this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024

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Long-term nuclear waste warning messages (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 21 hours ago by dantheclamman@lemmy.world to c/wikipedia@lemmy.world

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[–] Kilometers_OBrien@startrek.website 7 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Is this loss?

[–] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 7 hours ago

I think I may be hallucinating but I'm pretty sure this is loss

[–] hsdkfr734r@feddit.nl 3 points 8 hours ago

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 6 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I think about these a lot. It's a cool way to frame "how do we communicate to someone who may not share any languages or even iconography with us?"

Almost alien to think about. So cool.

[–] earmuff@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 hours ago

Reminds me of the golden record

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 49 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 10 points 18 hours ago

Sometimes once in a long while, you come across a comment that changes your worldview. This is one of those days

[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 4 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Don't get me wrong, I think these warnings are important, but the wording especially strikes me as something that would achieve the exact opposite of its intended purpose - could you imagine an archaeologist, random explorer, or even grave robber, would heed such a warning, or think "if someone wanted to hide something of great value or interest, this is exactly how they would try to keep people out"? It didn't work for the Egyptians..

[–] Object@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

It reads like a riddle, especially with those repeated words. Someone's definitely going to spend some time trying to solve this. Wonder what kind of conclusion they would draw.

[–] ShareMySims@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 hours ago

Exactly.

I think a version of "DANGER! Nuclear waste, do not disturb!" in a couple dozen language like they have in user manuals for electronics and stuff, and maybe a selection of visual warning symbols to be safe, would work much better. That way, even if all current languages are no longer commonly known, there should be enough info to figure out at least one of them (a bit like how they did with the Rosetta stone).

[–] dantheclamman@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

"tribespeople, I have sat for quite some time by the lake of the glowing water, attempting to solve the riddle of the carvings! I have a weird tingling rash all over, but I think I have decoded it!"

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 21 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Why did I think that was an xkcd strip at first? 🤣

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 7 points 18 hours ago

I think it's loss

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 5 points 20 hours ago

same, actually!

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 0 points 19 hours ago

https://youtu.be/amn3kn0XPLQ

[+] stoy@lemmy.zip -7 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

These are a waste of money.

Dig a deep hole into the bedrock, put waste into the hole, backfill with clay and boulders.

Any civilization advanced enough to dig deep enough will quickly understand that the material is dangerous.

And if for some reason a primitive civilization does manage to get at the material they will notice that the material is harmful and avoid it.

[–] crapwittyname@lemm.ee 25 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

Any civilization advanced enough to dig deep enough will quickly understand that the material is dangerous.

Well look, there's only really one civilisation we can look at to see if this is true, and that's our current civilisation. It turns out, though, that this civilisation learned to dig through clay and boulders to any depth a few centuries before it understood what radioactive nuclei do to the human body. It's fair to say a new civilisation would probably learn quickly why all of the people mining near the glowing rocks were dying in pain, but progress in that area would probably be measurable in agonising deaths, which is presumably what people are happy to spend money on these signs to avoid.

[–] wandermind@sopuli.xyz 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Having the same sample of one civilization, it has never been particularly deterred by threats of evil and curses on those who enter. If anything, that only increases its curiosity.

[–] fraksken@infosec.pub 4 points 15 hours ago

"The form of the danger is an emanation of energy. "

Energy ... Can we mine that?

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 4 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

How would they understand it's dangerous, harmful, and avoid it?

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip -1 points 14 hours ago

People getting sick?

Seems pretty simple to me.

[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

That's what the last respondent under the "cultural research" section said and I too want to know why the only sane respondent was listed last.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Being listed last isn't bad.

It has been found that humans mostly remember that which was said first and last in a long presentation.

As for why it was listed last, I can think of a few reasons, the most logical is that you normally write an article in this sort of order:

Title

Summary

Description

Critics

Conclusion

And it is a fair way of doing it, first presenting the subject and and then critiquing it.

[–] dantheclamman@lemmy.world 0 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (2 children)

Over ten thousand years, erosion or earthquakes can expose the entrance, contaminating the site. People could dig a well or prospect for minerals. The suggestion of underground activity could suggest to them that it is a good place to mine, or even that there's a tomb or other interesting artifacts

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

If enough erosion or earthquakes occured to expose the entrance, I don't think a sign would fare too well.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Eh, that is is putting way more importance on coincidences than is actually warranted. But lets not loose sight of the general idea.

We need to deal with this waste, on that we are all agreed, we have limited resources to do so.

This means that we need to prioritize the actual waste containment rather than building some weird scarecrow to scare people away who may not even use the same concepts let alone language as we do.

It is ridiculous.

[–] dantheclamman@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

For me, it shows a compassion for the people of the future, which is inspiring in a way. Similar to the Voyager golden records, which are unlikely to ever be found by anyone, it is partially an exercise in understanding ourselves.

[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 hours ago

I'd rather they showed compassion by not wasting resources and built the proper waste disposal sites so that we can increase nuclear power use and shutdown coal/oil/gas.

Global warming is a way bigger threat than at worst a few localized hazards.

Any money diverted from waste disposal to this idea is wasted.