Comments on: A Monument of Post-Apocalyptic Instructions

By: Colin

Colin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:46:14 +0000

Sorry to say, but these stones were put up by the same “anonymous group” that has been planning the downfall of society for hundreds of years. They are instructions for how to govern the few people left after they’ve reduced the world population by at least 80%.

Also included on the Georgia Guide stones, it says:

“1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000* in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.”

* – #1 – 500,000,000 (that’s less than 1/12 of the current population).

#2 – code for “create the master race”

#3 – anyone remember the tower of Babel?

By: Jay Gordon

Jay Gordon — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:26:56 +0000

“Perfect yourself before trying to perfect others” might be worth a try. Admittedly, a long shot.

By: Nic

Nic — Sun, 03 May 2009 04:53:54 +0000

If you’re going to devote an entire structure to the phylosophical rules of the post-apocalyptic world, there is really only one rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. that, and don’t burn the cookies =]

By: seth richter

seth richter — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:23:16 +0000

Never never doubt what nobody is every really sure about.

By: ted

ted — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:08:26 +0000

Strength through joy.

By: DaveL

DaveL — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:57:19 +0000

You get bonus points for obscure literary references around here panda.

By: super panda

super panda — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:20:07 +0000

By: Omphalos

Omphalos — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:09:49 +0000

Sounds like the Thunktunthup from Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s novel Footfall. Pretty cool.

By: wondercat

wondercat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:49:28 +0000

The message is written in Hebrew. I wonder why?

By: Noelegy

Noelegy — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:25:21 +0000

So long and thanks for all the fish.

By: Avarana

Avarana — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:53:54 +0000

Sadly, no one will heed their message as they are written in Comic Sans.

By: Foreigner1

Foreigner1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:43:16 +0000

Instructions for survivors of the collapse of civilisation-

Let the last one not forget to turn off the lights and to leave the keys under the doormat of the shelter…

By: DaveL

DaveL — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:43:12 +0000

Koko Heston: “It’s nipples!”

By: Gauldar

Gauldar — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:10:26 +0000

@Steeliecat

There’s no need to, now be obedient and eat your Soylent Green and take your Soma.

By: brianch

brianch — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:06:50 +0000

I think lhe last instruction should be…

Don’t listen to this load of crap. We destroyed civilization.

That should do it.

By: Steeliecat

Steeliecat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:52:24 +0000

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.

These stones scare the sh** out of me!

By: joe

joe — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:37:36 +0000

So basically, “Don’t screw it up like we did.”

By: Foosnark

Foosnark — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:20:02 +0000

BE A GOOD SPORT. YOU WERE A N00B ONCE TOO.

By: Mike Stone

Mike Stone — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:35:41 +0000

Step #1: bang the rocks together, guys.

By: Gauldar

Gauldar — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:59:50 +0000

You know, if cities and most of the developed world was destroyed, the tribal people all over the world will probably just keep doing what their doing and live like they do today. If something happens to them, well then the human race is pretty much screwed.

By: Orjan Morjan

Orjan Morjan — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:39:57 +0000

@camoeron

Funny, because I never saw a deadline for when the population should be under 500 million.

Maybe, just maybe it could be achieved by natural causes. More probable in the post-apocalyptic world where the population won’t be 6 000 million.

By: A Noun

A Noun — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:34:30 +0000

…and temper Bobo’s choice with something along the lines of “Separation of Church and State is an absolute necessity, never to be tampered with.”

By: Cait

Cait — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:17:57 +0000

Wasn’t the whole “writing instructions for how to live in stone” thing already done before (i.e., Ten Commandments)?

And we see how well we all pay attention to THOSE rules…:-P

By: bobo

bobo — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:46:56 +0000

I think I would include the phrase: ‘I am a jealous God. Have no other Gods before me’… this would be sure to get people on the right track again, so they could live together in peace and harmony.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:55:00 +0000

My advice to the people of the future–see US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

By: camoeron

camoeron — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:41:33 +0000

Post-apocalyptic instructions or an argument for bringing about the apocalypse? The first two rules were left out of this post:
1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.

A 90+% population reduction and genetic discrimination? This is an argument for killing most of us off and then genetically engineering the survivors– aka eugenics. No wonder someone vandalized these: http://www.prisonplanet.com/georgia-guidestones-vandalized.html

If I were leaving messages for post-apocalyptic survivors, I would say:
“Watch your back, it was an inside job.”

By: commander flatus

commander flatus — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:40:07 +0000

i’d leave beer recipes. also instructions that “watery beer was the downfall of our civilization”

By: thecoldhardtruth

thecoldhardtruth — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:56:55 +0000

Patrick I live in Elberton too (just moved here for my job). Strangely enough, I actually went and looked at the guidestones yesterday a couple hours before this article was posted. When I was leaving I noticed a weird octogon shaped building across the street. Is that this nudist colony you speak of?

By: Foreigner1

Foreigner1 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:34:43 +0000

“If you were composing brief instructions for survivors of the collapse of civilization, what would you write?”

A DIY-guide how to build the perfect bomb or virus to wipe out those last survivors- Leave the planet to other living beings, because us humans only make a horrible mess of it- The planet seems better off without humans….

By: seefish3

seefish3 — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:09:32 +0000

Here’s my message to the future:

“Good friggin’ luck !”

By: DaveL

DaveL — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:41:07 +0000

Funny that. Seeing this thing made me think of old skool sci-fi stories as well. Lots of monuments symbolized in those tales. Alas, scientists don’t build such things IRL… which is a shame as they would certainly provide info that was more useful.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:00:10 +0000

Shelley and Arthur C. Clarke references, you guys are a literary bunch

By: blogtreader

blogtreader — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 04:26:24 +0000

To Jim: I saw this the other day. It might have been from BoingBoing (at least I might have seen it there).

It is a T-shirt with “The Basics” for handling an emergency resulting from traveling back in time. That can also be viewed as “bombed back to the” stone age, ay?

Here you go:

http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product _Code=QW-CHEATSHEET&Category_Code=QW

I may have to get one for myself.

By: Patrick B

Patrick B — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:51:58 +0000

I live in Elberton and to be honest the most interesting thing about the guidestones is the nudist colony that lives across the street.

By: Wok

Wok — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:40:06 +0000

“Look upon our greatness and despair”

That should show’em

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:27:30 +0000

Usefulness depends on the future situation. It seems like these suggestions assume there will be industry and endeavor, but the children of the children who survive should have the message handed down. Especially that last part…

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:11:33 +0000

I think JoannaL has hit on an interesting direction- what would be the most useful invention or scientific information we could relay (in pretty limited space) for the benefit of future civilization? I think there was a bit in the Feynman lectures on physics where he claimed the most important piece of information was the matter is made of atoms, and this could set people on the right track towards rediscovering much of chemistry and physics, should it ever be lost.

Of course, in the more philsophical vein, we should also remind everyone to “Be excellent to each other. And party on, dudes!”

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:05:13 +0000

As long as we’re on the subject, it’s pretty much clear that nuclear worldwide holocaust is improbable. I use the word ‘pretty’ ironically, cause it won’t be that at all, but it will be relatively isolated.

By: planettom

planettom — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:53:33 +0000

Well, Elberton, Georgia is pretty rural (the Georgia Guidestones are here in Google Earth:
34.231944, -82.894444).

It’s unlikely in the case of a nuclear war that the Guidestones would be hit. There’s a dozen bigger cities or military bases that would be more likely targets in Georgia.

By: JoannaL

JoannaL — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:51:59 +0000

I think I’d worry less about world courts and living with nature and worry more about how to make steel and penicillin.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:47:38 +0000

Oh, and (hard to resist) I’d leave the musical notations of “All Along the Watchtower” for our Cylon remnants.

By: Unruly Human

Unruly Human — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:42:38 +0000

“If you were composing brief instructions for survivors of the collapse of civilization, what would you write?”

Always wear clean underwear when leaving the house.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:42:36 +0000

That is so awesome. I’m off to alert my nephew in Georgia.

By: marishka

marishka — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:32:37 +0000

Video Game Dork–don’t you think that these monoliths also serve as a cautionary tale for the people of today?

By: TPS

TPS — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:28:13 +0000

Whoa, that is really strange. I remember traveling to Elbert County a few times while in high school for football games. Their football stadium is also made of granite (they call it the Granite Bowl) but I never knew something like that existed in little old Elbert County!

By: Staxeon

Staxeon — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:15:44 +0000

All These Suburbs Are Yours Except Encino, Attempt No Landing There

By: ilandrah

ilandrah — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:02:58 +0000

The only advise that they will need is ‘Zombies can only be killed by destroying the brain stem. A gun shot wound to the head or decapitation will suffice.’

By: Video Game Dork

Video Game Dork — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 02:00:04 +0000

But…. if civilization falls, why do they think these slabs won’t be destroyed too? Are they immune to nuclear blasts? (ha!)

If there’s an apocolypse or whatever, the remnants left behind in tons of things will be useful (anything carved onto heavy buildings, etc), so is this one obilesk necessary, which it has just as much chance of being destroyed as other things? (unless they plan on making tons of these things all over the place).

It also kind of makes me wonder if other ‘ancient artifacts’ that we’ve found are also written in multiple languages. (I guess the rosetta stone was).

By: OS Perry

OS Perry — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:56:22 +0000

I read the Wired article last week. Great magazine by the way. Very interesting article. I wonder if we’ll ever learn more about it?

They also had another great article on a sculpture at the CIA headquarters, that has crytopgraphers stumped.

By: KIT CLOUD

KIT CLOUD — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:45:57 +0000

I live about a half hour away from these. If you ask people around here about them I bet only one in ten has heard of them.