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While on the topic of storage media. Will knowledge be lost at some point? Terabytes of data forever locked away in encrypted devices. Maybe they'll only di
by kbrannigan 4y ago
While on the topic of storage media.
Will knowledge be lost at some point?
Terabytes of data forever locked away in encrypted devices.
Maybe they'll only dig out small rectangles, mysterious bricks of plastic and glass.
Since the younger generation is losing the concept of physical storage.
Previous generation grew up with: cassettes, records, cd, dvd and usb drives.
They had wired phones, wired everything.
The current generation is growing up with: streaming and wireless transfers(airdrop).
- marginalia_nu 4y agoAlmost certainly. You don't need encryption or even particularly long time to lose knowledge. Stuff is falling off the Internet every day that isn't backed up or archived. Wayback Machine only captures some of it. The rest is gone.
- Dalewyn 4y agoPhysical storage doesn't last on its own volition either. Bit rot will strike at any binary storage medium eventually, certain form factors will literally lose the ability to be read eventually, file system support might be dropped in future OS versions, and so on. The only forms of data storage that have been demonstrated to last the tests of time are physical texts and images etched into cold hard stone or metal. That's it. Papers rot, inks rot, bits rot, plastics rot, magnets fade. You want something to last? You get a big chunk of metal or rock and etch your data in it. The thing will outlast any other form of data storage by at least several millenia.
- systemskid 4y agoProject silica by Microsoft Research seems like a very interesting project in this direction. Storing data on glass which is incapable of bit rot (and in more ways similar to the stone carvings from the medieval era)