Personal computing discussed
Moderators: askfranklin, renee, emkubed, Captain Ned
Krogoth wrote:Digital information is arguably more vulnerable to the ravages of time. Not only you have to worry about media itself. You have worry the recording apparatus and how to decode the pattern of 010101s into a meaningful format. Your USB thumb may survive for centuries, but the knowledge to how to use it may get "lost". Making the thumb drive no different than a clay table written with a dead language.
just brew it! wrote:Beer & wine. Salty cured meat products like bacon, salami, and beef jerky. Chess. Trolling on whatever communications medium has taken the Internet's place. Porn. All the things I've chosen shouldn't be significantly affected whether modern civilization has progressed or collapsed, so they stand a very good chance of still being around no matter what trajectory we follow (short of completely annihilating ourselves).Krogoth wrote:Digital information is arguably more vulnerable to the ravages of time. Not only you have to worry about media itself. You have worry the recording apparatus and how to decode the pattern of 010101s into a meaningful format. Your USB thumb may survive for centuries, but the knowledge to how to use it may get "lost". Making the thumb drive no different than a clay table written with a dead language.
Even leaving equipment obsolescence issues aside, I think you are vastly over-estimating the data retention capability of flash memory chips. Retention times have been dropping (not increasing), due to the widespread adoption of MLC/TLC. Unless you're already a senior citizen, you will almost certainly outlive any data you've got stored on contemporary flash media.
Krogoth wrote:I was referring to a hypothetical "thumb drive" that would be collecting dust or be buried for centuries and some future archeologist stumbles upon it.
yogibbear wrote:Stupid people
Porn industry.
Krogoth wrote:I was referring to a hypothetical "thumb drive" that would be collecting dust or be buried for centuries and some future archeologist stumbles upon it.
tanker27 wrote:If I can wash and dry a thumb drive multiple times and it still works one would think that it would survive intact after some period of time if left undisturbed or even buried.
Krogoth wrote:I was referring to a hypothetical "thumb drive" that would be collecting dust or be buried for centuries and some future archeologist stumbles upon it.
ludi wrote:Krogoth wrote:I was referring to a hypothetical "thumb drive" that would be collecting dust or be buried for centuries and some future archeologist stumbles upon it.
And a future anthropologist, having no idea what the letters "USB" mean, disassembles the silicon chip under high magnification and concludes that the etched patterns are some sort of hieroglyphic.
yogibbear wrote:ludi wrote:And a future anthropologist, having no idea what the letters "USB" mean, disassembles the silicon chip under high magnification and concludes that the etched patterns are some sort of hieroglyphic.
Nah it was decorative jewelry that we wore to attract sexual partners.
SpotTheCat wrote:The long now clock, for one. It will still be ticking, to boot.
I would imagine many of our modern roads will survive. I can't imagine at least some of the 200' wide roads with 12-24" concrete substructures wouldn't be visible. Even if they're not maintained, my guess is that whatever is here would use them. By using them keep the trees/bushes out. Probably not as likely where I live, with the freeze-thaw, but maybe in California etc.
Airports. Many tarmacs are designed for incredible forces on a huge scale and are in geologically stable environments.
Some of the satellites we have put into orbit will remain so for such a short (astronomical) period. Even if they're not functioning anymore, they would still be evidence of our technology. How cool would a find like that be in 10,000 years?
just brew it! wrote:Objects in low earth orbit (used by the majority of man-made satellites) still experience a bit of atmospheric drag, so LEO objects will eventually crash and burn. Satellites in higher orbits (e.g. the geostationary satellites used for satellite TV service) will probably be there for a very long time though...
yogibbear wrote:Nah it was decorative jewelry that we wore to attract sexual partners.