4 ms·

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

by 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.
Hamuko 5y ago
>How do you convey danger to a civilization 100,000 years in the future? Hopefully the skin of the first group of people to dig up our waste sliding right off their bodies will send a strong message.
- dredmorbius 5y ago
  What sort of time interval between attempts are you presuming. At 100k years, there could be generations between such attempts, and accounts could likely themselves take on the form of incredible (in the literal sense of "non-credible") legends. Effects from lower-level contamination might be less pronounced, e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident
BitwiseFool 5y ago
Here are my thoughts: If we assume civilization doesn't collapse, the concept of radiation is likely to remain poignant enough to keep people from futzing around in a radioactive waste repository. However, if we do assume civilization collapses and people forget about what radiation is, we can also safely assume that the future civilization will not be industrialized. If the waste is stored in some place extremely remote, inhospitable, or miles underground, the sheer cost of trying to reach the material would bankrupt any future civilization. We do have some precedence for this, one of the Great Pyramids was meant to be dismantled but it just proved too expensive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Menkaure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Menkaure
PinkMilkshake 5y ago
Don't change color, kitty. Keep your color, kitty. Stay that pretty gray.

by Permit 5y ago

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.

Hamuko 5y ago

>How do you convey danger to a civilization 100,000 years in the future? Hopefully the skin of the first group of people to dig up our waste sliding right off their bodies will send a strong message.

dredmorbius 5y ago
What sort of time interval between attempts are you presuming. At 100k years, there could be generations between such attempts, and accounts could likely themselves take on the form of incredible (in the literal sense of "non-credible") legends. Effects from lower-level contamination might be less pronounced, e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident

BitwiseFool 5y ago

Here are my thoughts: If we assume civilization doesn't collapse, the concept of radiation is likely to remain poignant enough to keep people from futzing around in a radioactive waste repository. However, if we do assume civilization collapses and people forget about what radiation is, we can also safely assume that the future civilization will not be industrialized. If the waste is stored in some place extremely remote, inhospitable, or miles underground, the sheer cost of trying to reach the material would bankrupt any future civilization. We do have some precedence for this, one of the Great Pyramids was meant to be dismantled but it just proved too expensive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Menkaure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_Menkaure

PinkMilkshake 5y ago

Don't change color, kitty. Keep your color, kitty. Stay that pretty gray.