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The archeologists are struggling with cultures that have left no record. We know lots of stuff about, say, the Roman empire. I think future archeologists will s

by cm2187 4y ago

The archeologists are struggling with cultures that have left no record. We know lots of stuff about, say, the Roman empire. I think future archeologists will struggle with the opposite, with us leaving a gigantic amount of data behind. Just think of what the gmail account of the next Hitler can teach you. I see no reason to think that we won’t be able to preserve that data as the cost of data storage keeps shrinking.

Eumenes 4y ago
We'll see what an EMP will do about that .. I, for one, think a fresh start would be good for our planet.
- concordDance 4y ago
  A population under a billion would admittedly make environment management much easier.
simiones 4y ago
Given that vast amounts of data have already been lost, even ones still considered valuable (e.g. the source code of some popular early games), I honestly see no chance that digital data will survive anything close to how well books survive, let alone comparisons with stone tablets. I'll be honestly surprised if I can still access all my pictures stored today in the cloud by the time I'm in my seventies, 40 years from now. All it takes is a banned account, a forgotten password, one too many lost MFA factors, and bye bye data.
jl6 4y ago
Perhaps today's oversized data legacy is the dirt and rubble through which future archaeologists will have to dig, to find relevant information.
layer8 4y ago
If there’s ever a breakdown of civilization, or even just a worldwide dictatorship for long enough, that data could easily be destroyed and lost forever.
farnsworth 4y ago
I don't think so- everything will be encrypted, lost, deleted, or on degraded unreadable drives. And what access do biographers have to the email accounts of people today? People used to leave behind a lifetime of paper notes and correspondence, read any biography and you will see this. After the 90s, I think that will just stop being available.
nosianu 4y ago
> I think future archeologists will struggle with the opposite, with us leaving a gigantic amount of data behind Or it's the opposite, because most of the electronic records will be lost. Depends on how far ahead you look for those future archeologists. If you want to keep stuff for millennia you need clay tablets and stone, not USB sticks and magnetic tapes. Even microfilm - used extensively only a decades ago - is not all that durable (although it's better than electronic storage - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/07/microfilm-lasts-half-a-millennium/565643/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/07/micro...). Never mind anyone trying to read some PDF a thousand years from now, even if they somehow have the bits and bytes. Lots of articles about this, just one random example link: https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/will-history-survive-the-digital-age/ https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/will-histor... Some think at least the important stuff is safe - but the problem is, unlike a stone stele, or a clay tablet by chance stored under just the right conditions, electronic records need to be actively managed and occasionally transferred to new media. It won't survive the millennia without active intervention. So the idea that our important historic electronic data is safe rests on the assumption that there will always be librarians who take care of save storage and occasional replication, and maintenance of the needed equipment. I think that's quite optimistic.
- riskable 4y ago
  > If you want to keep stuff for millennia you need clay tablets and stone, not USB sticks and magnetic tapes. Actually, there's a better way: Religion! Religion will have people devoting their lives to copying things generation after generation. We just need a new religion that devotes their time and (collective) resources into the preservation of all things digital. Something like archive.org but with groups of people gathering every Sunday to copy (and catalog) each other's data. Sure, the majority of the archives will probably consist of porn but that is also one of the most likely artifacts to be found at any given archeological site (aka little statues/carvings of a, "fertility goddess"). So... more of the same sort of discoveries by archeologists of the future who get access to the Church of the Digital God's archives.

by cm2187 4y ago

Eumenes 4y ago

We'll see what an EMP will do about that .. I, for one, think a fresh start would be good for our planet.

concordDance 4y ago
A population under a billion would admittedly make environment management much easier.

simiones 4y ago

Given that vast amounts of data have already been lost, even ones still considered valuable (e.g. the source code of some popular early games), I honestly see no chance that digital data will survive anything close to how well books survive, let alone comparisons with stone tablets. I'll be honestly surprised if I can still access all my pictures stored today in the cloud by the time I'm in my seventies, 40 years from now. All it takes is a banned account, a forgotten password, one too many lost MFA factors, and bye bye data.

jl6 4y ago

Perhaps today's oversized data legacy is the dirt and rubble through which future archaeologists will have to dig, to find relevant information.

layer8 4y ago

If there’s ever a breakdown of civilization, or even just a worldwide dictatorship for long enough, that data could easily be destroyed and lost forever.

farnsworth 4y ago

I don't think so- everything will be encrypted, lost, deleted, or on degraded unreadable drives. And what access do biographers have to the email accounts of people today? People used to leave behind a lifetime of paper notes and correspondence, read any biography and you will see this. After the 90s, I think that will just stop being available.

nosianu 4y ago

> I think future archeologists will struggle with the opposite, with us leaving a gigantic amount of data behind Or it's the opposite, because most of the electronic records will be lost. Depends on how far ahead you look for those future archeologists. If you want to keep stuff for millennia you need clay tablets and stone, not USB sticks and magnetic tapes. Even microfilm - used extensively only a decades ago - is not all that durable (although it's better than electronic storage - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/07/microfilm-lasts-half-a-millennium/565643/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/07/micro...). Never mind anyone trying to read some PDF a thousand years from now, even if they somehow have the bits and bytes. Lots of articles about this, just one random example link: https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/will-history-survive-the-digital-age/ https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/will-histor... Some think at least the important stuff is safe - but the problem is, unlike a stone stele, or a clay tablet by chance stored under just the right conditions, electronic records need to be actively managed and occasionally transferred to new media. It won't survive the millennia without active intervention. So the idea that our important historic electronic data is safe rests on the assumption that there will always be librarians who take care of save storage and occasional replication, and maintenance of the needed equipment. I think that's quite optimistic.

riskable 4y ago
> If you want to keep stuff for millennia you need clay tablets and stone, not USB sticks and magnetic tapes. Actually, there's a better way: Religion! Religion will have people devoting their lives to copying things generation after generation. We just need a new religion that devotes their time and (collective) resources into the preservation of all things digital. Something like archive.org but with groups of people gathering every Sunday to copy (and catalog) each other's data. Sure, the majority of the archives will probably consist of porn but that is also one of the most likely artifacts to be found at any given archeological site (aka little statues/carvings of a, "fertility goddess"). So... more of the same sort of discoveries by archeologists of the future who get access to the Church of the Digital God's archives.