Thus was the two hour television special born: Secrets of the Great Pyramid, or some such dramatic title. Before the filming began, the robot had been sent down the tunnel, equipped with a drill, and had bored a hole through the stone door. Now, as a live audience watched, the robot would repeat its journey down the tunnel, this time armed with a camera which could be shoved through the hole in order to reveal what treasures lay within. This whole proceeding would take about ten minutes. The other hour and fifty minutes would be spent on commercials and documentaries on old Egypt. There was also a great deal of dramatic buildup from the hosts of the show, who stated that this could be one of the most important discoveries ever made. I believe that it was, although not nearly in the sense they intended. As the show wound towards its conclusion, now with equal parts show and commercial, the scientific team gathered around the mysterious shaft. It was time for the robot to explore the hidden chamber behind the door. The host was ready to interview the lead archaeologist as soon as the secret chamber was revealed.
As an international audience watched in awe, the robot pushed the camera through the small hole. Behind it, all could now see...another big stone! And what was hidden in this tiny chamber? Nothing! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! The host did a very good job of acting impressed anyway, using this week's quote to exclaim about how incredible this whole thing was. I think it certainly was incredible that they would make this whole special only to discover that their conclusion was nonexistant. There's a reason most major archaeological finds are reported after they've been found. In any case, the lead archaeoligist added that this was certainl an AMAZING discovery! In fact, he thought that the block of stone behind the door was actually another door! As far as I can tell, this guy was just stretching to find material for a sequel next year.
Despite the rather bland conclusion to this mystery, it was very funny to hear the hosts trying to talk up the fact that they had discovered nothing. Scientific progress should never be recorded live. That's probably the only real thing that was discovered during this special presentation.
Science is definitely not the sort of thing meant to recorded during a live special. This was rendered abundantly clear the other day, and thus I thought I should write something up about it. It really was quite funny.
This epiphany occured in the midst of a special presentation on the Egyptian Pyramids. You may have heard about this show, or worse yet, actually watched it. The premise did sound promising, at least in the advertisments. Archaeologists had discovered a long shaft in the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and they did not know where it led. After years of study, they created a special robot which could travel down this shaft, with camera equipped. Once it had bypassed some major difficulties, such as a treacherous step, the robot finally reached the end of the tunnel. The scientists were quite shocked to find something resembling a door blocking the tunnel. It was a big block of stone, too heavy to be pushed by robots, wooden or otherwise, with two metal handles on it. Studies were done on this 'door', and it was soon discovered that this rock was only about three inches thick, and there was definitely an open space of some sort behind it. Leading archaeologists could only speculate about what lay behind the door, some suggesting a Pharoah's treasure or some really old artifacts. The scientists decided to solve this mystery once and for all, on live television.
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