[game_preservation] Wired article on Georgia Stones

[Devin Monnens]

The latest issue of Wired has an article on the Georgia Stones, aka
'America's Stonehenge.' While this has nothing to do with videogames, and is
really just one big laughable conspiracy theory, it brings up some
interesting questions regarding preservation.

First, we have a monument that is constructed from massive blocks of granite
and incised with text in multiple languages. Thus you have a monumental
scale using durable material in addition to a Rosetta Stone structure.

Second, the monument also conveys information through the use of
astronomical alignments and astronomical information (which unfortunately
will be out of date a few thousand years hence as the axis shifts). So you
have information that is conveyed visually and that anyone who studies the
stars should be able to figure out fairly easily (astronomy seems to be one
of those universal traits of civilization, probably because you need it for
agriculture).

Third, the community is interested in maintaining it because it's a major
tourist attraction in an otherwise forgettable neck of the woods.

However, I don't agree with their placement of the stones. You would think
they would have put the stones a little bit higher above sea level and in a
more arid climate where they wouldn't decay as quickly over time (I recall
there being a seed repository somewhere in Scandinavia that takes this into
account). Boulder, Colorado might be a nice place for something like that,
or beyond that Nederland (Boulder is downstream from Nederland, hence why
everyone there is so crazy). Only then I suppose you'd have to worry about
glaciers. ;-)

In any event, if we're talking about longevity of information, I would say
that the Voyager spacecraft are probably going to be the longest-lasting
things that mankind ever makes, simply because you can make stuff last for a
long time in a vacuum. Whether or not anybody finds it is another story, but
speaking of crazies, I don't think we have to worry about an interstellar
gold rush like L. Ron Hubbard proclaimed.

-Devin Monnens

-- 
The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

"Until next time..."
Captain Commando
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