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The section about the "atomic priesthood" is interesting and reads like scifi: > [Thomas Sebeok] proposed the creation of an atomic priesthood, a panel of expe

The section about the "atomic priesthood" is interesting and reads like scifi: > [Thomas Sebeok] proposed the creation of an atomic priesthood, a panel of experts where members would be replaced through nominations by a council. Similar to the Catholic church – which has preserved and authorized its message for almost 2,000 years – the atomic priesthood would have to preserve the knowledge about locations and dangers of radioactive waste by creating rituals and myths.

time0ut 3y ago
That is an interesting idea. It would need a mechanism for attaching itself to the economic and/or political systems over millennia. Otherwise it would not be self sustaining. A possible alternative is to somehow attach this mission to an institution that has already managed to do this.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
snapcaster 3y ago
Very cool Dune-esque idea, but I'm skeptical they could do this without finding a way to link it to existing religious beliefs. It's not like the Bene Gesserit created brand new religions, just influenced existing ones and added myths here and there
postepowanieadm 3y ago
In Poland someone had a similar idea regarding a church bell - it's heart has to be rotated 60 degrees in 2072, so 50 "guards" were chosen. https://dzienniklodzki.pl/serce-lodzi-mali-straznicy-przeprowadzili-inspekcje-dzwonu-zdjecia/ar/8165265 https://dzienniklodzki.pl/serce-lodzi-mali-straznicy-przepro...
- krisoft 3y ago
  This is weird. Presumably if the bell stops ringing right they will notice it from the fact that it stops ringing right?
  - postepowanieadm 3y ago
    I think it's about not wearing down the shell. Also, a marketing stun.
spacephysics 3y ago
The Church of the Children of Atom
chasd00 3y ago
Just ask the pope to make a reminder every year and have it passed on to the next pope. Catholics are going to be around forever.
throw0101b 3y ago
Or maybe ask the current institutions (monasteries of various traditions) if things could be stored underneath them: they've managed to survive for a few hundred/thousand years already, and per the Lindy effect, [1] they may be more likely to survive longer. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect
- krisoft 3y ago
  This is a plot point in Neal Stephenson‘s Anathem.
rdm_blackhole 3y ago
This is somewhat what Isaac Asimov wrote in the foundation series. Se: https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Scientism https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Scientism This is the extract in question from the link above: "In addition to the technician-priests (an atomic priesthood that controls the technology of nuclear power) from Terminus who travel to the worlds of the Four Kingdoms, the church also recruits priests from among the native populations of those worlds. They travel to a Temple School in Terminus City, where they are taught the operation (though not the theoretical underpinnings) of the Foundation's technology, along with more traditional religious instruction in church dogma, theology and ethics. Any novitiate priest at the Temple School who is bright enough to see through the mystical surface to the scientific principles underneath remains on Terminus to become a research student. The rest return to the Four Kingdoms to form part of the priesthood." (End quote) Basically, disguise the knowledge within the rituals but make the rituals good enough so that the knowledge can be transmitted to the future generations.
suoduandao3 3y ago
Anathem has a great example of that idea. It's absolutely hilarious that the mystical wizard priest's day job is repairing the thatch rooves for the building the nuclear waste is actually in.
VoodooJuJu 3y ago
They have religion backwards. People don't create religions, and religions don't create rituals - rituals emerged and religion emerged after. Taleb puts it very well here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJD5Zfqti8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJD5Zfqti8 It's funny because there's a trend these days of scientizing everything, including religion, and what these guys proposed instead is to religionize science. They think they need to disguise wisdom with myth, as if that's what religion is. It seems they don't understand religion - not good!

time0ut 3y ago

That is an interesting idea. It would need a mechanism for attaching itself to the economic and/or political systems over millennia. Otherwise it would not be self sustaining. A possible alternative is to somehow attach this mission to an institution that has already managed to do this.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

snapcaster 3y ago

Very cool Dune-esque idea, but I'm skeptical they could do this without finding a way to link it to existing religious beliefs. It's not like the Bene Gesserit created brand new religions, just influenced existing ones and added myths here and there

postepowanieadm 3y ago

In Poland someone had a similar idea regarding a church bell - it's heart has to be rotated 60 degrees in 2072, so 50 "guards" were chosen. https://dzienniklodzki.pl/serce-lodzi-mali-straznicy-przeprowadzili-inspekcje-dzwonu-zdjecia/ar/8165265 https://dzienniklodzki.pl/serce-lodzi-mali-straznicy-przepro...

krisoft 3y ago
This is weird. Presumably if the bell stops ringing right they will notice it from the fact that it stops ringing right?
- postepowanieadm 3y ago
  I think it's about not wearing down the shell. Also, a marketing stun.

spacephysics 3y ago

The Church of the Children of Atom

chasd00 3y ago

Just ask the pope to make a reminder every year and have it passed on to the next pope. Catholics are going to be around forever.

throw0101b 3y ago

Or maybe ask the current institutions (monasteries of various traditions) if things could be stored underneath them: they've managed to survive for a few hundred/thousand years already, and per the Lindy effect, [1] they may be more likely to survive longer. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect

krisoft 3y ago
This is a plot point in Neal Stephenson‘s Anathem.

rdm_blackhole 3y ago

This is somewhat what Isaac Asimov wrote in the foundation series. Se: https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Scientism https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Scientism This is the extract in question from the link above: "In addition to the technician-priests (an atomic priesthood that controls the technology of nuclear power) from Terminus who travel to the worlds of the Four Kingdoms, the church also recruits priests from among the native populations of those worlds. They travel to a Temple School in Terminus City, where they are taught the operation (though not the theoretical underpinnings) of the Foundation's technology, along with more traditional religious instruction in church dogma, theology and ethics. Any novitiate priest at the Temple School who is bright enough to see through the mystical surface to the scientific principles underneath remains on Terminus to become a research student. The rest return to the Four Kingdoms to form part of the priesthood." (End quote) Basically, disguise the knowledge within the rituals but make the rituals good enough so that the knowledge can be transmitted to the future generations.

suoduandao3 3y ago

Anathem has a great example of that idea. It's absolutely hilarious that the mystical wizard priest's day job is repairing the thatch rooves for the building the nuclear waste is actually in.

VoodooJuJu 3y ago

They have religion backwards. People don't create religions, and religions don't create rituals - rituals emerged and religion emerged after. Taleb puts it very well here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJD5Zfqti8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJD5Zfqti8 It's funny because there's a trend these days of scientizing everything, including religion, and what these guys proposed instead is to religionize science. They think they need to disguise wisdom with myth, as if that's what religion is. It seems they don't understand religion - not good!