Tue, 12 Sep 2006

Future Be Warned: Keep Out!

An interesting thought ... kinda like the plaque they put on Voyager, but a bit easier in that I think we can safely assume that our audience will be the same species! Be that as it may be, how do you communicate effectively across the eons?

My first thought was that the "skull and crossbones" design would be a universal indicator of "poison" or "danger" but then I got to thinking a bit about history - if I happened across an obviously old skull and crossbones design on a stone on a Caribbean island, would I have found toxic waste or pirate gold? Hmmmm...

Say you sealed tons of radioactive waste half a mile below the New Mexico desert. Assuming the facility survived for 10 thousand years, what sort of "danger" sign would you need? By Vince Beiser.

(link) [Wired News: Top Stories]

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