3 ms·

I think his proposal was to do nothing, since if the signs were ever needed we'd have bigger problems. Whether that's better is arguable.

ianai 9y ago
One possible scenario where it's forgotten about does not mean there aren't others. Maybe the files for the site die a beurocratic death and 9000 years later there aren't any records available regarding the site. Now, one possible alternative would be to incorporate some of the waste into a monolith. People may not be able to decipher or heed warnings but they will probably avoid the thing that kills them. (Probably wouldn't make it past the ERB though)
- slededit 9y ago
  I think the premise is that Geiger counters would be ubiquitous in pretty much every scenario except the catastrophic destruction of civilization. Radiation itself is its own warning sign if you are sufficiently advanced technologically.
  - beojan 9y ago
    As far as I am aware, we don't routinely check archeological sites with a Geiger counter before digging.
    - slededit 9y ago
      You would be surprised at how closely the US is monitored with radiation detectors. There's been more than a few false alarms with pets undergoing cancer treatment for example [1]. I wouldn't be surprised if nearly every square mile of the US was closely monitored now, let alone in a thousand years. > “Vehicle goes by at 70 miles per hour,” Giuliano told the crowd. “Agent is in the median, a good 80 feet away from the traffic. Signal went off and identified an isotope [in the passing car].” > “Turned out to be a cat with cancer that had undergone a radiological treatment three days earlier,” Giuliano said. [1] http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/watch-out-youre-being-watched/ http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/watch-out-youre-bei...
      - ianai 9y ago
        I had no idea. I wonder if they've ever actually stopped a nuclear threat. On the one hand, it's reassuring to know things are that closely monitored that could kill millions. On the other, who knows what other forms of monitoring are in-use.
    - adrianN 9y ago
      Not many of today's archealogical sites come from civilizations that used nuclear power.
      - beojan 9y ago
        That we know of. More seriously, the danger is that we move beyond nuclear fission power and eventually forget it was ever used.
- jonjacky 9y ago
  That monolith, the remarkable and striking "Monstrance for a Gray Horse"[0], was built in the 1990s by the artist/nuclear engineer James Acord [1]. He and his work got quite a bit of press attention then [2], including a long story in the New Yorker. 0. https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5002/5348845141_a13a254968.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5002/5348845141_a13a254968.jpg 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Acord https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Acord 2. http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2001/0114/cover.html http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2001/0114/cover...

ianai 9y ago

One possible scenario where it's forgotten about does not mean there aren't others. Maybe the files for the site die a beurocratic death and 9000 years later there aren't any records available regarding the site. Now, one possible alternative would be to incorporate some of the waste into a monolith. People may not be able to decipher or heed warnings but they will probably avoid the thing that kills them. (Probably wouldn't make it past the ERB though)

slededit 9y ago
I think the premise is that Geiger counters would be ubiquitous in pretty much every scenario except the catastrophic destruction of civilization. Radiation itself is its own warning sign if you are sufficiently advanced technologically.
- beojan 9y ago
  As far as I am aware, we don't routinely check archeological sites with a Geiger counter before digging.
  - slededit 9y ago
    You would be surprised at how closely the US is monitored with radiation detectors. There's been more than a few false alarms with pets undergoing cancer treatment for example [1]. I wouldn't be surprised if nearly every square mile of the US was closely monitored now, let alone in a thousand years. > “Vehicle goes by at 70 miles per hour,” Giuliano told the crowd. “Agent is in the median, a good 80 feet away from the traffic. Signal went off and identified an isotope [in the passing car].” > “Turned out to be a cat with cancer that had undergone a radiological treatment three days earlier,” Giuliano said. [1] http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/watch-out-youre-being-watched/ http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/watch-out-youre-bei...
    - ianai 9y ago
      I had no idea. I wonder if they've ever actually stopped a nuclear threat. On the one hand, it's reassuring to know things are that closely monitored that could kill millions. On the other, who knows what other forms of monitoring are in-use.
  - adrianN 9y ago
    Not many of today's archealogical sites come from civilizations that used nuclear power.
    - beojan 9y ago
      That we know of. More seriously, the danger is that we move beyond nuclear fission power and eventually forget it was ever used.
jonjacky 9y ago
That monolith, the remarkable and striking "Monstrance for a Gray Horse"[0], was built in the 1990s by the artist/nuclear engineer James Acord [1]. He and his work got quite a bit of press attention then [2], including a long story in the New Yorker. 0. https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5002/5348845141_a13a254968.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5002/5348845141_a13a254968.jpg 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Acord https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Acord 2. http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2001/0114/cover.html http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2001/0114/cover...