As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options

That's fucking interesting man, that's fucking interesting! (nsf56k)

#pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odoursPope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
edited June 2014 in Social Entropy++
The internet is a fun place. If you're like me, sometimes you hear about a thing and you go look it up, and suddenly it's four days later and your finger tips have blisters and you have a beard and your girlfriend has moved out but damn if you don't know everything there is to know about shoelaces.

This is a thread to post and talk about things that make you say
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhJOx_4WSzg

In 2006 I read an article that I really loved about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. A massive nuclear waste facility designed to store hazardous material that will continue to be hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years. Specifically, the article was about a project manned by multiple linguists, archeologists and sociologists hoping to design a warning system to tell people, 10,000 years in the future, that this place is dangerous and will kill you if you don't leave.

It's an interesting problem to solve, because you can't just write a message or put up radiation symbols because the meaning of that stuff degrades and evolves over even just a hundred years or so. Humans 10,000 years in the future would be completely impossible to understand and probably even difficult to recognize as humans.

Today's episode of 99 Percent Invisible (possibly the best non-comedy podcast in existence and something you should be listening to) was also about this project (It's a long project - the facility isn't due to be sealed and these markers installed until 2038) and it reminded me about it, and it's still really fucking interesting.

Seriously, they had ideas like shaping the landscape to be impassible and ominous
yucca.jpg
spikes02.jpe.jpeg

and they floated an idea

no shit

about genetically engineering cats that change colour in the presence of radiation, and trying to proliferate culture-wide stories and warnings that basically say "when the cat changes colour, get the fuck out."

SO INTERESTING

#pipe on
«134567100

Posts

  • Options
    AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    Weren't they talking about cacti, not cats?

    Just an aside, because the whole thing is super fucking interesting. I heard about it a while ago.

  • Options
    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    Anzekay wrote: »
    Weren't they talking about cacti, not cats?

    Just an aside, because the whole thing is super fucking interesting. I heard about it a while ago.

    cats_0.jpg

  • Options
    AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    Ah, I hadn't heard that one.

    Looking through the first article it does mention funny coloured cacti, so I must've heard about that sometime.

  • Options
    Dongs GaloreDongs Galore Registered User regular
    Frankly I think we should devote significantly more resources brainstorming ways to terrify future civilizations

  • Options
    tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Now i'm wondering what made them pick cats as species most likely to hang around for the next 10k years

    I mean I'm not saying cats are going anywhere just seems like cockroaches might have been a better bet all things considered.

    Plus their genes are easier to tinker with. And they have quite interesting visual systems and ok actually I'm just gonna walk away because cockroaches are probably not that cool to most people.

  • Options
    DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    tynic wrote: »
    Now i'm wondering what made them pick cats as species most likely to hang around for the next 10k years

    I mean I'm not saying cats are going anywhere just seems like cockroaches might have been a better bet all things considered.

    Plus their genes are easier to tinker with. And they have quite interesting visual systems and ok actually I'm just gonna walk away because cockroaches are probably not that cool to most people.

    Nah, cockroaches are pretty sweet. I just don't want them in my house or near me ever.

    JtgVX0H.png
  • Options
    Dongs GaloreDongs Galore Registered User regular
    People wouldn't keep cockroaches around by choice, they might not notice the color thing if they don't tolerate their presence anyway

  • Options
    MetalbourneMetalbourne Inside a cluster b personalityRegistered User regular
    tynic wrote: »
    Now i'm wondering what made them pick cats as species most likely to hang around for the next 10k years

    I mean I'm not saying cats are going anywhere just seems like cockroaches might have been a better bet all things considered.

    Plus their genes are easier to tinker with. And they have quite interesting visual systems and ok actually I'm just gonna walk away because cockroaches are probably not that cool to most people.

    Because then the saying would be, "if the cockroaches are completely unaffected then you're in a radiation zone!"

  • Options
    tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    i think neon glowing cockroaches would draw attention.

  • Options
    Dongs GaloreDongs Galore Registered User regular
    also I guess cats would be a pretty fair bet for redomestication if humans survived to rebuild civilization

    they're useless nowadays for all practical purposes but they were totally awesome before we invented rat poison

  • Options
    the cheatthe cheat Registered User, ClubPA regular
    cats are still totally useful. if you have a better way to completely shred upholstery, I'd love to hear it.

    tKfL2Yd.png?1
  • Options
    AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    Cats make the best voluntary portable heaters.

  • Options
    PiptheFairPiptheFair Frequently not in boats. Registered User regular
    Anzekay wrote: »
    Cats make the best voluntary portable heaters.

    except dogs were specifically used for that purpose

    cats weren't

  • Options
    StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    I can't find the article, but apparently scientists have managed to create some DNA using bases that aren't the standard four (and it's not uracil either).

    YL9WnCY.png
  • Options
    UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    Anzekay wrote: »
    Cats make the best voluntary portable heaters.

    Show me a cat that is a better foot/lap warmer than this girl right here:
    q16wv7wif3in.jpg

  • Options
    HermanoHermano Registered User regular
    white-liger-possibility.jpg


    Checkmate, atheist


    PSN- AHermano
  • Options
    HermanoHermano Registered User regular
    Nice doggy though


    PSN- AHermano
  • Options
    UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    Okay, you relax and watch tv with one of those in your lap and tell me how it goes

    And how much you miss having a face

  • Options
    Anon the FelonAnon the Felon In bat country.Registered User regular
    I don't plan on having any problems.

    285471.1020.A.jpg

  • Options
    #pipe#pipe Cocky Stride, Musky odours Pope of Chili TownRegistered User regular
    the cheat wrote: »
    cats are still totally useful. if you have a better way to completely shred upholstery, I'd love to hear it.

    http://youtu.be/ibEdgQJEdTA

  • Options
    Dongs GaloreDongs Galore Registered User regular
    what if all our superstitions are actually carefully engineered warnings from a 10,000-years-dead civilization about superweapons

  • Options
    knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    what if all our superstitions are actually carefully engineered warnings from a 10,000-years-dead civilization about superweapons

    What if your parents never met?

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
  • Options
    JayKaosJayKaos Registered User regular
    Oh man I've heard about this before. The basic message they're trying to get across is downright eerie:
    This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it!Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.

    This place is not a place of honor...no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.

    What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.

    The danger is in a particular location... it increases toward a center... the center of danger is here... of a particular size and shape, and below us.

    The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.

    The danger is to the body, and it can kill.

    The form of the danger is an emanation of energy.

    The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.

    Steam | SW-0844-0908-6004 and my Switch code
  • Options
    CrimsondudeCrimsondude Registered User regular
    #pipe wrote: »
    the facility isn't due to be sealed and these markers installed until 2038
    No it won't. WIPP will never be completed in our lifetimes.

    They aren't even storing the really dangerous stuff at WIPP. That stuff is why people have been arguing about Yucca Mountain for a decade (two?), and is currently just spread all over the place.

  • Options
    LarsLars Registered User regular
    That warning is just going to make them want it more. I can already see the movie trailer.
    Narrator: In a world, time forgot.

    81st Century Nicolas Cage (screaming at guys in suits): What's down there? We have a right to know!

    Narrator: An ancient civilization buried something. They hid it away from prying eyes.

    81st Century John Travolta (folding his hands as he looks at the translations on his desk): What were they hiding down there?

    Narrator: Some things...

    81st Century Morgan Freeman (looking around the chasm as his fellow explorers collapse): It's the rocks. It's in the rocks! Everyone out!

    Narrator: Should stay buried.

    81st Century Random Extra: Based on what we've discovered about that century, we believe it's the Rock.
    81st Century John Travolta (smirking as he reads a file): It's a weapon.

    (81st Century Nicolas Cage observes from a distance as a strange rock is thrown into a crowd)

    81st Century Nicolas Cage: No!

    Coming this summer, Terror from the Past - the Scorpion King

  • Options
    Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood My baby's in there someplace She crawled right inRegistered User regular
    jackie treehorn......treats objects like...women, man!!

  • Options
    nukanuka What are circles? Registered User regular
    Why wouldn't it be easier to fling this into space? I also find the idea of trying to send a message 10k years into the future fascinating, but there is still that risk isn't there?

    DS: 2667 5365 3193 | 2DS: 2852-8590-3716
  • Options
    Munkus BeaverMunkus Beaver You don't have to attend every argument you are invited to. Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    Horses champ at the bit.

    They do not chomp at the bit.

    Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
  • Options
    nukanuka What are circles? Registered User regular
    For the purpose of adding something, very early one morning I found this guy.



    He has a ball of nickel he heats up and puts on random stuff people suggest just for the sake of seeing what would happen. I was running on little sleep when I discovered it so I thought it was cool as shit. I was surprised with some of the results, but it's mostly fun to watch.

    DS: 2667 5365 3193 | 2DS: 2852-8590-3716
  • Options
    Dongs GaloreDongs Galore Registered User regular
    knitdan wrote: »
    what if all our superstitions are actually carefully engineered warnings from a 10,000-years-dead civilization about superweapons

    What if your parents never met?

    what if your mom never met me

  • Options
    Bizzaro StormyBizzaro Stormy I am Bizzaro Stormy. I am Bizzaro Stormy.Registered User regular
    I am Bizzaro Stormy.

  • Options
    TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    You know what I think is interesting?

    Glass blowing

    Also Blacksmithing

    Anything with fire.

  • Options
    InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    I think Napoleonic warfare is really interesting.

  • Options
    ButtcleftButtcleft Registered User regular
    Didn't they stop shipments of waste to that storage facility because the public went all crazy with stupid about transporting waste in"my back yard!"

  • Options
    Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    nuka wrote: »
    Why wouldn't it be easier to fling this into space? I also find the idea of trying to send a message 10k years into the future fascinating, but there is still that risk isn't there?

    Two problems:

    There's a lot of it, and sending shit into space is expensive.
    If the rocket fails, you might as well have been handing it out as Halloween candy.

  • Options
    ButtcleftButtcleft Registered User regular
    Phoenix-D wrote: »
    nuka wrote: »
    Why wouldn't it be easier to fling this into space? I also find the idea of trying to send a message 10k years into the future fascinating, but there is still that risk isn't there?

    Two problems:

    There's a lot of it, and sending shit into space is expensive.
    If the rocket fails, you might as well have been handing it out as Halloween candy.

    Also, shooting it into space means it might come back.

    Then in a thousand years people of earth might have to assemble a new giant ball of radioactive waste and shoot it at the space one to deflect it.

  • Options
    Beef AvengerBeef Avenger Registered User regular
    nuka wrote: »
    Why wouldn't it be easier to fling this into space? I also find the idea of trying to send a message 10k years into the future fascinating, but there is still that risk isn't there?

    because launching stuff into space costs tens of thousands of dollars per pound

    and we're probably not talking about only a couple pounds of stuff

    Steam ID
    PSN: Robo_Wizard1
  • Options
    EmporiumEmporium Registered User regular
    A really neat story that I stumbled upon while browsing wikipedia:

    Timur, founder of the Timurid dynasty, was a right asshole. He saw himself as the sword of Islam, and sought to reconquer the territories of the Mongol Empire. Though he didn't succeed, he killed a shit load of people trying. It is estimated that roughly 17 million people died as a result of his conquests, which was roughly 5% of the human population back in the late 14th century.

    What I find most interesting about this guy is actually the legend surrounding the exhumation of his tomb. In 1941 a Soviet archeologist opened his tomb. The story goes that written in his casket was the phrase: "whoever opens my tomb, shall unleash an invader more terrible than I". The date that the exhumation of his tomb began was June 22, 1941 - the day Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the USSR, began. The story goes on that his remains were re-buried in full Islamic ritual in November 1942, just before the Russian victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur

  • Options
    Crimson KingCrimson King Registered User regular
    #pipe wrote: »
    Seriously, they had ideas like shaping the landscape to be impassible and ominous
    yucca.jpg
    spikes02.jpe.jpeg

    290.jpg

  • Options
    Crimson KingCrimson King Registered User regular
    edited May 2014
    interesting fact i discovered while searching for that

    there's a guy who paints scantily-clad anime girls onto foil magic: the gathering lands cards and seeks them on ebay for, like, forty bucks

    (nsfw maybe? not really, but i guess a little)
    foil_plains37.jpg

    anyway, what's that about

    Crimson King on
This discussion has been closed.