LIVE @ VISIONS NYC: “Five Thousand Years” Only Brands Survive

Jun 27, 2025

Join a fascinating journey through time capsules as we explore how culture and commerce intertwine. Discover why brands might be the only survivors of civilization in the next five thousand years. Unpack the significance of an image from the Voyager Golden Record that captures humanity's shift from agriculture to consumerism. Delve into the psychology behind our buying habits and how they shape our identities. This thought-provoking discussion invites us to reflect on the cultural permanence of brands in a rapidly evolving world.

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INSIGHT

Commerce Is Culture

Commerce is culture; what we buy shapes who we become individually and socially.
Time capsules created by brands like Westinghouse serve as cultural documents embodying eras.

ANECDOTE

Westinghouse Time Capsules Legacy

Westinghouse buried two time capsules at the 1939 and 1968 World's Fairs documenting the culture before and after war.
They included media, chemistry, and consumer goods, aiming to preserve a lasting record of civilization.

ANECDOTE

Panasonic's Exhaustive Time Capsule

Panasonic created the most exhaustive time capsule for Expo '70 in Osaka, meticulously documenting items from science to art.
It included durable consumer goods like a King Seiko watch and advanced medical artifacts.

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A replay from VISIONS Summit: NYC featuring Future Commerce Co-Founder Phillip Jackson

What happens when you bury the essence of an entire civilization fifty feet underground? Live from VISIONS Summit: NYC, Future Commerce co-founder Phillip Jackson takes us on an archaeological journey through time capsules—from the monuments of the Westinghouse's World's Fair to NASA's Golden Record floating through space. Through the lens of these cultural artifacts, we explore a provocative thesis: that commerce is culture, and in five thousand years, only brands will survive to tell our story.

What We Buy Buys Us Back

Key Takeaways:

Commerce is culture: What we buy literally buys us back, shaping who we become as individuals and societies
Brands as time capsules: Companies like Westinghouse and Panasonic have created some of history's most comprehensive cultural documents through their time capsule projects, and brands are the most central figures in these critical containers
The psychology of consumption: Repeated exposure through performance marketing mirrors the spreading activation theory that drives curiosity and attitude formation
Cultural permanence: In an era of synthetic reality and AI, time capsules may represent the last authentic artifacts of human civilization

In-Show Mentions:

More from VISIONS Summit: NYC
Westinghouse Time Capsules (1938 & 1968) - World's Fair, Flushing Meadows, Queens
Time Capsule location in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
Panasonic (Matsushita Electric) Time Capsule EXPO '70
NASA's Voyager Golden Record Project
The "Story of the Westinghouse Time Capsule" book
Voyager Golden Record contents and images
The supermarket image on the Voyager Golden Record

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