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Judging from the current historical record is this feasible? Most civilizations don't have enough time behind them to prove this out.

Aardwolf 5y ago
In addition, if our civilization lasts that long and technological advancement continues, there's a good chance some use will be found for the nuclear waste and it'll be mined out again
gerikson 5y ago
That's the source of the "This is not a place of honor" meme - it's a study about designing a site that is foreboding across vast time scales, so our remote ancestors^Wdescendants won't be tempted to dig it up. Sweden is going to rely on good old record-keeping though...
- jfk13 5y ago
  > so our remote ancestors won't be tempted To nit-pick, I think you mean descendants.
  - gerikson 5y ago
    D'oh, thanks. Fixed.
- sparcpile 5y ago
  The No Place of Honor came from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant report out of Sandia National Lab back in 1993. It is good read about long time and how to deal with communicating messages through the ages. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/ https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/ https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/m2/1/high_res_d/10117359.pdf https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/m2/...
Permit 5y ago
There's a documentary that explores this idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Eternity_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Eternity_(film) They deal with exactly the problems you're imagining. How do you convey danger to a civilization 100,000 years in the future? How do you get them to take your warnings seriously? (We'd ignore any warning in the Egyptian pyramids created only ~5,000 years ago) How do you handle earthquakes and other natural disasters? I found it interesting and you might too.
- new_guy 5y ago
  > We'd ignore any warning in the Egyptian pyramids created only ~5,000 years ago Worse, the 'mummys curse' became a part of popular culture!
- kzrdude 5y ago
  The key is probably do explain honestly what the warning is about. Then the grave robbers can make their own decisions.
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  We'd ignore any warnings in the Egyptian pyramids, because they'd warn us that the gods would get us, and we don't believe in the gods. We warn future people that the radiation will get them, and if they're more advanced than us, they still believe in radiation. (And if they're not more advanced than us, maybe they think that radiation is a spell from the gods?) The problem is to communicate "radiation danger" to someone 10,000 years from now who doesn't use our language, alphabet, or iconography. That's not easy. Not impossible, but not easy. The other problem is devising warning signs that will survive 100,000 years...
- NikolaeVarius 5y ago
  Unlike Egyptian Gods, which I'm pretty sure have never had any supernatural effects on grave robbers/archeologists who have studied tombs, I'm pretty sure at some point, radiation poisoning will become somewhat obvious. In the same way that the dangers of radiation were found fairly quickly from usage of radium in paints, anyone in the future will probably figure out pretty quickly something is wrong.
karaterobot 5y ago
Look at it this way: so far, our ability to communicate to the future and understand evidence from the past has only increased over time. So, while we have no precedent, we also have no reason to doubt the humans of future.

Aardwolf 5y ago

In addition, if our civilization lasts that long and technological advancement continues, there's a good chance some use will be found for the nuclear waste and it'll be mined out again

gerikson 5y ago

That's the source of the "This is not a place of honor" meme - it's a study about designing a site that is foreboding across vast time scales, so our remote ancestors^Wdescendants won't be tempted to dig it up. Sweden is going to rely on good old record-keeping though...

jfk13 5y ago
> so our remote ancestors won't be tempted To nit-pick, I think you mean descendants.
- gerikson 5y ago
  D'oh, thanks. Fixed.
sparcpile 5y ago
The No Place of Honor came from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant report out of Sandia National Lab back in 1993. It is good read about long time and how to deal with communicating messages through the ages. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/ https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/ https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/m2/1/high_res_d/10117359.pdf https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/m2/...

Permit 5y ago

There's a documentary that explores this idea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Eternity_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_Eternity_(film) They deal with exactly the problems you're imagining. How do you convey danger to a civilization 100,000 years in the future? How do you get them to take your warnings seriously? (We'd ignore any warning in the Egyptian pyramids created only ~5,000 years ago) How do you handle earthquakes and other natural disasters? I found it interesting and you might too.

new_guy 5y ago
> We'd ignore any warning in the Egyptian pyramids created only ~5,000 years ago Worse, the 'mummys curse' became a part of popular culture!
kzrdude 5y ago
The key is probably do explain honestly what the warning is about. Then the grave robbers can make their own decisions.
AnimalMuppet 5y ago
We'd ignore any warnings in the Egyptian pyramids, because they'd warn us that the gods would get us, and we don't believe in the gods. We warn future people that the radiation will get them, and if they're more advanced than us, they still believe in radiation. (And if they're not more advanced than us, maybe they think that radiation is a spell from the gods?) The problem is to communicate "radiation danger" to someone 10,000 years from now who doesn't use our language, alphabet, or iconography. That's not easy. Not impossible, but not easy. The other problem is devising warning signs that will survive 100,000 years...
NikolaeVarius 5y ago
Unlike Egyptian Gods, which I'm pretty sure have never had any supernatural effects on grave robbers/archeologists who have studied tombs, I'm pretty sure at some point, radiation poisoning will become somewhat obvious. In the same way that the dangers of radiation were found fairly quickly from usage of radium in paints, anyone in the future will probably figure out pretty quickly something is wrong.

karaterobot 5y ago

Look at it this way: so far, our ability to communicate to the future and understand evidence from the past has only increased over time. So, while we have no precedent, we also have no reason to doubt the humans of future.