-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On 10 Jan 96 at 10:42, t byfield wrote:
At 10:26 PM 1/9/96, Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko wrote:
- Landfills: They are probably the richest source of detailed historical information that is not obtainable from any other source and can be used to reconstruct the detailed history of society, economy, technology and any single person with incredible detail.
I ain't holding my breath until someone develops a search engine for Fresh Kills.
I can see it now... about the time that Grandson of Altavista finally yields a URL for Jimmy Hoffa's body in some dump somewhere the government will have figured out that it's so much simpler to catalog the stuff on the way IN, when all the artifacts are fresh and unmixed. While we're all watching what the government does to intercept packets, they will be routing *trash* packets through mysterious "garbage routers." As the stink grows stronger, someone will conceive of anonymous trash forwarders. They will accept unidentified trash, no questions asked, anonymize it with random DNA and fingerprint whorls, and sneak it into public trash receptacles. DNA generators will enable the mischievous to plant fabricated indications that Hillary did indeed have something going with Vince, the late Khomeini (hey, hard is hard, right?) as well as legions of four-footed friends, confirming the suspicions of multitudes. As the piles of trash-based data grow, some Senator from Nebraska will sound the alarm that kids are too easily exposed to the indecent signs of private behavior retrievable on the Net and will propose draconian measures to hold everyone responsible for their contributions to the city landfill. Public receptacles will be closed. Trash will only be collected from registered Identifed Surplus Providers (ISP's). $250,000 fine for disposing of a condom in a dump accessible from the Internet... 10 years in prison for carelessly tossing those nasty Polaroids in the kitchen compactor. The trash of the world will have to be made safe for kids to view. Everything will be a lot easier to trace and control if the garbage input is fully identified. Barcodes on trash bags might do for starters. Access to the garbage system might have to be restricted to those 18 and over. Trash collectors could be made responsible for content, drafting them without pay into the ranks of the trash police. People could be encouraged to report suspicious trash, and trash-related activities like neighbors sneaking out at night to place an innocent-looking compactor bag down the block with someone else's trash. For their own protection, youngsters might be required to retain all their garbage until age 18 and then, in a solemn ceremony worthy of the true significance of coming of age, pitch it all (duly anonymized to prevent abuse of minor indiscretions) from their new position as lawful participants in the world garbage system, friends and well-wishers trying to applaud and hold their noses at the same time (try it -- if you're not careful you can break your own nose, but hey, that'll work, too!). Who knows? Maybe Heinlein's advocacy of keeping kids in a barrel and feeding them through a hole until age 18 will enjoy resurgence among the compulsively protective while the Web meanwhile will provide real time underground data on Heinlein's rpm rate. Protecting the trash of youth will, however, give rise to the hiding of adult trash among that of the underaged. The government will have to root out offenders and "impute" suspicious trash to the parents. Those with no visible source of trash will of course be suspect, and will have to emit innocent trash to cover themselves. This will give rise to the practice of "trash laundering," in which agents convert nasty trash to innocuous trash that may then be tossed into any monitored, controlled channels with no repercussions. Trash laundering will become a grave offense to the accompaniment of government and Ad Council PSA's and free brochures from Pueblo, Colorado. Blatant offenders who have fled to foreign climes will be kidnapped, some will be tortured, because the War Against Filth will be a moral commitment of the national body. Foreign governments headed by suspected trash traffickers will be toppled in quickie invasions, their leaders brought back in chains to disappear into federal dungeons. Public debate will center on the legalities and rationalizations of using the military in policing domestic trash, while agencies such as the FBI cry for more budget to fight the scourge that threatens the decency of the nation's repositories. Control of trash will spread inevitably to control of liquid wastes, whereupon a terrible discovery will be made: Everyone, but everyone, emits unspeakable bodily products. At that point the government will have no choice but to reluctantly declare everyone an outlaw and execute the populace. It's all as logical as what happens when you introduce division by zero way down at the bottom of the complex equation where it isn't so noticeable. We Jurgar Din (that will have to suffice: I do not yet live in a free country) +"The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone. It is to the+ +vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, Sir, we have no + +election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now + +too late to retire from the contest." -Patrick Henry 1775 + -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQBVAwUBMPS/PEjw99YhtpnhAQH1UQH5AdXBd7AvG6xT7x/cTXf5W1cAUXzoJ+GB N0/SPrdoJnbUSN5LkJDwoVwA/eiL6/LVN9CjtmQwmydyBysM7M/7Xw== =q+CF -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----