[game_preservation] Wired article on Georgia Stones

[Andrew Armstrong]

Yes, the best way to preserve something, not that you'd be able to ever 
make use of it again, is to shove it in space. Nothing here will last 
forever, that's for sure (how morbid eh?).

Got a link to the article? I've no idea about these stones.

Andrew

Devin Monnens wrote:

> 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 unfortunately will be out of date a few thousand years hence as the 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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