[HN Gopher] The Crypt of Civilization (2006)
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The Crypt of Civilization (2006)
Author : Petiver
Score : 21 points
Date : 2023-12-28 22:18 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.damninteresting.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.damninteresting.com)
| nickelpro wrote:
| An equivalent period of time in the past would pre-date
| decipherable writing, possibly the invention of writing
| altogether.
|
| In other words, this is silly. Might as well throw away the key
| and just say "never open it", the effect would be the same. Such
| an insane period of time is isomorphic to making the thing a tomb
| or an archaeological site.
| Filligree wrote:
| Making it an archaeological site was the whole point, though?
| adriand wrote:
| It's neat to think of time capsules as time travel. We know of at
| least two possible methods of time travel into the future for
| human beings, namely cryogenics and rocket travel at some
| appreciable percentage of the speed of light. Time capsules are a
| form of time travel for our thoughts and ideas.
|
| I wonder if there might be methods for creating personal time
| capsules that don't depend on a historical record of their
| existence. For instance could you determine the rate of erosion
| of a particular river, then drill a hole into the rock and encase
| a bottle-sized time capsule within it. At some point centuries
| hence when the rock wears down enough, the capsule would become
| visible or dislodged, perhaps to be found downstream.
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