So here is my understanding of what GenForward does: You record some bits of information complete with what conditions and who it is released to. It could be just some pics, videos and text, or it could be a massive journal. The idea is that this information will be made available to the people you choose for centuries into the future.
It's kinda like you get to be superman's dad - provided that your kids are super. Superman got different notes from his dad when he reached a certain age - complete with snazzy holographic video.
I spent about a half hour on the phone with Jack yesterday and here are some things you could do with this:
1) Some people are unlike me: they are polite. As polite people, they wish to have a life of grace and smoothitude. But, there are some things they want to share with certain folks once they are dead. GenForward provides that tool.
2) Sometimes there is information that you want to put together to share with future peeps (family, friends, you pick you want) collaboratively. So you can do that. Sometimes there is information that you want to share the day you die. Sometimes there is information you want to share when you have been dead for 33 years. You can have as many tidbits of information as you like and every tidbit can have instructions on when it is released and to whom it is released.
3) You can specify that after 44 years (or whatever) everything can be made totally permies. Or not. Or a different time. Or everything is always limited to family.
4) I grilled Jack thoroughly about security. How do you know that it really, truly is family and not some bad guy pretending to be family. Well, while you are alive, you get to choose. And, if you want, you can specify a few other people that can have that same sort of control. Then they might choose other people that will be allowed to pick you gets in or doesn't. If all of those people die and some great-great-great-granchild wants to have a look, the GenForward staff will do the legwork to make sure that person is legit according to your specified criteria.
5) When you die, all your peeps can add stuff to your page about you. Information for the people that will be looking you up later.
6) The idea is that people of the future .... maybe a hundred years into the future .... probably related to you .... could find you freaky interesting and they wish they knew more about you. So this is a contraption so that all that information can be found.
7) Maybe you have heaps of information about other people that you wish to share with future folks too. Maybe your family. Maybe your ancestors. Maybe your friends.
The idea is that there are lots of people powerful keen on geneology, but when those folks are looked up, all you get is a DOB and DOD. Maybe something about marriage and kids. Nothing about their life. Nothing about what they learned from life and wished to pass down.
9) What if you write something in there that is "my advice to the people of the future" and then you tag it for going out to the public 30 years after you die. And then GenForward has turned into this popular thing and somebody reads it and shares it with the rest of the world as awesome advice. You could change millions of lives for the better!
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