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[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

[bryant]

Damned if I know. I don't think any of the designs actually succeeded. But I think it's a worthwhile goal.

I see what you mean about the phrasing, though. "We considered ourselves to be capable of determining what might threaten you" would be a better message.

And when you think about it that way, are we right? Cause if, in 11,000 AD, we have developed good ways of dealing with radiation... well, all those monuments will look pretty dumb.

[kodi]

Hm, that's an interesting way of looking at it. I was working under the assumption that if Mr. 11,000 A.D. can handle our waste, he'll also be able to translate our language, and we can just say "U must 238 to ride this ride," and he'll understand that we were just leaving a message for Charlton Heston, who never showed up. But it's fun to assume that The (technologically advanced) Future doesn't know who we are, and they find this imposing monument, and say "Well, crap - we don't know who these guys were, but they claim they're more advanced than we are, we'd better stay away," when in fact they could just flip a switch and make it all safe.

Maybe the right message is "Have you guys played Civilization? Well, we we're somewhere in between Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion. If you guys are already on Alpha Centauri, here's our level 4 message for you, otherwise, we're smarter than you, and just stay out."