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I miss some discussion of human curiosity. Isn't a large part of contemporary culture structured around stories of going past ominuous warnings to find the arc

by fhars 17y ago

I miss some discussion of human curiosity. Isn't a large part of contemporary culture structured around stories of going past ominuous warnings to find the arc of covenant/holy grail/amulet of yendor? So what is the convincing argument that a huge designed structure will not trigger exactly the behaviour it is supposed to discourage? And even if the political elites of a 10000AD culture believe the warnings they read in the accepted translations of the inscriptions, who is going to stop a well equipped fringe scientist of trying to prove these boring, timid bureaucrats wrong?

karzeem 17y ago
They note toward the end of the essay that the best deterrent may be the illness suffered by the first explorers of the site and that in fact, that may be a cheaper warning system than everything they've discussed building. In any case, if we can make the arguably optimistic assumption that technology won't suffer any major setbacks in the next 10,000 years, cultures at the end of that time frame should have figured out how to safely explore a radioactive waste site. Even we know how to do it today, if you count sending in robots as exploration. As the writers say, as long as the radioactivity stays contained, the damage it can/will cause is relatively self-limiting.
- delackner 17y ago
  Read more closely. Early in the paper they discuss that strong warnings might go unheeded as the danger is far below ground. They then suggest that it might be most effective to actually contaminate the surface level of the site with low-levels of radioactive material so as to purposefully kill people that invade the site. They then suggest doing calculations to see whether the expected casualties over 10,000 years would be worth it. Icky but cold and calculated thinking about a cold topic.
mhansen 17y ago
I believe human curiosity is taken as a given. I hope it will lead them to look at the information given. The trick will be making them believe it. This is a hard problem. I wish it were a problem we didn't have.
- sili 17y ago
  Humans did not believe similar threats of sicknes and death on Egiptian piramids, I do not see how these warnings would be treated differently.
  - mhansen 17y ago
    The Eqyptian pyramids were clearly 'a place of honor', made with a perfect shape, and certainly infused with riches galore. They're trying to convey the exact opposite here.

by fhars 17y ago

karzeem 17y ago

They note toward the end of the essay that the best deterrent may be the illness suffered by the first explorers of the site and that in fact, that may be a cheaper warning system than everything they've discussed building. In any case, if we can make the arguably optimistic assumption that technology won't suffer any major setbacks in the next 10,000 years, cultures at the end of that time frame should have figured out how to safely explore a radioactive waste site. Even we know how to do it today, if you count sending in robots as exploration. As the writers say, as long as the radioactivity stays contained, the damage it can/will cause is relatively self-limiting.

delackner 17y ago
Read more closely. Early in the paper they discuss that strong warnings might go unheeded as the danger is far below ground. They then suggest that it might be most effective to actually contaminate the surface level of the site with low-levels of radioactive material so as to purposefully kill people that invade the site. They then suggest doing calculations to see whether the expected casualties over 10,000 years would be worth it. Icky but cold and calculated thinking about a cold topic.

mhansen 17y ago

I believe human curiosity is taken as a given. I hope it will lead them to look at the information given. The trick will be making them believe it. This is a hard problem. I wish it were a problem we didn't have.

sili 17y ago
Humans did not believe similar threats of sicknes and death on Egiptian piramids, I do not see how these warnings would be treated differently.
- mhansen 17y ago
  The Eqyptian pyramids were clearly 'a place of honor', made with a perfect shape, and certainly infused with riches galore. They're trying to convey the exact opposite here.