ark to reach Proxima Centauri at it's closest approach in about 26,000 years.

The ideals, goals, ambition, institutional methods established by the "tree planting" generations just pitching designs and funding research, etc.

Presumably non-nazis.

Basically Long Now foundation + Centauri Dreams.

@cstross @stevenaleach
Universities hang around. Building a department which can sustain an area of study through many generations of graduate students, PhDs and professorships wouldn't be trivial.

#Anathem doesn't seem ridiculous on that.

The Long Range Foundation is even better named for this than the Long Now, albeit the latter is real.

@Photo55 @cstross @stevenaleach Even if we count from the Great Schism, the Papacy is a longer-lasting institution than any university, I think?

The Nine Houses made it to ten thousand years but it probably helps if God's still around and can send you a note if you're doing it wrong. :-)

@denisbloodnok

Well, currently the Curia etc is an example of religious nature*, but perhaps not quite so continuous as people regard it, nor so devoted to a single aim, other than power, as might be needed to move anything between stars.

But yes, an old institution.

* I.E. one of the two structural approaches given above as persisting for long periods.
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