4 ms·
You are correct but is not enough for the technology to improve, there needs to be some thought into making things forwards compatible too. Human readable forma
by smackay 9y ago
You are correct but is not enough for the technology to improve, there needs to be some thought into making things forwards compatible too. Human readable formats stand the best chance of being understood even if there is an interruption in the advancement of civilisation. Paper obviously wins here. The elephant in the room is of course the media on which the information is stored. Paper is probably the most robust storage technology we have right now.
- 627467 9y agoSeems like many in this thread are thinking about conservation. Thats positive. Not all paper (papyrus, wood or stone) based documents remains till this day. Effort was made to conserve it because, through different times, enough people thought that knownledge was worth being remembered. If a interactive paper is meaningful to enough people, it will be preserved.
- whatshisface 9y agoYou could say the same of oral traditions, which were also preserved: but that doesn't mean that oral traditions are just as good (in terms of information transfer) as written ones. Keeping up a digital paper would be much like an oral tradition, with each new generation having to re-implement it for current devices.
- c22 9y agoI have books that were printed in the '70s and '80s that are yellowed and cracking--literally disintegrating where they sit, on a bookshelf in a climate controlled room. You certainly can produce and print on paper that lasts much longer, but this is also true of digital mediums.