Home » Celebrate With Us »

Reverse Time Capsule

As we celebrate the ASA's 175th anniversary, we invite you to participate in our "reverse" time capsule project.

A time capsule holds artifacts from a specific point in time and is meant to be opened at a later time to give a sense of "what life was like" at the earlier time. The ASA has a time capsule from its 150th anniversary in 1989 that will be opened in 2039, at the 200th anniversary celebration. The reverse time capsule will contain forecasts of or comments about the future, specifically regarding the year 2039, as viewed from the present. Thus, it will be the present perspective on the future.

To place your entries into the reverse time capsule, log in to ASA Members Only and click on Reverse Time Capsule on the ribbon. You'll be presented with the opportunity to make the following types of contributions:

  • Click on numeric forecasts to make your predictions about specific items. When the reverse time capsule is opened in 2039, members with the best guesses will be rewarded with a lifetime membership in the ASA.
  • Click on non-numeric forecasts to submit your written or video predictions about the future of the statistics profession, the future of the ASA, or any other aspect of the future.
  • Similarly, click on messages to submit a written or video message to be read in 2039 by the membership of the American Statistical Association. What would you like future statisticians to know about the status of statistics, or about you, as of the present day?