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Warning Future Generations About Nuclear Waste
Smivs writes "How do we warn people 10,000 years in the future about our nuclear waste dumps? There is a thought-provoking essay in the The Guardian newspaper (UK) by Ulrich Beck concerning this problem. Professor Beck also questions whether green issues are overly influencing politicians and clouding our judgement regarding the dangers of nuclear power."
Everybody knows that people in the future are afraid of Zeus.
I would think the increasing number of skeletal remains as one approaches the dump would be sufficient.
We simply wrap high grade nuclear waste in blocks of gold and help future generations by wiping out all the greedy fuckheads who ruin it for everyone else
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Easy, we just keep posting dupes on /. so that future generations can't forget.
Welcome our new sociologist overlords
From the article:
I can't think of a better person to solve our energy crisis than a sociologist. They have insights that we scientists and engineers simply lack. They understand how to guide policies based on feelings and such, whilst we are just stuck with our equations and physical laws.
I disagree with him, but that is probably due to my dogmatic, close minded acceptance of the laws of thermodynamics. Clearly, his subjective interpretation of mass human behaviour gives a much better insight into future energy policy.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
That's optimistic; can you evolve one of those in only 10,000 years?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
U R nt spkng a lnguage I undrstnd. My BFF Jill dsn't eithr. LOL!!!! C U L8R KTHXBYE
Most likely, a pointy-haired hero armed with only his sword and a rag-tag bunch to back him up will attack the nuclear waste to death, after finding the vague hints we've left for no reason in our oceanfloor palace. I wouldn't worry about it.
Personally, I think we should get a big impregnable pit, and then fill it with some sort of long-lasting lethal substance which will stop anyone from going in there. How's that for a plan?
[FUCK BETA]
-nod- That line of reasoning always seems to work out well for Indiana Jones.
25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
Hmm, if we are anything to judge by it will be:
Hey, the ancients wanted to keep people away from here. There must be buried treasure!
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
the solution was to have the area covered with black marble and have lots of sharp points triangles sticking up out of the ground.
Terrible idea. Such an environment would just attract the goth kids from 12008. They would loiter around reciting bad poetry and drinking absynthe until the radioactivity conferred unto them superhuman powers, which they would then use to conquer the world and enslave us all.
Fuck people, try to think about the long term consequences of your actions!
we setup a word document on a network drive somewhere?
This didn't work very well with the dinosaurs. Having discovered the dangers of global warming, they hid their precious oil and coal reserves deep below the surface of the earth. We managed to dig them up long before discovering their dangers!
I kid, I kid.
In 10,000 years humans will all be cybernetically enhanced consuming radioactive waste like it was candy. "Aged for proper flavour."
The Long Now Foundation
A new one to add to the nuclear power fearmongering checklist: concerns about a span of future time over twice that of the beginning of recorded human history, coupled (as not to be too revolutionary: if 50-year-old technology is too newfangled for these guys, just think what'll happen when they start bringing out completely original arguments) with ignorance of basic knowledge about radioactivity.
But what if in one hundred trillion thousand quadrillion years, insect aliens from the planet Poopazoid become sentient and discover hazardous left-over CT tracer fluid?!?! WILL THEIR SPACEFARING MINDS BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE DETECTION OF BASIC ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCES?
Maybe a giant scary face would be one way.
Isn't that what they tried on Mars already?
I would suggest a live corpse, as it's much scarier.
By what name do you wish to be mourned?
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
wind turbines, and turbine farms kill birds. and solar collecters steal valuable sunlight from places that need it, like northern canada.
Buried radioactive toxic waste is pretty tame compared to the various hazards of space and exploring unknown planets.
Yeah, especially if you are wearing a shirt that is red.
It's shameful neo-Ludditism.
Quite right too. We don't want any of this newfangled neo-Ludditism. Let's stick to good old-fashioned Luddism that we know and understand.
...I don't know a whole lot about Nuclear Physics... [long post]...
I was all set to mock you mercilessly but then you go and make some cogent comments. On top of which your name does not include letters in place of numbers.
You are really ruining it for those of us who have nothing to add but mockery.
A friend of mine said recently, "The real problem with Yucca Mountain is figuring out how to make a sign that will, hundreds of thousands of years in the future, no matter what language or symbols will be in use by the cultures that come after ours, still be able to clearly and unambiguously convey the concept: 'WARNING: In twenty years there's going to be nuclear waste here.'"
i wish i had mod points for this post. We are in essence hiding fuel sources that will be very usable in 10 or so years. All of this because of the short sightedness of the enviro movement. I really can't believe exactly how much we have F'd up this planet with all the carbon burning power sources while we let nuclear power rot in the corner like an unwanted step child.
You let your unwanted stepchildren rot ???
Good lord, I'm glad I'm not in YOUR family.
You're joking, right? 10,000 years, in a geologic timeframe? You _DO_ know how old Yucca Mountain is, don't you?
Yes Lord, 6,000 years.
Ludd would reject your neo-Ludditism as being too newfangled.