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I always imagined a concept such that instead of trying to deter people from entering was designed to convey that it was trying to keep something dangerous from

by nkrisc 8y ago

I always imagined a concept such that instead of trying to deter people from entering was designed to convey that it was trying to keep something dangerous from escaping. Someone trying to keep you out of an ancient tomb? Clearly there are valuables in there. An ancient tomb that's locked from the outside? That's creepy.

stcredzero 8y ago
An ancient tomb that's locked from the outside? That's creepy. Going by 20th and 21st century media, there should be lots of Asian tombs with "seals" placed on the outside of them. Reality is probably quite different.
jhanschoo 8y ago
Indeed, any uninhabited place with signs of past human activity just invites grave robbing by any sufficiently pre-modern society.
r00fus 8y ago
Isn’t that exactly what an psychopath/despot/arch-villain would want? To unleash destruction on the world... and be the one to find, conquer and control it. I think perhaps the Finland approach of complete obscurity may be better.
- wnkrshm 8y ago
  That's what I thought as well when I saw the picture of the human being poisoned by the radioactive waste and dieing. A culture might think: "This may be a great poison, let's use it to destroy our enemies and lay waste to their lands forever". Not entirely unlike some of our own plans for using nuclear weapons only with less bang.
- nkrisc 8y ago
  Yeah but if they know what's in there they're going to want it regardless. I thought the purpose of these messages is to deter people who might not realize the danger of what's inside and accidentally poison themselves.
Cthulhu_ 8y ago
IIRC the Egyptian tombs / pyramids all had warnings similar to "trespassers will be cursed"; didn't stop the tomb robberies, and didn't stop Tutankhamun's sealed tomb from being unsealed and opened. The parallels to this are pretty clear; supposedly, there was a mold in there that ended up killing a few of the archeologists. Re: the article, and I'm sure I've mentioned this in the previous discussions, they should try and explain radiation as a scientific thing. "This is not a place of honor" is far too vague, and only piques people's interest - like, "well what is it then?", or, "Why would they go through all this trouble?". Either find a way to explain radiation, or - probably preferable - put it in a location that is invisible on the outside and will only become more inaccessible over time, like down a geological fault line.
- nkrisc 8y ago
  Right, the point I'm making is that warning people to stay out is futile. If someone wants to keep you out, it's because they're protecting something valuable. On the other hand if they're not trying to keep you out, but keep something in, is that really somewhere you want to enter?

by nkrisc 8y ago

stcredzero 8y ago

An ancient tomb that's locked from the outside? That's creepy. Going by 20th and 21st century media, there should be lots of Asian tombs with "seals" placed on the outside of them. Reality is probably quite different.

jhanschoo 8y ago

Indeed, any uninhabited place with signs of past human activity just invites grave robbing by any sufficiently pre-modern society.

r00fus 8y ago

Isn’t that exactly what an psychopath/despot/arch-villain would want? To unleash destruction on the world... and be the one to find, conquer and control it. I think perhaps the Finland approach of complete obscurity may be better.

wnkrshm 8y ago
That's what I thought as well when I saw the picture of the human being poisoned by the radioactive waste and dieing. A culture might think: "This may be a great poison, let's use it to destroy our enemies and lay waste to their lands forever". Not entirely unlike some of our own plans for using nuclear weapons only with less bang.
nkrisc 8y ago
Yeah but if they know what's in there they're going to want it regardless. I thought the purpose of these messages is to deter people who might not realize the danger of what's inside and accidentally poison themselves.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago

IIRC the Egyptian tombs / pyramids all had warnings similar to "trespassers will be cursed"; didn't stop the tomb robberies, and didn't stop Tutankhamun's sealed tomb from being unsealed and opened. The parallels to this are pretty clear; supposedly, there was a mold in there that ended up killing a few of the archeologists. Re: the article, and I'm sure I've mentioned this in the previous discussions, they should try and explain radiation as a scientific thing. "This is not a place of honor" is far too vague, and only piques people's interest - like, "well what is it then?", or, "Why would they go through all this trouble?". Either find a way to explain radiation, or - probably preferable - put it in a location that is invisible on the outside and will only become more inaccessible over time, like down a geological fault line.

nkrisc 8y ago
Right, the point I'm making is that warning people to stay out is futile. If someone wants to keep you out, it's because they're protecting something valuable. On the other hand if they're not trying to keep you out, but keep something in, is that really somewhere you want to enter?