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I've seen commentary before that this messaging could actually backfire, if you imagine intrepid explorers seeing this message and thinking there must be some g

I've seen commentary before that this messaging could actually backfire, if you imagine intrepid explorers seeing this message and thinking there must be some great ethereal power located inside, ready to be unleashed with the right set of rituals.

brimble 5y ago
Only way this works is if the one reading it knows your culture was technologically advanced, for-real and not just in your own estimation, and has some appreciation of what that might mean. Otherwise, "curse of the mummy? LOL, yeah, I'm sure that's a real thing. Must be something great buried here. Watch out for actual traps, but we're about to get rich, boys!"
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > Only way this works is if the one reading it knows your culture was technologically advanced, for-real and not just in your own estimation, and has some appreciation of what that might mean. This is pretty well guaranteed if they can read your message at all.
  - brimble 5y ago
    I alluded to European expeditions to Egypt for a reason :-) Though maybe there's only a brief window of development in which a culture is both not superstitious enough to be scared by this, and also lacks the technology & knowledge to figure out what you actually mean and verify it themselves.
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      Europeans could read Egyptian inscriptions for two reasons: - A descendant language had been preserved in the Coptic Bible. - The Rosetta Stone provided a parallel text between Egyptian and Greek, and Greek was well understood. But the ability to read Greek gave us more than just an understanding of what the Rosetta Stone said. The Greeks wrote a lot about Egypt, too.
lmkg 5y ago
That's part of the design consideration, and the reason for the emphasis on "no value." I mean, humans gonna human, but you can still try to communicate a difference between "this is dangerous because we booby-trapped our buried treasure" vs "we don't want this."
- selestify 5y ago
  Right, but that could probably be explained away as “Hah, they couldn’t figure out how to strike a deal with the ethereal being, but we have the best mystic in the tribe with us!” I’m not saying the experts did a bad job at all. This is probably about the best you could do to communicate with a culture of unknown technological complexity, far off into the future. I’m just saying, as good as it might be, this communication is likely still pretty imperfect :)
  - wongarsu 5y ago
    > Right, but that could probably be explained away as “Hah, they couldn’t figure out how to strike a deal with the ethereal being, but we have the best mystic in the tribe with us!” In a way that is true. You could in principle use the radiation from nuclear waste to do useful work (like generate electricity), but our sages haven't figured out a way to do so in a way that makes economic sense to us. The waste could be useful to a different civilization with better technology or worse natural resources.
    - BitwiseFool 5y ago
      I wonder if fudging the truth and being less specific is actually better. "A terrible sickness is contained underground. It kills all who come close. We have done our best to contain it so it does not kill you, our children. We have hidden it. It is very deep. You are safe if you do not dig."
- bckr 5y ago
  The purpose is not to control people's behavior over the next several thousand years. The purpose is to behave ethically with respect to people over the next several thousand years.
sterlind 5y ago
like the Pah Wraith were Plutonium and the Fire Caves were Yuca Mountain.

brimble 5y ago

Only way this works is if the one reading it knows your culture was technologically advanced, for-real and not just in your own estimation, and has some appreciation of what that might mean. Otherwise, "curse of the mummy? LOL, yeah, I'm sure that's a real thing. Must be something great buried here. Watch out for actual traps, but we're about to get rich, boys!"

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> Only way this works is if the one reading it knows your culture was technologically advanced, for-real and not just in your own estimation, and has some appreciation of what that might mean. This is pretty well guaranteed if they can read your message at all.
- brimble 5y ago
  I alluded to European expeditions to Egypt for a reason :-) Though maybe there's only a brief window of development in which a culture is both not superstitious enough to be scared by this, and also lacks the technology & knowledge to figure out what you actually mean and verify it themselves.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    Europeans could read Egyptian inscriptions for two reasons: - A descendant language had been preserved in the Coptic Bible. - The Rosetta Stone provided a parallel text between Egyptian and Greek, and Greek was well understood. But the ability to read Greek gave us more than just an understanding of what the Rosetta Stone said. The Greeks wrote a lot about Egypt, too.

lmkg 5y ago

That's part of the design consideration, and the reason for the emphasis on "no value." I mean, humans gonna human, but you can still try to communicate a difference between "this is dangerous because we booby-trapped our buried treasure" vs "we don't want this."

selestify 5y ago
Right, but that could probably be explained away as “Hah, they couldn’t figure out how to strike a deal with the ethereal being, but we have the best mystic in the tribe with us!” I’m not saying the experts did a bad job at all. This is probably about the best you could do to communicate with a culture of unknown technological complexity, far off into the future. I’m just saying, as good as it might be, this communication is likely still pretty imperfect :)
- wongarsu 5y ago
  > Right, but that could probably be explained away as “Hah, they couldn’t figure out how to strike a deal with the ethereal being, but we have the best mystic in the tribe with us!” In a way that is true. You could in principle use the radiation from nuclear waste to do useful work (like generate electricity), but our sages haven't figured out a way to do so in a way that makes economic sense to us. The waste could be useful to a different civilization with better technology or worse natural resources.
  - BitwiseFool 5y ago
    I wonder if fudging the truth and being less specific is actually better. "A terrible sickness is contained underground. It kills all who come close. We have done our best to contain it so it does not kill you, our children. We have hidden it. It is very deep. You are safe if you do not dig."
bckr 5y ago
The purpose is not to control people's behavior over the next several thousand years. The purpose is to behave ethically with respect to people over the next several thousand years.

sterlind 5y ago

like the Pah Wraith were Plutonium and the Fire Caves were Yuca Mountain.