3 ms·

We should code an algorithm that tells you how to reconstruct the object from 3d scans of the glass pieces

pjc50 4y ago
There was a prize offered for almost exactly that, reconstructing the Stasi archives from the shredded pieces. I'm not sure what came of it?
- unwind 4y ago
  From [1]: In 2007 research began on developing a computer-aided reconstruction program in a pilot project. Since the launch of the test phase at the end of 2013, approximately 60,000 pages from 18 bags have been reconstructed so far (status August 2020). So I guess it did work, some kind of software was implemented, and results are being produced. I wonder why they went through the trouble to shred enough paper to fill 16,000 bags, only to then archive the bags? So strange but I'm not a history buff so I don't know the details. Feels like it would have been way more efficient in terms of destroying the records if the bags had been thrown in a river/lake (or, obviously, burnt). Perhaps there was no time, although all that shredding and bagging must have taken a while. Almost makes we wish I spent more time on this when I visited Berlin. :) [1]: https://www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de/en/archives/the-reconstruction-of-torn-documents/ https://www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de/en/archives/the-recon...
- CiceroCiceronis 4y ago
  I remember once someone mentioned in comments here a science fiction book where a whole library was digitised by pumping all the books into a massive shredder, blowing the shreds through a pipe with cameras all over the walls, then stitching it electronically. Can't remember what the book was...
  - traverseda 4y ago
    Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End.
- adolph 4y ago
  The militants had been combing embassy records and figuring out who was CIA. They had even hired teams of carpet weavers to successfully reassemble shredded documents. (The recovered papers would later be published by the Iranian government in a series of books called Documents From the US Espionage Den.) https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/68584/during-iranian-hostage-crisis-were-shredded-documents-reassembled-by-children https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/68584/during-ira...

There was a prize offered for almost exactly that, reconstructing the Stasi archives from the shredded pieces. I'm not sure what came of it?

unwind 4y ago
From [1]: In 2007 research began on developing a computer-aided reconstruction program in a pilot project. Since the launch of the test phase at the end of 2013, approximately 60,000 pages from 18 bags have been reconstructed so far (status August 2020). So I guess it did work, some kind of software was implemented, and results are being produced. I wonder why they went through the trouble to shred enough paper to fill 16,000 bags, only to then archive the bags? So strange but I'm not a history buff so I don't know the details. Feels like it would have been way more efficient in terms of destroying the records if the bags had been thrown in a river/lake (or, obviously, burnt). Perhaps there was no time, although all that shredding and bagging must have taken a while. Almost makes we wish I spent more time on this when I visited Berlin. :) [1]: https://www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de/en/archives/the-reconstruction-of-torn-documents/ https://www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de/en/archives/the-recon...
CiceroCiceronis 4y ago
I remember once someone mentioned in comments here a science fiction book where a whole library was digitised by pumping all the books into a massive shredder, blowing the shreds through a pipe with cameras all over the walls, then stitching it electronically. Can't remember what the book was...
- traverseda 4y ago
  Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End.
adolph 4y ago
The militants had been combing embassy records and figuring out who was CIA. They had even hired teams of carpet weavers to successfully reassemble shredded documents. (The recovered papers would later be published by the Iranian government in a series of books called Documents From the US Espionage Den.) https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/68584/during-iranian-hostage-crisis-were-shredded-documents-reassembled-by-children https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/68584/during-ira...