if you wanted to archive a terabyte of data in perpetuity, how would you plan to do it?
-
-
Replying to @interfluidity
How long of a perpetuity are we talking about? Serious question.
2 replies 0 retweets 21 likes -
Replying to @Pinboard
“indefinite” meaning it’s not like nuclear waste warning signs that are supposed to outlast our civilization, but as long as our civilization has a kind of continuous existence, it should be available. think of case law or scientific publications as comparables.
3 replies 0 retweets 2 likes -
Replying to @interfluidity
Okay, that narrows it down! Two solutions seem to have worked well in the past are to make the terabyte a holy text that must be transmitted verbatim (though you still get bit rot). Or engrave it onto quartz cubes and build the biggest pyramid you can afford out of them
1 reply 0 retweets 8 likes -
Replying to @Pinboard @interfluidity
All digital media is out, so you need a hard copy. Cave paintings seem to age well, but you're going to need a lot of caves. Carved stones are durable and at least stackable. And if budget is no limit, it would be hard to go wrong with mile-high letters on the Moon
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes -
Replying to @Pinboard @interfluidity
For 100% durability, encode it into the genome of a sexually transmitted disease, and it will last as long as humanity. But the tricky part there is genetic drift, unless you figure out a way to make it functional. Personally I'd go with a foundation, a vault and acid-free paper
2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
The serious answer to your question also depends on how much you tolerate inaccuracies. The Qur'an is 150 kilobytes or so transmitted almost verbatim for 1,100 years, but that took a lot of work. Alternatively, you can try to find a physical format that's really hard to destroy
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.