Could you successfully communicate the "This is not a place of honor" long-term nuclear waste warning message using only emoji

[teluriuseye@mastodon.social]

@mcc ️🪰🪱

What better way to keep people away than elicit disgust? Evoking imagery of fecal waste, harbingers of disease and rot, skeletons, and all things nasty might make for a compelling argument to stay away.

Of course, that is if you're not a follower of Nurgle.

[leeloo@chaosfem.tw]

@mcc
People don't even agree on the meaning of emoji now.

Classic example, the happy chocolate ice cream emoji.

[clickymcticker@hachyderm.io]

@mcc Emoji read by which OS/browser/platform/etc? We don’t have standardized emoji, so we can’t even reliably communicate the danger now, let alone long term.

[tyzbit@toot.now]

@mcc 🧎...........

[lahosken@hachyderm.io]

@mcc When I posted this on a chat that does some emoji charades, they didn't hesitate:

️️️️
️️️️

️ 🟰 ️🟰️
️ 🟰 🪙 ️🟰️
️ 🟰 ️🟰️

️️️️ ️️️️️

‍️ ️ ️

️️️️
️️️️

🧍️️️
🧍️
🧍️️

🧑‍ ️ ️ ️ ️
️ ️
️ ️ ️

[spv@mastodon.spv.sh]

@mcc my favorite answer to the "how-to-mark-for-the-future" problem is to just not

don't make it special, don't make it noticeable

just bury it hundreds of feet underground in the desert

[wharrrrrrgarbl@an.errant.cloud]

@mcc
️
️️️

️️
🟫🤮🟫
🟫🟫
🟫️🟫

️️🤮️

️

[mcc@mastodon.social]

So I forgot to come back and link the best response to this I got. It was on Bluesky.

Wire Witch Violet (@wirewitchviolet.bsky.social)

☢️😱💀☢️ ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ ⚠️👀 🚫🫡🚫💪🚫💸 ⚠️🤢⚠️ ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ ⚠️🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢⚠️ ⚠️🤢👇👇👇🤢⚠️ ⚠️🤢👇💀👇🤢⚠️ ⚠️🤢👇👇👇🤢⚠️ ⚠️🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢⚠️ ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ ☢️💀⏳☢️💀⌛☢️💀 ☢️🤢💀 ☢️⚡🤢💀 ☢️⚠️😱 🏃 ⚠️☢️⚠️

Bluesky Social (bsky.app)

️️

️️️️️
️
🫡
️️

️️️️️️️
️️
️️
️️
️️
️️
️️️️️️️

️️️

️
️

️️

️️️

[mcc@mastodon.social]

I really like wirewitchviolet's insight that emoji are a spatial medium. One of the things people struggled with was how you'd know if the reader of your text expects to read "left to right" or "right to left". This proposal circumvents that question

[gsuberland@chaos.social]

@mcc I hatelove that I could read this without hesitation.

[gsuberland@chaos.social]

@mcc at least it didn't turn into loss half way through

[bipolaron@scholar.social]

@gsuberland @mcc now you've got me imagining 1000 years from now when a new civilization knows loss via clay tablet, like Ea-nāṣir's return policy.

[jrose@social.belkadan.com]

@mcc It's making it very clear to me the difference between abstract and concrete symbols. In 10,000 years, people are pretty likely to recognize

but much less likely to know

️🫡️

with a few on the borderline

[mcc@mastodon.social]

@jrose What is interesting to me about the repeated approach of *combining* symbols is that the reader would have to lose all the symbols at once. Maybe a skull is a good thing in 2000 years, implausibly. But a skull, a down pointing hand, AND a face turning green?