What Survives 250 Years

Northern Wisconsin, 1905. A windstorm flattened whole stands of sugar maple across the Menominee reservation — millions of board feet on the ground, already starting to rot. The Menominee wanted to salvage the fallen timber and mill it themselves. The federal authority refused. Downed Indian timber, sold at volume, would depress the price of white-owned timber. Better the trees rot, he decided, than the price of white-owned timber fall.----America turns 250 this weekend, and innovation retrospectives will hand the credit to technologies like the assembly line and the transistor. I wanted to sort 250 years differently — into what was encoded and endured, regardless of intent. A generous billionaire doesn’t pass the test; bylaws do. A bigoted clerk doesn’t fail it; maps do. I discovered a wide range of examples.And what I believe is the opportunity to encode now what will endure for decades or even centuries.----Menominee history: https://www.americanforests.org/article/menominee-forest-keepers/Written with a team of cus tom AI assistants as part of my Innovating Out Loud practice. The ideas, mistakes, and final words are mine. Say it Ugly, Build it Better. Onward! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit innovatingoutloud.substack.com