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[Luke_Prowler]

What is it that make people hate America?

The problem with any better solution is that the corperations have the government by the balls and the gerenal mass are morons.

[sneakey pete]

There is a theoretical way of taking stuff up to space with almost no energy - a space elevator. 

There's also a theoretical way of not dying from cancer - a cure.

We're about equally as close to both of those things IMO. (aka i'm saying space elevator isn't happening within our lifetime)

[Leafsnail]

Yeah, it's just a thought experiment at the moment.  I think what it's trying to say is that with clever transferring of energy we can save a lot of it.  You know, like kangaroos do when jumping.

[Yanlin]

About the warning signs that are supposed to last 10,000 years, that's easy.

Just keep reminding people! Even if language changes, if each generation reminds the next one... Problem solved. Signs can be updated too.

[Ampersand]

But what if civilization collapses in the intervening millennia?

[Aqizzar]

Screw 'em.  I think solving our energy problems now in a way that will leave the planet as a whole livable is more important than not leaving a little radioactive minefield for the Morlocks to dig up.

[codezero]

+1 to aquizzer

and suck a --- you --- americans, i'm pissed and on my last warning so ---

(toad-edit: 7 day mute issued for the non-redacted version)

[Yanlin]

Indeed. Solving a massive problem now by creating a minor problem that we'll probably be able to easily solve in the future is better than keeping a massive problem now and potentially deny a future where we can solve it.

[Leafsnail]

If the current civilisation collapses, future archeologists will have lots of awesome stuff to work with... huge pipes, wires, random buildings...

[Yanlin]

Did I mention modern recordkeeping methods are far more compatible than stone tablets and shit? Since we're moving so far into a standardized language such as HTML and ASCII.

Besides, you can engrave a CD with instructions on how to read it.

[DJ]

Stone tablets last a lot longer, though.

[Yanlin]

They sure hold far less info...

[DJ]

It doesn't matter how much info you can cram onto a CD when it's going to become unreadable in three or four years. At least that's my experience with CDs. I think DVDs are even worse, as they pack the information more densely which should make it susceptible to smaller scratches.

That, and then there's the issue of hardware requirements for reading them. Frankly, I don't see how could anyone that's never seen a CD drive realize that CDs are information storage and not just fancy frisbees. With stone tablets it's kind of obvious when something is written on them.

[G-Flex]

Contextual analysis would reveal that they're important, and microscopic analysis would reveal that they encode data. Reading it properly is still problematic.

This is why vinyl records are nice. It's extremely obvious upon examination that they have a sound wave etched into them, and they're a simple medium that lasts a long time.


CDs do not necessarily last a very long time.

[codezero]

I just realised what luke_prowler said, "what makes people hate americans?" I didn't even read it before i mouthed off in this thread the other night. I don;t hate americans, I'm just a fuckin dick sometimes. I still don't even know why he said it, after a cursory glance.

What i was just thinking though, is if a plant isn't alien, how the fuck is an alien supposed to read a dvd?