To prevent people from entering, they should place statues of soldiers in front of the entrance. Thousands of them. Each should be sculpted individually from terra cotta.
This is not a place of honor
51–60 of 287 posts
Re: This is not a place of honor
#52It's a fascinating problem, a way to communicate the concept that this is not a treasure trove, not a historical site, but something dangerous that was meant to be sealed away for many thousands of years due to its hazardous nature. The parting thoughts seem most telling to me thought. They wonder if this really worth it, since in the end coming into contact with the waste is a bit of a self-limiting problem, in that…
It also assumes the future people will be even dumber than the present population?
But also isn't it a treasure trove? Nuclear waste can be reprocessed into fresh fuel. The waste has a large amount of useful energy left.
Re: This is not a place of honor
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Admittedly, I haven't read the article, but the tone of the message suggests that it's not meant for future generations of our civilization, but for future generations of whatever cultures come after our civilization is gone. There's a pretty remarkable old English poem that survived from Dark Ages Britain, in which the author marvels at the ruins of Roman Britain, wondering what giants must have once inhabited the l…
...and as such, any large monumental works are more likely to attract attention than to repel it. May even become a cult place of worship. More effective to bury and obfuscate the site entirely?
Maybe. On the other hand if the place is visibly menacing, and anyone who visits it gets sick and/or dies, then wouldn't a culture otherwise ignorant of the dangers of nuclear waste quickly put two and two together and stay away from the haunted, evil place? Shrug I don't have the expertise to judge whether this will be effective or not so it's all just supposition on my part.
Re: This is not a place of honor
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's a few poisoned people in 12,000 years? They're people, is the important point. If nothing else, this is about keeping a clean conscience, knowing that you did your best to save them.
...and success is measured in minimizing that number. The most effective way might be, to kill interlopers as immediately and unambiguously as possible. Not to attract pilgrims for centuries with mysterious messages and monoliths, who go home to die of unknown sores and blood problems.
> The most effective way might be, to kill interlopers as immediately and unambiguously as possible.
How would you make a system which could kill interlopers quickly and reliably 10,000 years from now?
Also, killing people is a great way to send the message that "something valuable is here."
Re: This is not a place of honor
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
It (this particular plutonium isotope) is also really useful for building bombs. (edit: made it more clear what I meant)
Yes but is also could be used to supply the entire world with Western levels of electric power.
That's one of many ways that you could do that, yes.
Re: This is not a place of honor
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's a few poisoned people in 12,000 years? They're people, is the important point. If nothing else, this is about keeping a clean conscience, knowing that you did your best to save them.
...and success is measured in minimizing that number. The most effective way might be, to kill interlopers as immediately and unambiguously as possible. Not to attract pilgrims for centuries with mysterious messages and monoliths, who go home to die of unknown sores and blood problems.
The actual dangerous material is going to be securely buried and contained. The threat model is people disturbing the site, breaking the containment, and releasing radioactive material. The resulting deaths are unlikely to fit the "immediate and unambiguous" profile. It might just slowly kill generations of people settling in the area. Or, it might get into the air and rapidly kill many more people than those nearby. Better to convince them to stay away.
Re: This is not a place of honor
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. I would tend to suggest that it would be better to hide the waste very deep and destroy all knowledge of where it was buried.
Do you really think that option is feasible? Even the ancient Romans were unsuccessful at damning the memories of their enemies.
How do you know this? We know almost nothing about anyone or anything that happened during Roman times - the fact that a few scraps have survived is hardly an indication that most knowledge deliberately destroyed managed to escape.
Re: This is not a place of honor
#58It appears that most of the images are missing (there are figures that are refereed to but do not exist). Is there a complete copy somewhere? edit: found a mirror http://prod.sandia.gov/techlib/access-control.cgi/1992/92138...
The images were published in high-resolution in some sort of art magazine and probably numerous other places, I cut them out to decorate my dormroom. I've only seen these awful photocopy images on the web, but there are far better ones out there.
Re: This is not a place of honor
#59Use the heat of the waste's radioactivity to power infrasonic emitters, and induce horror and panic in anyone who comes close. Or maybe set it up so that the wind creates infrasonic vibrations. You'd stand a very good chance of convincing people that the place is literally haunted.
Re: This is not a place of honor
#60[deleted]