Or how to pass information to a future we cannot know beyond the end of our society
Problem: The storage and maintenance of data through apocalypses. We know that cultures that no longer exist existed because they left behind data. Carvings, scrolls, books. In many cases we have no informational continuity with those cultures because we lost informational continuity. That is to say, there was not a bridge between the lost culture and a culture that survived and translated their information to a format (language) we understand. We learn about these cultures from their garbage middens and ruins that were too remote to be rebuilt on.
We would be foolish to think we will not suffer an apocalypse that eliminates most of our knowledge, and as more and more of the information our culture creates is primarily digital, more of our information and knowledge will be lost. As we encrypt our data, we lock out the future from that data, even if that data survives. If we want the knowledge to survive, we, as a culture, have to record our knowledge in a way that can survive.
Digital media is great for convenience and low cost. Physical media is disaster resistant. If we want to truly preserve our information, we need stable, solid media that can be intuitively read and stored for the long term. Placement will also be key. I'd suggest that we build portable vaults that we can bury in landfills and place in geologically stable remote areas, in secret to prevent vandalism.
For storage in the hundreds of years, film reels and books made of archival papers stored properly can transmit our knowledge to the future. Any and all digital media, and even non-obvious media (records for sound recording) will probably not be readable by cultures that don't have informational continuity with our civilization. Film reels explain themselves and could be paired with books that explain how projectors work and specifications for the
For storage in the thousands of years, something more survivable is needed. I'm imagining gold alloy (or non tarnishing, non rusting tough metal) plates, bound into books. With the first books being a primer defining the language of the remaining books. Kind of like how in Contact the aliens included simple math examples to unlock the rest of the plans. The remainder would be encyclopedic information and copies of written works. Etchings of images could also be included, as well as music notation, but I don't see an archival way to store video or audio for thousands of years, allowing for cultures that don't have informational continuity to access them.
For either system, redundancy would be key. No vault should contain unique items, they should be multiple copies, potentially in multiple languages to make it more likely that the people who recover this information will have a language root in common with it. the containers should be redundantly sealed against moisture, insects, or other things that could damage the payload. the containers should be labeled with time capsule style information forbidding early opening. on the other hand, it should be easy to find and not too difficult to open. Off hand I think that shipping containers are a good size to survive, be easy to transport to various sites, and be large enough to find in rubble, landfills or wilderness.
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