[Population: One] <A HREF="http://popone.innocence.com/ar

[bryant]

"This place is not a place of honor.
No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here.
Nothing valued is here.
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."

Comments

[seborn.livejournal.com]

We discussed this briefly at one of the Worldcon panels. The conclusion was that no type or amount of signs would communicate "Keep Out, Danger" as well as leaving a small amount of radioactive material buried close to the surface, enough to give mild radiation sickness to anyone who lingered too long and kill whoever tried to live there. By the time the area is safe, the contents of the vault will be safe too.

Everyone scoffs at ancient curses. Unless the curse still kills nine thousand years later.

[bryant]

That was actually suggested as well -- one of the people working on the design made the observation that you could get that kind of self-reinforcing behavior in exactly that manner.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

the problem there is the likelihood of someone sending people in to gather the dirt from the evil cursed site to throw it at their enemies or something.

it really is a challenge -- to accurate get a message across thousands of years later to some other culture after our culture is gone. as far as we know, nobody's actually done this before.

also, some of the "this structure is unwelcoming" designs look like actual sculpture i've seen, so i don't think it'll work as well as people are hoping.

the "if you have trouble reading this, translate the message and carry it on and rewrite it here" part is good, tho.