6 ms·

I love the idea of trolling future generations and have thought about a couple methods in the past. Yet, it makes me think: are we being trolled by past genera

I love the idea of trolling future generations and have thought about a couple methods in the past. Yet, it makes me think: are we being trolled by past generations? What inexplicable wonders of archeology might just be someone thinking "whoever finds this will be so confused they'll go crazy".

anaerobicover 6y ago
I doubt this was all that common, because it requires the pranker to have the idea of actual archaeologists to play the prank on, and that isn't something that's been present in all societies across history.
- throwaway316943 6y ago
  Archaeologists no but grave robbers have been around a long time.
  - Tuna-Fish 6y ago
    Archaeologists aren't that new either. The oldest museum we know of was curated by Ennigaldi-Nanna, the daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Why do we think she created a museum? When the palace was excavated, dozens of neatly displayed artifacts from widely different eras and places were found. That alone wouldn't be conclusive, except for the fact that the artifacts had labels detailing their origins. In three languages. Ennigaldi-Nanna lived in the 6th century BCE.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
notional 6y ago
How many cave paintings were just some whiteboard equivalent of hashing out an idea
- pletnes 6y ago
  Alright guys, so we’ve got the herd, say, over here. I’ll just sketch’em real quick on the wall so we’re on the same rock here. So at first, a couple of the youngsters chase them down the ravine, which is this crack in the rock over there. Now, after they round the corner, some of our more experienced guys flank them with spears. After running uphill over there, they won’t be rested and we should have a nice meal tonight. Thoughts?
  - jcassee 6y ago
    So if this is what remained on the cave wall ... it was the plan that killed the whole tribe?
    - pletnes 6y ago
      Or maybe they didn’t have whiteboard markers, only permanent ones.
      - kalonis 6y ago
        They had both, but some new hire confused them.
        failrate 6y ago
        If someone writes on a whiteboard with a permanent marker, immediately black it out with a dry erase marker. Then wipe it off. The dry erase marker's solvent will release the permanent marker ink.
  - throwaway894345 6y ago
    Nah, it was a prehistoric whiteboard interview.
    - m463 6y ago
      "What is the best way to climb a tree to hunt or gather food..."
Waterluvian 6y ago
The trick to trolling the future is effort. The more effort something obviously took, the harder it is to suspect it's just a troll. And this is why I think our generation of Internet people are perfect for the job.
- m463 6y ago
  It will be like the explanation of 20th century history in from the 31st century in Futurama.
- dhosek 6y ago
  We're renovating a house to move into. I want to put a fake but realistic skull in the concrete that will get poured for some stairs. My wife disapproves. I’ll have to do it stealthily. (Recommendations of a good fake skull that’s not too expensive are welcome.)
  - Waterluvian 6y ago
    Real ones work best. When I renovated behind my kitchen cabinets I wrote my email address and "clue 9 of 11. You've almost found the $5000. Email a photo of this clue to this address for the next clue!" If someone ever does I'll ask them for clue 8 and then wonder if they destroy the house looking.
    - nuclearnice1 6y ago
      I guess I don’t understand trolling. What’s the motivation in causing suffering for a person you don’t know? You won’t even see them go through it. Is the fun in imagining them searching high and low for these clues made more pleasurable because it might actually happen? I understand traditional revenge. An eye for an eye and so on. But why does someone want to create trouble presumably for the nice young couple who bought your house with the slightly tired kitchen?
      - pitspotter 6y ago
        Yes, I hate that motivation. More trivially there are people who enjoy baiting and winding other people up. Why? I don't know. However I think I know the reason it's permitted to exist: because it makes its victims more resilient. The troll knows this at some level so his conscience is relatively untroubled.
twic 6y ago
Mentioned here recently i think: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron
oasisbob 6y ago
People are diverse enough that with a few millennia, probably no need to troll. There's an archaeological site near here, vaguely described in most publications. If you can get your hands on some of the original field reporting, you learn that one of the finds was a burial site where the head of the deceased was replaced with that of a canine. Not a known practice, apparently.
- flir 6y ago
  Deviant burial. Not that unusual, as a class.
api 6y ago
Even better: lets seed Mars with life and leave an actual mysterious buried or maybe orbiting artifact for future intelligences to find should any evolve there. Then the Martian equivalent of Giorgio Tsoukalos, the Ancient Aliens guy with the crazy hair, would be right.
thedanbob 6y ago
I got to go on a dig a few years ago. We were excavating a site that likely was once the location of a large building. My supervisor pointed out a long, shallow, obviously man-made cut in the bedrock that ended abruptly and had no obvious purpose. He said his theory is someone screwed up and started cutting the foundation in the wrong spot. It was comforting to realize that none of my mistakes are likely to be preserved for the next few millennia.

anaerobicover 6y ago

I doubt this was all that common, because it requires the pranker to have the idea of actual archaeologists to play the prank on, and that isn't something that's been present in all societies across history.

throwaway316943 6y ago
Archaeologists no but grave robbers have been around a long time.
- Tuna-Fish 6y ago
  Archaeologists aren't that new either. The oldest museum we know of was curated by Ennigaldi-Nanna, the daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Why do we think she created a museum? When the palace was excavated, dozens of neatly displayed artifacts from widely different eras and places were found. That alone wouldn't be conclusive, except for the fact that the artifacts had labels detailing their origins. In three languages. Ennigaldi-Nanna lived in the 6th century BCE.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

notional 6y ago

How many cave paintings were just some whiteboard equivalent of hashing out an idea

pletnes 6y ago
Alright guys, so we’ve got the herd, say, over here. I’ll just sketch’em real quick on the wall so we’re on the same rock here. So at first, a couple of the youngsters chase them down the ravine, which is this crack in the rock over there. Now, after they round the corner, some of our more experienced guys flank them with spears. After running uphill over there, they won’t be rested and we should have a nice meal tonight. Thoughts?
- jcassee 6y ago
  So if this is what remained on the cave wall ... it was the plan that killed the whole tribe?
  - pletnes 6y ago
    Or maybe they didn’t have whiteboard markers, only permanent ones.
    - kalonis 6y ago
      They had both, but some new hire confused them.
      - failrate 6y ago
        If someone writes on a whiteboard with a permanent marker, immediately black it out with a dry erase marker. Then wipe it off. The dry erase marker's solvent will release the permanent marker ink.
- throwaway894345 6y ago
  Nah, it was a prehistoric whiteboard interview.
  - m463 6y ago
    "What is the best way to climb a tree to hunt or gather food..."

Waterluvian 6y ago

The trick to trolling the future is effort. The more effort something obviously took, the harder it is to suspect it's just a troll. And this is why I think our generation of Internet people are perfect for the job.

m463 6y ago
It will be like the explanation of 20th century history in from the 31st century in Futurama.
dhosek 6y ago
We're renovating a house to move into. I want to put a fake but realistic skull in the concrete that will get poured for some stairs. My wife disapproves. I’ll have to do it stealthily. (Recommendations of a good fake skull that’s not too expensive are welcome.)
- Waterluvian 6y ago
  Real ones work best. When I renovated behind my kitchen cabinets I wrote my email address and "clue 9 of 11. You've almost found the $5000. Email a photo of this clue to this address for the next clue!" If someone ever does I'll ask them for clue 8 and then wonder if they destroy the house looking.
  - nuclearnice1 6y ago
    I guess I don’t understand trolling. What’s the motivation in causing suffering for a person you don’t know? You won’t even see them go through it. Is the fun in imagining them searching high and low for these clues made more pleasurable because it might actually happen? I understand traditional revenge. An eye for an eye and so on. But why does someone want to create trouble presumably for the nice young couple who bought your house with the slightly tired kitchen?
    - pitspotter 6y ago
      Yes, I hate that motivation. More trivially there are people who enjoy baiting and winding other people up. Why? I don't know. However I think I know the reason it's permitted to exist: because it makes its victims more resilient. The troll knows this at some level so his conscience is relatively untroubled.

twic 6y ago

Mentioned here recently i think: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron

oasisbob 6y ago

People are diverse enough that with a few millennia, probably no need to troll. There's an archaeological site near here, vaguely described in most publications. If you can get your hands on some of the original field reporting, you learn that one of the finds was a burial site where the head of the deceased was replaced with that of a canine. Not a known practice, apparently.

flir 6y ago
Deviant burial. Not that unusual, as a class.

api 6y ago

Even better: lets seed Mars with life and leave an actual mysterious buried or maybe orbiting artifact for future intelligences to find should any evolve there. Then the Martian equivalent of Giorgio Tsoukalos, the Ancient Aliens guy with the crazy hair, would be right.

thedanbob 6y ago

I got to go on a dig a few years ago. We were excavating a site that likely was once the location of a large building. My supervisor pointed out a long, shallow, obviously man-made cut in the bedrock that ended abruptly and had no obvious purpose. He said his theory is someone screwed up and started cutting the foundation in the wrong spot. It was comforting to realize that none of my mistakes are likely to be preserved for the next few millennia.