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If You Had Something to Say to Future Generations...?

gauthier-s asks: "KEO is a project that intends to place a geostationary satellite in orbit that will keep our messages for future generations (up to 50k years after our current existence) as a 'souvenir of Humanity'. Everyone is invited to submit his own message to future civilizations, since it costs nothing to do so. It has been said that any message submitted will be included without any censorship. These messages will be stored for the long trip onto glass disc, which will hopefully be readable by whatever future technology exists when it is recovered. Submissions are possible until December 31, 2002, so take the time to think about your message!" If you feel inclined to share, what kind of message would you leave to the future children of Earth?

124 comments

  1. greed is bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe its too simple a statement, but a lot of people think up lots of reasons to justify greed.

    Indeed capitalism is totally based on greed, it goes to the heart of our covilisation.

  2. Message by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you feel inclined to share, what kind of message would you leave to the future children of Earth?

    Don't blame me, I voted for Nader.

    1. Re:Message by ripicheep · · Score: 3, Funny

      don't blame me, I voted for kodos

      --
      "A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire
    2. Re:Message by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if Space is unlimited it would be cool to send a full mirror of the www. every page everywhere (or at least most of them) it would give the future people a look at our net-culture. and if they didn't understand something they could RTFM.

      I'd also like to send the complete lyrics to every bad religion song.

  3. Like they said Vonnegut said by acceleriter · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wear sunscreen.

    --

    CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

    1. Re:Like they said Vonnegut said by dietz · · Score: 1, Troll

      Please, please stop perpetuating the annoying rumor that Vonnegut wrote that speech.

    2. Re:Like they said Vonnegut said by acceleriter · · Score: 1

      The subject line says "Like they said Vonnegut said. I guess I should have been clearer.

      --

      CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

    3. Re:Like they said Vonnegut said by Scaba · · Score: 1

      One thing Vonnegut did say was "The good Earth -- we could have saved it, but we were too damn cheap and lazy."

  4. Declaration of Ind. and Constitution... by Niahak · · Score: 2

    Both documents (along with several along similar lines) would probably be a good idea to include along with any individual comments. Especially if you subscribe to Orwell's theories of Big Brother etc and believe the future will be one of totalitarianism. I was worried about how the future descendants would be able to read the messages, but it seems they are including a DVD reader along with the storage (in the form of DVDs, of course!) There's no guarantee, though, that they'd be able to plug it in ;)

    1. Re:Declaration of Ind. and Constitution... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One problem with the DVD reader... Modern semiconductor junctions exhibit 'drift'. Basically, the semiconductor will cease to -semiconduct- after about 100 years. The smaller the process used to create the features on the silicon, the faster the decay renders the device useless.

      My $0.02.

  5. AYBABTU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All Your Base Are Belong To Us

    That would leave them wondering for YEARS.

  6. Message by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Say hi to Ted Williams for me!

  7. What else could I say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First Post!

  8. This is not a place of honor. by acceleriter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Steer clear of Yucca Mountain.

    --

    CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

    1. Re:This is not a place of honor. by UranusReallyHertz · · Score: 1

      Insightfull? Ignorant is more like it. The waste that will probablly never be stored in Yucca Mountain is hazerdous for "only" 10,000 years. What really pisses me off is that the "waste" still has 95% of its energy left. Why the hell do we even call it waste? Politicaly Hazerdous Material would be more accurate.

      --
      Smoking is an expensive, slow, and unreliable method of suicide.
    2. Re:This is not a place of honor. by smoondog · · Score: 3, Funny

      What really pisses me off is that the "waste" still has 95% of its energy left.

      Of course you are doing so much better with your energy consumption. What percentage of E=mc^2 are you getting?

      -Sean

    3. Re:This is not a place of honor. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know about him, but my poop powered car is great, thanks! (Except for the smell.)

    4. Re:This is not a place of honor. by zmooc · · Score: 2

      What should really piss you off is that if the amount of money required to store the waste was spent on fusion research a few years ago, we'd be a lot further by now....

      --
      0x or or snor perron?!
  9. Advice... by Chasing+Amy · · Score: 3, Funny

    > If you feel inclined to share, what kind of message would you
    > leave to the future children of Earth?

    "Always...no, never...forget to check your references."

    --

    Chasing Amy
    (We all chase Amy...)
    "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
    1. Re:Advice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I think the students like it when I get down verbally, don't you dear?"

      God, what a great movie. I've known so many people like that.

    2. Re:Advice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ROTFLMAO...

      "This.. This is ice... this is what happens to water when it gets cold. And this.. this is Kent, this is what happens to people when they get too sexually frustrated."

  10. 640K by WiKKeSH · · Score: 2, Funny

    "640K ought to be enough for anybody." Bill Gates, 1981

    1. Re:640K by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wow thats real fucking original

    2. Re:640K by *xpenguin* · · Score: 1

      You mean 640 exabytes?

      Slashdot requires you to wait 20 seconds between hitting 'reply' and submitting a comment.

      It's been 19 seconds since you hit 'reply'!

  11. Ok, by Treeluvinhippy · · Score: 5, Funny

    To the children of the far future.

    If you have invented time travel and are ever around my area/time can I catch a lift?

    --
    >
  12. Imagine A by edbarrett · · Score: 1

    Beowolf Cluster of Natalie Portmans pouring Hot Grits Down All Your Base Are Belong To Us

  13. PS by Kizzle · · Score: 1

    Can you send me a Playstation36 and a few games through time? Thanks

  14. To the children of the future: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    To the children of the future:

    THE OFFICIAL TACO-SNOTTING FAQ
    By J. Wipo Troll, Esq., $Revision: 1.16 $

    [This article attempts to document a vile, ungodly practice that runs rampant through the homosexual geek and hacker community, a practice known as Taco-snotting, or simply snotting. Taco-snotting is something that few geeks dare talk about in free or open conversation, but it is nonetheless a widely-practiced and dangerous form of homosexuality. If you or anyone you know has ever engaged in Taco-snotting, please get professional help before it is too late. ed.]

    Why do I keep receiving emails from an individual calling himself CmdrTaco?

    You have been receiving unsolicited mailings from a certain Robert CmdrTaco Malda, owner of the popular technology website slashdot.org. Actually, its not a very popular site in the common sense of the word; the site is rife with pimply, antisocial geeks and hackers, zit-faced nerds, communists, dirty GNU hippies, and other societal rejects and outcasts. Its also home to one of the worlds largest suspected pdophile rings, the infamous Slashdot crew.

    ...

  15. Dear children of the future: by dimator · · Score: 2

    Have they invented tri-breasted women yet? Like in Total Recall? 4 would be cool too.

    --
    python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
  16. new comptuer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hey can u send me one of ur newest computers through time in exchange for some old artifact

  17. of course by realgone · · Score: 5, Funny

    "MESSAGE TO FUTURE GENERATIONS" LICENSE

    ATTENTION: Please read carefully before opening this geostationary satellite. The individual or entity opening this satellite (the "future generation") agrees to be bound by the terms of this license. If you open this satellite and do not agree to the terms of this license, do not use the glass disc contained within and promptly return the satellite unopened to its geosynchronous orbit.

  18. No Censorship? Ha! by Viqsi · · Score: 1

    There will almost certainly be censorship of the material submitted. It's just that it'll occur when the satellite is retrieved by these future generations and read, rather than when it is put up.

    --

    --
    viqsi - See "vixen"
    If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed.
    1. Re:No Censorship? Ha! by shobadobs · · Score: 1

      Actually, censorship wouldn't matter. How many people can understand the "English" that was spoken 1,000 years ago? Less than 0.001%, by far. Who can understand any language from 4,000 years ago? Who knows Sumerian? Who knows a language from 30,000 years ago? 50,000? The future generations won't.

      More useful would be images. Or some series of images made that could be made into motion pictures (anybody remember that story by A.C. Clarke? :)

  19. I can't make up my mind... by Mononoke · · Score: 1
    1. Look out behind you!

    2. Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish.

    3. Say Hello to iSatellite.

    4. First Post!

    --
    NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
  20. From Slashdot for Humanity.... by EABinGA · · Score: 2

    Would it be cool to get "First Post!" on the Disk?

    1. Re:From Slashdot for Humanity.... by MooseGuy529 · · Score: 1

      Damn, I wanted to say that!

      Well you can try for "Last Post" at 11:59PM on December 31st... =D

      --

      Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist

    2. Re:From Slashdot for Humanity.... by Voltronalpha · · Score: 1

      not if all you say is 'first post'

      --
      There is evidence to prove both Democrats and Republicans are lying cocksuckers. Vote independently.
  21. It's a useless effort by eggstasy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They will never listen to us. Even if we gave them the most insightful advice possible, they wouldn't follow it. Look at the bible! Does anyone actually care about what's in it? Most "Christians" never even read it, let alone understand it. And yet it could similarly be regarded as advice for future generations. And if we could ever somehow follow the gist of it strictly, as in, love your neighbour, live in peace and harmony, do not kill steal or covet etc. then we would have sort of a utopian, idyllic society. But who cares about the bible or any other religious text? It's only created rivalry between people of different religions, and generated the majority of all wars ever fought. Whatever you tell someone, you'll be lucky if they listen to it. People never learn anything except from their own experience. You may try time and time again to teach them how to properly live their lives, but it would take genetic manipulation to get people to actually learn from each other instead of learning from trial and error. If people would only learn from their elders, we would all have ceased bickering amongst ourselves a long, long time ago, after the first wars were fought.
    Just look at spain and morocco. They're getting close to a war over some stupid deserted islands that no one ever heard about.Morocco just invaded one of them, and there's nothing there but rocks and sand, what's the point?
    You might as well send them "frosty piss" and "AYB" messages. They'll shit on them.

    1. Re:It's a useless effort by tunah · · Score: 3, Funny
      Even if we gave them the most insightful advice possible

      You're missing the point. You have to prefix it with 'I'm probably gonna get modded down for this, but...'

      --
      Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
    2. Re:It's a useless effort by Fweeky · · Score: 2

      Um, who said anything about advice? Frankly I think if we're still around in 50k years, we're not going to be interested in advice from the start of the 21st century.

      What they probably *will* be interested in will be the historic value of what thousands of normal people 50k years ago had to say.

      As for the Bible, half it's problem is the advice is either useless, counter-productive, out of context, or common sense. Calling it "the most insightful advice possible" is rather laughable IMO.

      Anyway, in 50k years, the human race will hopefully have changed a lot. We should have developed a post-scarcity civilization and have a mature social, political and economic system. If not, well, damnit, I wanna know WHY not.

    3. Re:It's a useless effort by pyite · · Score: 1

      Care to share some examples for useless, counter-productive, or out of context advice from the Bible?

      --

      "Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman

    4. Re:It's a useless effort by naasking · · Score: 1

      People never learn anything except from their own experience.

      You're being overly optimistic and giving people too much credit. Really. Most of the problems in the world stem from people repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

    5. Re:It's a useless effort by SubtleNuance · · Score: 1, Troll

      Look at the bible! Does anyone actually care about what's in it?

      Are you kidding? The bible is a tuned manipulation device, presented as 'The Wisdom of God' but really the embodiment of the church's effort to control the masses.

      Why th e *&*Q!@( would I care about the hallucinations contained in a work of fiction? What you Jews/Christians/Muslims fail to understand is that the bible is not an absolute re-telling of history. It is not an academic account of the last 4000 years. It is a tool, a collection of stories used to manipulate people, cleverly crafted as Indisputable Fact.

      If there is anything I would tell future generations:

      There is NO All-powerfull God. Take responsibilty for yourselves and one-another. You are all in absolute control over what your future will bring.

    6. Re:It's a useless effort by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Off topic - but sounds like it's been a while since you've read the bible too, my friend.
      Most of the Old Testament is about the fire and brimstone God drops on his enemies, or those who don't tow the line.
      The whole "love one another" stuff you're talking about is part of the message of the New Testament, but it's hardly the most useful of advice.
      I mean - what kind of genius does it take to realize "If everyone were nice to each other, then everyone would be .. umm .. nice to each other and the world would be a better place"
      well.. umm.. D'uh.

      As for your comment about people never learning except from their own experience... I respectfully disagree. Scientific progress is mostly built on the shoulders of our forebears.
      And most peoples attitudes are similarly inherited from their parents.
      The fact is : humans learn a great deal from their parents and others of authority. Whether this learned behaviour and knowledge is accurate, or useful... well that's a different story.

    7. Re:It's a useless effort by cez · · Score: 1

      If we found the bible in a geostationary orbit in the earths upper atmosphere, i sure as hell would listen to it a lot closer.

      --
      Walk with Music;
  22. Advice to the future by smoondog · · Score: 2

    Sell microsoft short.

    -Sean

  23. 5 words by jcsehak · · Score: 5, Funny

    Be excellent to each other.

    --

    c-hack.com |
    1. Re:5 words by foniksonik · · Score: 2

      Dude, I was gonna say that. You went forward in time to see my response and then came back to the present to say it before me, right?

      "Dude, where's my car!?"

      --
      A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
    2. Re:5 words by jcsehak · · Score: 2

      No, you told me. You just haven't done it yet.

      --

      c-hack.com |
    3. Re:5 words by Kirruth · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...and "Party On, Dudes"!

      --
      "Well, put a stake in my heart and drag me into sunlight."
  24. What about great literature? by Knife_Edge · · Score: 1

    I hope that this project includes all the literary classics. They seem to have an infinite amount of storage space, so this should not be a problem for them. I would hesitate to offer my own personal comment to the far future, as I am currently faced with so many worthwhile thoughts from the past which are truly worthy of preservation.

    1. Re:What about great literature? by BigT · · Score: 1

      Can't do that. By then the copyright terms will be extended out to eternity plus one day. Then the lawyers of the future will come back in time to sue you. Assuming copyright violation isn't a capital crime by then...

      --
      Is it weird in here, or is it just me?
  25. Envisioning Dystopia... by wrinkledshirt · · Score: 1

    We should probably apologize in advance about the Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, New Kids on the Block...

    You know, since their annoying yet catchy music has probably burned itself into our DNA and our descendents will all be walking around in girly-boy outfits with atrocious haircuts and humming poorly-written ballads in harmony...

    No, seriously. Am I the only one who sees this?

    (As an aside, I always wanted to do a First Person Shooter where the premise is, a guy is given the opportunity to visit the future, and when he returns, he has this crazed look in his eye, and he gasps, "Kill them! We have to kill them NOW! While we still have a fighting chance! For the LOVE of GOD, KILL ALL THE BOYBANDS NOW!!!" etc. etc.)

    --

    --------
    Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...

    1. Re:Envisioning Dystopia... by NateSac · · Score: 1

      I dont think the boy bands are the problem, they're just a symtom. The earth might be dieing.

      --
      ::i visited slashdot and all i got was this lousy sig::
  26. Dupe the Voyagers by jcsehak · · Score: 2

    A good place to start would be to include whatever was on the Voyager spacecraft.

    I wonder why they picked 50,000 years. I mean, you might as well say 80 gadzillion years. Why not just say "we'll do our best to make it last forever?"

    --

    c-hack.com |
    1. Re:Dupe the Voyagers by cheezehead · · Score: 1

      I wonder why they picked 50,000 years.

      Nothing lasts forever, not even glass discs. Entropy and all that, also causes your razor blades to become dull by themselves. I guess they think the glass disc would still be readable after 50K years.

      --

      MSN 8: Now Microsoft even has bugs in their ad campaigns.

    2. Re:Dupe the Voyagers by jcsehak · · Score: 2

      I hope they're not using normal glass, which is technically a liquid. Look at windows in colonial houses; their bottom is thicker than their top.

      Now that I think of it, they should put in some honey. I know that honey has been dug up from egyptian tombs, and was still good. Who knows, maybe it'll last 50k years?

      --

      c-hack.com |
    3. Re:Dupe the Voyagers by cheezehead · · Score: 1

      I hope they're not using normal glass, which is technically a liquid. Look at windows in colonial houses; their bottom is thicker than their top.

      True, but:
      - modern day glass may have better properties than colonial glass
      - this thing is going to be put on a satellite orbiting the earth. The zero gravity should help that problem.

      Come to think of it: it may be a bigger challenge to keep the satellite's orbit stable for 50,000 years.

      --

      MSN 8: Now Microsoft even has bugs in their ad campaigns.

    4. Re:Dupe the Voyagers by AndrewRUK · · Score: 1

      I wonder why they picked 50,000 years

      From the KEO faq:

      "Why 50,000 years?

      50,000 years is the mirror date to a milestone in the evolution of our species: the first traces of Art reveal the human capacity for abstract thought and symbolic expression.
      50,000 years is distance in time so compelling that it forces us to shed our worries and daily routine and puts us each on an equal footing, inviting us to bask in our thoughts, intuitions and deepest convictions...
      However 50,000 years only represent 1% of the evolution of the human species that have appeared on Earth some 5 million years ago.
      It is also the concept of time and distance that will give our treasures a genuine archeological value because it is very probable that definitive traces of the activities of the Man of today will be in turn recovered by the Man of tomorrow.
      "

    5. Re:Dupe the Voyagers by OctaneZ · · Score: 2
      I hope they're not using normal glass, which is technically a liquid. Look at windows in colonial houses; their bottom is thicker than their top.
      Actually this does not have to do with the time that the window has been up in a house, eg: ~400 years. Rather it has to do with the way that the glass was poured and then installed.

      From Urban Legends.com:
      3)The temperature at which a rigid glass becomes a supercooled liquid is called the glass transition temperature, Tg. For window glass, Tg (measured) is 550 degrees C. For the limiting case of infinite time the thermodynamically calculated ideal glass transition state Tg(0) for window glass is 270 degrees C. For Pyrex the values are 550 and 350 deg., respectively. [This allone should be enough to put to rest any argument for the liquid properties of glass at room temperature (which rarely gets above 50 degrees C).
      "Glass" may not survive 50k years, but it won't be because it sagged.
    6. Re:Dupe the Voyagers by sbaker · · Score: 1

      > I hope they're not using normal glass, which is
      > technically a liquid. Look at windows in colonial
      > houses; their bottom is thicker than their top.

      Think "Zero-G".

      --
      www.sjbaker.org
    7. Re:Dupe the Voyagers by Tower · · Score: 1

      If you made glass, and it was imperfect (due to the manufacturing methods being somewhat crude), would you install the glass with the thicker, stronger part of the glass on the bottom (as a support) or on the top, where it could be a liability to the thinner bottom edge?

      There are some older places (100-200 y.o.) that have the multi-pane glass arranged so that the thickest edge is always towards the outside of the frame (top row, thick on top... right column, thick on the right edge). It had an interesting effect (due to the slight warp in the glass...

      --
      "It's tough to be bilingual when you get hit in the head."
  27. Three Little Sentences by sharkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    1. [whisper] Cover for me.
    2. Oooo, good idea, boss!
    3. It was like that when I got here.
    --Homer

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  28. First order of business for dictator: by ColGraff · · Score: 2

    History satellite go boom. Bye bye, non-state-sanctioned history.

    --
    I'm the stranger...posting to /.
  29. Native perl DeCSS by bmud · · Score: 3, Funny

    is roughly three lines long. If I conclude my message with the source code and explain it's applicability to future generations, will the satellite then become a circumvention device?

  30. Great... by zulux · · Score: 2

    All the crap flooders will fill the poor satelite with *BSD is dying posts - the funny thing is that the life forms that will read the disk will probably be *BSD based sentient AI systems.

    Poor things won't know what to make of the ASCII goastse.cx posts though.

    --

    Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

  31. How about by Zelig321 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's put the whole Slashdot message archive on that DVD. After all, it's the stuff that matters.

  32. And... by Chasing+Amy · · Score: 2

    And:

    There is no sex in the Champagne Room.

    Oh, there's *champagne* in the Champagne Room; but you don't want champagne, you want sex...

    --

    Chasing Amy
    (We all chase Amy...)
    "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
  33. Okay, so I didn't read the article... by extrasolar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm allowed, once in a while, aren't I?

    But 50,000 years seems a bit too long.

    Why?

    The assumption is that our technology will continue to advance the farther we travel into the future.

    But, consider _The Time Machine_ by H.G. Wells. When the main character traveled far enough into the future, eventually we reversed this trend, evolved into two separate species, and ran around in happiness about all the fruit we've found (okay...so its been a while since I read the book).

    And I think Wells has this point right on. Look around us, people. If you haven't noticed, the renaissance is over. We've already passed our Great Enlightenment. And we've already passed our technological maturity.

    Scientists already think that we pretty much know most of what there is to know (I read this somewhere, not sure where). Even if you're a programmer, what else is new or interesting to program? (I am seriously curious about this, but probably off-topic)

    At what point does going to school mean learning that any new idea you have has already been discoved and written about in depth?

    And at what point are we running around naked, glad at being so happy eating our yummy fruit, completely oblivious about the messages contained in a dark satellite, silently circling around the earth?

    1. Re:Okay, so I didn't read the article... by HeghmoH · · Score: 1

      You're hilarious. Scientific knowledge is in the middle of an exponential curve, with no end in sight. The scientists who think we know everything are the ones not doing any research. There's plenty of new ideas out there, and plenty of new things to do. This isn't our technology maturity; it's barely the start of our technological infancy.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
    2. Re:Okay, so I didn't read the article... by cheezehead · · Score: 1

      Scientists already think that we pretty much know most of what there is to know...

      Ah yes, I think Stephen Hawking is one of them. Well, I remember reading this statement made by Lord Kelvin around 1900 or so, where he said the same thing: "Physics is more or less complete. There are only two small problems left to be solved". Or something like that, forgive me for not quoting literally. Anyhow, one of the small problems led to the theory of relativity, the other to quantum mechanics.

      --

      MSN 8: Now Microsoft even has bugs in their ad campaigns.

  34. Message by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    By the time you read this, the copyright to Mickey Mouse should have just expired.

  35. ASCII art of all the great paintings. by foniksonik · · Score: 2

    I'd send ASCII copies of all the great works of art. both in black and white and in color. What's great about ASCII is it's huge compression rate. You could fit all of them into the space of a good sized/quality jpg file.

    Here's an example:Mona Lisa

    and one in color... html coloring.

    Some dog

    --
    A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
  36. Time Shards by cheezehead · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There is a great SF story by Gregory Benford

    Spoiler Warning
    Don't read on if you think you want to read the story. The following spoils it a bit. However, it is essential to illustrate my point.
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    The story is about retrieving information from pottery. The idea is to restore the sounds that were around when people were making pottery centuries ago. I read somewhere that this was based on actual serious research.
    Anyhow, the scientists succeed, but are disappointed by what they can retrieve: middle-agers shouting warnings into the pot not to walk on this and this guy's land, because the sheep will get sick, and other nonsense like that.
    At the same time some other scientists are preparing a time capsule for the benefit of future generations. The conclusion of the story is: "what makes us think we are doing a better job than the people from the middle ages?"

    I guess the same applies here: even if we would filter out all the crap ("l33t hax0rz in sp33z!"), are people really going to give a damn in 50K years?

    --

    MSN 8: Now Microsoft even has bugs in their ad campaigns.

    1. Re:Time Shards by qubit64 · · Score: 1

      Historians and archaeologists seem to give a damn about stuff that happened a long time ago. I don't but... Maybe they'll have similar people in 50k years...

      --
      "Save me jebus!" - Homer Simpson (btw, I'm probably talkin out of me arse)
  37. Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair by vaxer · · Score: 2

    "We, too, thought we were intelligent. We mistook data for wisdom."

    1. Re:Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair by Diamon · · Score: 2

      Damn you George Lucas! For some reason when I read that I heard in my head with the voice of Jar Jar Binks.

  38. Duh by Bastian · · Score: 2

    50,000 years was chosen because in that amount of time, it's almost guaranteed that every glass disc on the satellite will be shattered by the billions of micrometeors that will most likely be perforating the hull of the sattellite on a continual basis after they sufficiently weaken the skin in a couple hundred years.

    That way, the people of the future don't /really/ have to hear whatever inane shit the humans of today decide might be cute to say and have put in orbit.

  39. Baffling by flikx · · Score: 1

    Future generations will be quite confused when most of the comments sent to space consist of 'first posts', just like this article.. along with many other comments pointing this fact out.

    --
    One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
  40. Easy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "You may have stumbled across the remains of an ancient site from that antique thing called the 'internet'. The site was called Slashdot. You may have noticed that everyone was getting their panties in a knot over a corporation called Microsoft, and that they were constantly screaming and going grey and/or bald about the evils of government and such."

    "Take heed, and follow these words: Fuck it. Don't worry about crap you can't change. *Live*."

  41. What would I say? by Icephreak1 · · Score: 1

    Well, I'd zip up a combination of the latest BitchX client, a picture of our mutual Goatse friend and a text file with the message:

    These backdoors had belonged to us.

  42. Sorry by Red_Winestain · · Score: 2, Funny

    How about WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE, preferably in the form of giant flaming letters.

  43. It's not our fault! by macemoneta · · Score: 2

    They told us it was fixed!

    --

    Can You Say Linux? I Knew That You Could.

  44. what else will be in the launched? by chris_mahan · · Score: 1

    Is this little project part of a greater payload, one involving a military satellite with ultra-top-secret payload?

    If I was them in 50,000 years...

    Actually, people in 500-1000 years are going to go up there and remove all the stinking satellites in orbit because they will interfere with starship lauches.

    And they probably would laugh their head off finding our pathetic attempt at imparting wisdom from the distant past, and yet be not amused at all by our propensity to put junk in space for no other reason than to stroke our own egos...

    The point is that there's a marketing ploy somewhere. Someone is selling movie tickets, sodas, or cars behind this one...

    repeat after me: "I am a victim of marketing"

    --

    "Piter, too, is dead."

  45. One word by isorox · · Score: 1

    One word, Two characters...

    42!

  46. What I'd Say: by CaptainStormfield · · Score: 1

    Hello World

    --
    "The dinosaurs died because they didn't have a space program." - Niven
  47. Words to live by... by IpSo_ · · Score: 2

    It's better to pissed off then pissed on!

    --
    Open Source Time and Attendance, Job Costing a
    1. Re:Words to live by... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thats a terrible thing to tell people. fucking moron. do you live your whole life in jealousy, fear, compassionless vitrol and anger?

      fuck man, you must be american.

  48. As every interplanetary hitchhiker knows... by samoverton · · Score: 1

    Don't forget to take a towel.

  49. Bickering corner thread: The Bible[TM] by Fweeky · · Score: 1

    Depends, do you want to provide any evidence to the contary?

    Do I need to read the Bible to realise it's wrong to kill someone* or sleep with someone other than my wife*, not steal*, not commit thoughtcrime*, to love my neighbour and my enemy*, to turn the other cheek*, or that if I ever get the chance, it's a good idea to flood the planet and only tell people I like that they should prepare?

    No, I don't think so*. Not that my opinions on the Bible or religion are really up for discussion* :)

    * Various exceptions excluded

  50. Apology by Bartmoss · · Score: 2

    "Sorry. We thought it was a good idea."

    That should pretty much cover everything. ;)

  51. Wise saying by DopeThrone · · Score: 0

    if you meditate daily, you will always have clean, flowing, bowl movements, your surgeon general

    --

    Righteousness postpones the inevitable
    http://burningaureole.caveism.net
  52. What i would say.. or will say. by Kortec · · Score: 1

    im all borken up between:

    1) S'long and thanks for all the fish!
    2) LOOK! BEHIND YOU!
    3) NI!
    and
    4) Bond, James Bond

    --
    "My heart is in the work." - Andrew Carnegie
  53. Data formats,etc.. by Kris_J · · Score: 2

    "If you can read this you've done better than I could have hoped." I mean, seriously, what are the chances of something like this being readable in even 50 years?

  54. all they need. by FSK · · Score: 1

    Future generations will only need two things from us. The complete works of Luis Armstrong
    and the rules of major league baseball.

    --
    When punk rock is outlawed, only outlaws will have punk rock.
    1. Re:all they need. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Baseball has rules?

  55. In the late 1800s... by ColGraff · · Score: 2

    ...The physicists thought they had their knowledge of the universe pretty much down pat.

    --
    I'm the stranger...posting to /.
  56. Oui! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    keeping it short....

    1. in the late 1800s, supposedly a notice was tacked up in the U.S. patent office proclaiming that everything that could be invented, had been invented.(I can't think of anything meaningful invented after 1890, can you?)

    2. I read the same thing you had on Stephen Hawking as well (poster #2 in this thread).... Stephen Hawking was talking about the abstraction of mathematical concepts for physics.. Hawking believes that humans are near the point where it is impossible for our brains to comprehend the meaning of the math... There is PLENTY left for us in physics... I could think of quite a few right off of the top of my head... Two are, fully understanding the "Weird Quantum State" i.e. teleportation. The Unifying theory... for those nay-sayers out there, guess what, it's out there whether you hide your head in a hole or not... Remember the confusion about breaking the sound barrier? (No one could live through it!!! AAHHH... END OF THE WORLD!..... Now we are watching men attempt to break the SB, by jumping out of weather balloons at 130,000 ft.... Some limit! )

  57. Has already been said: by lkaos · · Score: 2

    "He, O' Men, is wisest who, like Socrates, knows his wisdom has no value."

    -- Socrates

    --
    int func(int a);
    func((b += 3, b));
  58. What I'd say by zero_offset · · Score: 1
    If You Had Something to Say to Future Generations...?

    GET OFF MY LAWN!

    --

    Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005

  59. To the programmers of the future... by Phalkin · · Score: 1

    Always clearly and concisely comment your code.

    --
    I stole this sig.
    1. Re:To the programmers of the future... by nytes · · Score: 1

      My words to programmers of the future...

      "Sorry about the mess. Fix it."

      --
      -- I have monkeys in my pants.
  60. What most of it will be... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 2

    "Hi, I send you this in order to have you advice..."

  61. genetic manipulation. by oliverthered · · Score: 1

    Well you oh so close I can smell it.

    It wouldn't require genetic manipulation to get people to learn from one another, but it would require genetic manipulation to remove all the animal instincts, we are afterall barbaric animals at hart (or at least 99.9% of us).

    There is very little you can do to 'teach' most people, there just not made that way.
    Most pepole cant understand the kind of philosiphy required to implement such a utopia, this can be expressed as a mild autism, when compaired to those who can understand.

    1: autistic ( you can-not understand that other people may see things differently from you)

    2: autistic-normal ( the double bluff, you cannot understand that someone might know what your thinking)

    3: normal ( unable to fully comprehend the double bluff (in some circumstances nothing matters))

    4: Full realisation ( we and everything around us are all made of star dust, I am no different from the air that I breath)

    --
    thank God the internet isn't a human right.
  62. To all those working on Y10K by azadrozny · · Score: 1

    1. "Sorry..." 2. Include a COBOL Manual!

  63. Note to the future by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The generations that have gone on before you, whither have they fled? And those round whom in life circled the fairest and loveliest of the land, where now are they? Profit by their example, O people, and be not of them that go astray.

  64. where ever you go... by the_jedi_penguin · · Score: 1

    ... there you are.

  65. get a clue! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's talking about radioactive decay and how 95% of the radioactive isotope is still there, which isn't E=mc^2, it's y=Ce^(-kt)

  66. Only one Word by bareman · · Score: 1

    From the website:

    "... Some 50,000 years later it will return to earth, intact, ...."

    I have only one word

    "DUCK!"

  67. The two most important things: by NWT · · Score: 1

    ... STFU and RTFM!

    --
    Life sucks.
  68. DON'T PANIC! by RobinH · · Score: 2

    DON'T PANIC!

    --
    "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
  69. Maybe they will understand this.. by SubtleNuance · · Score: 1


    The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.

  70. To Celebrate W's Statement That The Economy: +5 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    needs to recover from its hangover. Has W recovered from his hangoverS?

    Burn one to celebrate W's one term presidency!!!

    Be Patriotic, Smoke Amerikan grown marijuana, not treasonous imports !!!!

    Courtesy of About 420

    Connotative Use/Meaning

    420 is a phreak s (and not just a hippie s) favorite number for a
    variety of reasons, or maybe for no reason at all, but colloquially
    the number says pot -- let s smoke pot, or someone s smoking
    pot, or gee, i really like pot, or time to smoke pot, either by
    time (4:20 a.m. or p.m.), date (April 20th), or otherwise (e.g. State
    Route 420). April 20th at 4:20 is marked by annual events in
    Mount Tamalpais, CA (an informal gathering); Marin Conty, CA
    (the 420 Hemp Fest); Ann Arbor, MI (the Hash Bash); and
    Washington, D.C. (buildup towards the July 4th Smoke-In).

    Original Source(s)

    Conventional wisdom: The most common tale is that 420 is the
    police radio code or criminal code (and therefore the police call)
    in certain part(s) of California (e.g. in Los Angeles or San
    Francisco) for having spotted someone consuming cannabis
    publicly, i.e. pot smoking in progress; that local cannabis users
    picked up on the code and began celebrating the number temporally
    (esp. 4:20 a.m., 4:20 p.m., and April 20); that the number became
    nationally popularized in the late 1980s and, more ferverently, in
    the early- to mid-1990s; and is colloquially applied to a variety of
    relaxed and/or inspired contexts, including not only pot
    consumption but also a good time more generally (in contrast to
    the drug war surrounding).

    Conventions are legends: 420 is not police radio code for
    anything, anywhere. Checks of criminal codes (including those of
    the City of San Francisco, the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles
    County, the State of California, and the federal penal code) suggest
    that the origin is neither Californian nor federal (the two best
    guesses). For instance, California Penal Code 420 defines as a
    misdemeanor the hindrance of use (obstructing entry) of public
    lands, and California Family Code 420 defines what constitutes a
    wedding ceremony (Marco). One state does come close: The
    Illinois Department of Revenue classifies the Alcoholic Liquor Act
    under Part 420, and the Cannabis and Controlled Substances Tax
    Act are next, under Part 428. (RB 5/19/99)

    True story?: According to Steven Hager, editor of High Times,
    the term 420 originated at San Rafael High School, in 1971,
    among a group of about a dozen pot-smoking wiseacres who
    called themselves the Waldos. The term 420 was shorthand for the
    time of day the group would meet, at the campus statue of Louis
    Pasteur, to smoke pot. ``Waldo Steve, a member of the group who
    now owns a business in San Francisco, says the Waldos would
    salute each other in the school hallway and say ``420 Louis! The
    term was one of many invented by the group, but it was the one
    that caught on. ``It was just a joke, but it came to mean all kinds of
    things, like `Do you have any? or `Do I look stoned? he said.
    ``Parents and teachers wouldn t know what we were talking about.
    The term took root, and flourished, and spread beyond San Rafael
    with the assistance of the Grateful Dead and their dedicated cohort
    of pot-smoking fans. The Waldos decided to assert their claim to
    the history of the term after decades of watching it spread, mutate
    and be appropriated by commercial interests. The Waldos contacted
    Hager, and presented him with evidence of 420 s history, primarily
    a collection of postmarked letters from the early 70s with lots of
    mention of 420. They also started a Web site, waldo420.com. ``We
    have proof, we were the first, Waldo Steve said. ``I mean, it s not
    like we wrote a book or invented anything. We just came up with a
    phrase. But it s kind of an honor that this emanated from San
    Rafael. Maria Alicia Gaura for the San Francisco Chronicle,
    4/20/00 p. A19; and thanks to Noah Cole for the submission

    Alternate explanations

    There are a variety of other explanations, all much more interesting
    than police code, and many plausible. Some are more likely uses
    of the 420/hemp connection rather than sources of it, such as the
    score for the football game in Fast Times at Ridgement High,
    42-0.

    Known Myths: It isn t police code (see above). There are 315
    chemicals in marijuana, not 420. And although tea time in
    Amsterdam is rumored to be 4:20, it is actually 5:30 (Gerhard
    den Hollander).
    Sixties Songs: For instance, Bob Dylan s famous Rainy Day
    Women #12 and 35 is a possible reference, or source --
    12x35=420. And Stephen Stills wrote (and Crosby Stills Nash
    & Young performed) a song 4+20 (first recorded 7/16/69,
    released on Deja Vu 3/11/70) about an 84-year-old
    poverty-stricken man who started and finished with nothing.
    (Thanks to Sherry Keel 12/6/98.) Dylan aslo mentions 4 and
    20 windows in The Balland of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
    (on John Wesley Harding).
    Older Verse: But 420 in poetry is older than that - Greg
    Keller notes the old nursery rhyme line, four and twenty
    black birds baked in a pie. Revelation 5:14 (in the King
    James Version of the Christian Bible) reads, And the four
    beasts said A-Men. And the four and twenty elders fell down
    and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever. (Travis
    Spurley 2/15/99) And in Midnight s_Children, Salman
    Rushdie wrote, Inevitably, a number of these children failed
    to survive. Malnutrition, disease and the misfortunes of
    everyday life had accounted for no less than four hundred and
    twenty of them by the time I became conscious of their
    existence; although it is possible to hypothesize that these
    deaths, too, had their purpose, since 420 has been, since time
    immemorial, the number associated with fraud, deception and
    trickery. (Comet 2/14/98) Comet s best guess is that this
    refers to something in Indian mythology or numerology, since
    the book is set in India and frequently involves Indian history,
    culture, and religion. Given the high interest in Eastern
    religion among the phish/dead community, this seems a likely
    origin of 420 s current significance.
    Temporal Significance: Hands on analog clock at 4:20 look
    like position of doobie dangling from mouth Larry in
    Tuscan and Alex Mack 5/19/99). Disruptive students are out
    of detention and safetly away from school by 4:20, also
    rumored to be the time that you should dose to be peaking
    when the Dead went on stage Hart. The Waldos were a
    group of teens back in the 70 s that lived in San Rafael, CA.
    420 was the way they talked about pot in front of teachers,
    non-smoking family members etc. Also it was the time of day
    they could just go relax, and get baked. (PhunkCellar)
    Jamaicans purportedly worked till 4 then walked home then
    lit up. They would talk 420 like our parents talked about after
    5. That s when partying began Larry in Tuscan). Albert (not
    Abbie) Hofmann supposedly first encountered LSD at 4:20
    p.m. on 4/19/1943 (Bart Coleman citing Storming Heaven by
    Jay Stevens, recommended by Mickey Hart in Planet Drum).
    Surrealist painter Miro was born April 20, 1893. And
    www.filmspeed.com says the propoganda film Reefer
    Madness has a copyright date of April 20, 1936 (i.e. 4/20).
    (Patrick Woolford)
    Misc: Could be that it comes from hydroponics, the practice
    of cultivating plants in water often used by indoor marijuana
    cultivators, since 4 is used for H on a calculator (420/H20).
    (Nick Lowe 3/30/00) The number 80 (eight) is quatre vingt
    (pronounced cah-truh vahn), meaning four (times} twenty.
    Dan Nijjar 1/27/00 (No connection yet between the number
    80 and pot. A quarter pound is roughly 120 grams, rounding
    quarter-ounces to 7.5.) The titanic was supposed to arrive
    4/20/1912. (Thanks to RB.) Perhaps the heavy use of vt420
    terminals in the Berkeley area is to blame? (BTW, 420 in
    binary code is 110100100.)

    Ubiquitous?

    Now there s a 420 Pale Ale. One of the late-97/early-98 Got
    Milk ads featured a character eating cookies without milk and
    then passing a sign that reads Next Rest Area 420 miles (as Ross
    Bruning). Reportedly, all of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction
    are stuck on 4:20. Shirts with the number 420 on the red-and-blue
    interstate highway shield (Interstate 420?) have show up on the
    sitcom Will and Grace (Paul Risenhoover 5/14/99) and in several
    videos. UPS labelling software has a 420 postal code legend for
    next-day/2-day deliveries (which is how Phish tickets are sent).
    (Jack Lebowitz 10/3/98) MTV s 1997 Viewer s Choice Award (for
    the MTV Video Awards) was decided by calls to
    1-800-420-4MTV. And by May of 1998, the number was
    appearing in so many ads (eg Copenhagen 5/14/98 Rolling Stone
    p54, Corvette p55 5/98 Car & Driver) that its presence is
    presumed to be intentional. Many songs are around 4 minutes 20
    seconds long (since many songs fall between 2:30 and 5:30),
    including for example Pink Floyd s A Great Day for Freedom (on
    The Division Bell, 1994), the Foo Fighters My Hero, and
    Smokin from Boston s first album. There have also been some
    420 references on The Simpsons. In the re-run episode aired on
    April 20th, 1999 at a special time (probably in honor of those
    college students staying in the holiday spirit ;-), Homer mentions to
    Flanders that Barney s birthday is April 20th. Also, the jackpot sign
    in one part of the casino says $420,000. There are a couple less
    concrete ones, but these two have to be legit, especially since they
    decided to air THAT particular episode on 4/20/99. (Submitted by
    Matt Meehan 4/21/99) And (as of Fall 99) the 60 free minutes that
    Working Assets Long Distance offers, at the 7 cents per minute
    rate, is $4.20 free. There s even a band named 420, and another
    names . In the first fifteen pages of Karel Capek s novel War with
    the Newts, a man diving under wonder stayed down for four
    minutes and twenty seconds. Grant Garstka 1/6/00 At the
    suggested retail price ($3.96) and Michigan (6%) sales tax, a deck
    of Uno cards costs $4.20. Nic Boris 4:20 marks the first downbeat
    of the drums in Led Zeppelin s epic Stairway to Heaven. (Dan
    Harris) The bill authorizing force after the World Trade Center
    attacks of 9/11/01 passed 420 to 1, and news reports in following
    months noted many times that there are (or were then, anyway) 420
    airports in the U.S. Allan Morris And don t forget that Adolf Hitler
    was born on April 20, macabely celebrated (or at least
    referenced) via the Columbine High School shootings.

    Phish-related Occurances

    Whatever the origin, the number appears frequently... For the
    summer 1997 tour, TicketMaster service charges were $4.20. In
    the Fall 1997 Doniac Schvice Dry Goods section, a limited edition
    Pollack poster printed on 100% hemp is order number 420P. The
    Great Went was 420 miles from Boston (former home of Phish).
    The official logo includes 4 gills and 20 bubbles (Gringo
    11/12/98). As of 6/15/97, including covers and originals, Phish
    had performed a total of 420 songs (thought its 486 by 4/24/98).
    (David Steinberg). Lawnboy is 420megs of memory. Patrick
    Walker Phish s The Vibration of Life underlies a whirling loop
    with Seven Beats per second (which makes 420 beats per minute.)
    Trey has used the altered line woke up at 4:20 in Makisupa
    Policeman, which also often indirectly celebrates 420ing, e.g. by
    mention of goo balls. One of the funniest shirts around takes light
    jabs at both the 4:20 phenomenon and the rumored evolution
    (collapse?) of the Phish.Net (especially rec.music.phish) from
    being Gamehendge to Flamehendge, and beyond. The first day of
    the Great Went started at 4:20 (with Makisupa Policeman. (The
    second day started late, at 4:37.) Noah Cole The first single from
    Slip Stitch and Pass was played on WBCN 10/14/97 at 4:20 pm.
    An uproar at 12/31/96 can be heard on tape during the 2001, in
    response to an enormous digital clock (which was counting down
    to midnight) reaching 11:55:40 and reading -4:20. (Yoda)
    During the 9-12-00 2001, Trey hits the first riff right at 4:20 into
    the intro jam. (Cal 2/25/01) Some mail order tickets for the 1997
    New Year s run were in section 420. The first Mass Pike toll
    leaving Oswego was $4.20. (Camille Heath ) And the standard
    shipping for The Phish Companion through Amazon was
    originally $4.20.

    420 Shows: Phish performed on April 20 in 1989, 1990, 1991,
    1993, and 1994. The first day of the Great Went started at 4:20,
    although that was called a soundcheck by Trey after three songs.
    The Jazzfest Harry Hood 4-26-96 started at about 4:20 reported by
    Trevor. At Big Cypress, David Bowie was playing at 4:20 a.m.
    And the one event during the hiatus (10/8/00 - ?) featuring all
    four members - for Jason Colton s wedding - was 12/1/01, 420
    from: http://www.phish.net/faq/n420.html:

  71. I would say... by gatkinso · · Score: 1

    ...herpes sucked, so did war, money was kind of fun (but annoying), and planes actually crashed... but the primitive girls rocked!

    Um wait... what was my first point?

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  72. message by whovian · · Score: 2

    If you are hearing this message, this craft was not destroyed in a collison with near Earth asteriods. And now a word from our sponsor Coca-cola.

    --
    To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  73. My message by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Warning: Islam; extreme danger!"

    1. Re:My message by sstory · · Score: 1

      hahaha

  74. How will they translate the messages? by ProlificSage · · Score: 1
    Language is a living thing. It changes over time. English from 1000 years ago looks nothing like English of today. The same can be said for any of the modern languages. Other languages may not have changed so drastically over time, but they have changed. What makes anyone think that any human living 50000 years from now will have even the slightest clue what our messages say? Even if they could read today's languages, the meanings of words change over time. "Computer" a hundred years ago, meant "one who computes", and had nothing to do with the machine on which I am typing now.

    Add to that the problem of human evolution. Modern humans have only been around for 20000 years. We may not look or act the same, or even be here 50000 years from now. We're long overdue for an asteroid impact, ice age, or other disaster. Any such event could cause the evolution of species on Earth to change significantly. Maybe I'm a pessimist, but I really don't think we'll be here 50000 years from now, unless we get off our butts and colonize space. Then we at least have a chance of surviving long enough to be around to read these messages 50000 years from now.

    That said, I'll probably leave a message anyway. Who knows? Maybe some future historian will have remembered the languages of the twenty-first century and will be able to read it. It would be cool to think I might be able to rant that far into the future.

    --
    Real software engineers regret the existence of COBOL, FORTRAN and BASIC.
  75. message to future gens by sstory · · Score: 1

    "I really hope you guys aren't still waiting for some magic man from the sky to 'return'. -steve"