Friday, August 24, 2012

The VLA and Skynet

The Very Large Array (VLA) is a fairly well-known radiotelescope installation on the San Augustin Plain west of Socorro, New Mexico.  I went there two weeks ago.









These have been used with various degrees of special effects in several science fiction movies, notably Contact, 2010, and most recently Terminator:  Salvation:




Keeping this in mind, when I encountered the wall of notes (above) that past visitors had left for the astronomers, I made sure to add my own to warn them.  (A post-it note is the only responsible way to try to warn someone of the impending extinction of humanity.)


The whole time I was there I did not see a single other human being, so maybe Skynet has already taken it over and is just lying low.

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