Derek,
I don't have a source for you but I remember at least one magazine article (perhaps in Harper's?) If we're talking about the same thing, I didn't think it was NASA. The problem was signage, barriers, or such for a nuclear waste dump that would be toxic for many thousands of years--what do you do to indicate that a place is dangerous without making it seem like there may be something valuable there? Nobody came up with a good solution.
Gunnar
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On Mar 26, 2011, at 5:15 PM, Derek Miller wrote:
> I've looked. I can't find it. My compound question is: Does anyone remember what this was, and if so, can you point me to a primary source:
>
> Sometime in the 1980s I read a piece about how NASA had commissioned artists (designers?) to try and imagine a future some 10,000 years ahead. Their job was to find a means of communicating that the ground "here" was hazardous and people shouldn't go here. They shouldn't even visit let alone stay, grow crops, etc. The artists were to take almost nothing for granted. Languages may have evolved. Libraries destroyed. Our physical appearances may have changed somewhat. The basic brief was to try and communicate to such people. It may have been Discover magazine (U.S.) and they printed the paintings and ideas and analyzed them.
>
> Won't get into a discussion on this until my memory is refreshed. But if anyone remembers this, I would be grateful.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Derek
>
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