If you could go millions of years

[Jadzia]

The question is about leaving something behind, rather than having for yourself in the past. Most of these suggestions would decay in next to no time.

If you could go millions of years back in time and leave one modern item behind knowing that one day it would be found (fossilised, or petrfied etc) what item would you choose and what do you think the reaction to its discovery would be?

I think I'd choose something with longevity, that would survive millions of years of weathering -- a pyramid for example, which is modern because it would be constructed with modern machinery.

To communicate anything important with the future of that time, one would need to store information in a format that is capable of surviving millions of years too. Geometry of the pyramid for example, whatever that might say can only be said through ratios of lengths.

Things can be inscribed in rooms hidden within the pyramid, but it may not be immediately obvious that there are any such rooms. If it is left to erosion and decay to expose such rooms, the information might decay before it is learned. So the whole must be carefully designed to encourage investigation at the right time. If the reader is advanced enough to decode the external information, then they're advanced enough to use that to find and comprehend the important information that's on the inside.

 

[Jetfire]

^

This makes sense.

Ofcourse I would just leave my keys behind.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The question is about leaving something behind, rather than having for yourself in the past. Most of these suggestions would decay in next to no time.

But we are assuming that whatever we leave behind would, by chance, not decay. It will either be fossilised or pertified or perserved in some way.

I would leave behind a model of the Enterprise NCC 1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D!

It would be funny to see what people would make of it.

 

[cultcross]

Build a full size, but obviously non-functional 'spacecraft' mockup, then have it discovered and verified as a million+ years old. I'd love to see today's scientists pour over it trying to figure out how it 'worked'

 

[T'Girl]

The question is about leaving something behind, rather than having for yourself in the past. Most of these suggestions would decay in next to no time.

A scupture carved out of uranium or gold.

 

[iguana_tonante]

A large dildo.

"Votive artifact". There.

What if it's one of those "realistic" dildos? Or one of those dildos that has testicles attached? What if it vibrated?!

A surprisingly useful votive artifact!

I heard one time a guy working in a museum making a joke about when archaeologists don't know what something is, they label it a votive artifact or a ritual object. Next time you are in a museum, give a look how many of them are labeled as such.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Some anti-butterfly spray.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

A Raptor or Viper...Oh I forgot, somehow it will magically disappear, never to be found, like they did on NuBSG finale.

I thought they programed the ship(s) to fly into the sun at the end.

The Statue of Liberty.

YOU MANIACS!

With a copy of the original PoA on dvd seald inside.

The question is about leaving something behind, rather than having for yourself in the past. Most of these suggestions would decay in next to no time.

But we are assuming that whatever we leave behind would, by chance, not decay. It will either be fossilised or pertified or perserved in some way.

I would leave behind a model of the Enterprise NCC 1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D!

It would be funny to see what people would make of it.

The OS DVD set all three seasons.