Re: Archiving language information (was Re: Saving endangered langs (was Re: Extrapolating languages))

Costentin Cornomorus wrote at 2003-12-27 08:22:27 (-0800)
 > --- Tim May <butsuri@...>
 > wrote:
 > > Hopefully you make the thing sufficiently
 > > impressive that anyone who'd
 > > consider it primitive should be able to
 > > recognize the description of a
 > > radiation hazard.
 >
 > Well, after humanity's bombed itself back into
 > the dark ages, who the hell is going to even know
 > what a radiation hazard is!?
 >
Anyone advanced enough to find the monument primitive, if you make it
big enough, is my point.

Besides, wouldn't being bombed back into the dark ages give them a
certain amount of practical experience with radioactivity?  I suppose
it's theoretically possible to destroy civilization using only
conventional and biological weapons (and maybe neutron bombs), but you
generally expect at least a few cities to be left uninhabitable for
generations in that kind of scenario.

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