Google's Vint Cerf warns of 'digital Dark Age'

[bogeyman]

Vint Cerf, a "father of the internet", says he is worried that all the images and documents we have been saving on computers will eventually be lost.

Currently a Google vice-president, he believes this could occur as hardware and software become obsolete.

He fears that future generations will have little or no record of the 21st Century as we enter what he describes as a "digital Dark Age".


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31450389

Consequences of our own actions.

[MorningFox]

I'm not sure he really understands what he's talking about. People don't save 'on computers' as much any more (and he's right they probably won't at all in the future) because everything can go on the cloud (the internet)... accessible from anywhere in the world, rather than having to own the physical hard drive. Everyone can see your information, if you allow it, rather than just the few people who have access to the machine.

This generation in the 21st century videos, records, photographs and saves more of our lives than anyone has ever done in recorded history. The internet isn't going anywhere. Future generations will have more record of what has occurred now than we ever have about our past at this point.

No idea what he thinks he means but it's rubbish..

[Sunny-side-up]

I do personally store my vid/s and documents on my hard drives, on DvD's and sticks. DVD are the safeist as all other storage is magnetic and can be wiped with EMP's, and yes I know EMP's will effect the players so if you can afford have a lead box with a computer, sticks and DVD player in it. You do that and you could well find your the master of knowledge in the not to distant future, if all go's to the S-Fan that is :(

You know you can have portable DVD players now run on Bats ;)

Other than the above for distant generations, it will be them finding stone and or metal tablets Doh! and that wont be muchinfo will it.

So I advise saving those very important vid's and or doc's that you would desperately like/need to impart to your kids and your kids-kids!

And who is to say that the lost advanced civilizations of old didn't have their version of Cloud-online-storage that all just dispirited over night, the common people thinking it was all safe Doh! luckily we found a few of their Stone/metal tablets and wall carvings to give us some clues, clues that they existed that is and not great reams of the knowledge they commanded :(

[Carmody]

If you look around, you'll find that the people who are most concerned with data storage, are people like archivists,and in another instance, film makers.

For instance, Christopher Nolan (Batman, Inception, Interstellar) Films on Film, not digital cameras, as film is still a bit better than digital can do.

Most importantly...that there is no storage medium, whatsoever, in any known quantity or way, that can last 100 years.

Only Film can do that.

Only books can do that. Paper books.

So far, that is a very definite and definitive statement ---period.

The talk of a strong potential for a 'digital dark age' (where the record of all that happens now is lost), is very very real.

Most importantly, when humanity is a blank slate, with no record of the past, then, intentionally or otherwise, anything can be written in to that blank spot. This brings you right to the Orwellian 1984 scenario, where the past is erased and a new history written. Which has happened to us so often that the record read out...would be as long as the time you have to take a look.

“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”


Add in the fact that +99.99% of the human race is unconscious... what we think of consciousness is actually just a thin sheen or an operating system on top of a notably more complex system. That the ego is this 'subset program internal voicalizer' of a sort (that voice in your head reading this right now), and in that, has no consciousness in the direct sense (but it can be written to, and it likes to think it is in charge--and alive!!). But it believes it does. Which circles back to the issue of consciousness and how less than 0.01% of humans actually have it.

Essentially, that a digital dark age allows for a human re-write. Which is why controllers are so adamant about you not finding real history, or digging stuff up out of the ground.

That plastic digital futures are one of the core requisite premise components of a human reset and re-write.

A notable component of a perfected developing storm.

I would not urinate on the best part of an e-reader, for that aspect alone.

Then we add in that recent studies are showing that incessant cell phone or smart phone use is making people in the literal sense, more stupid, with less functional and less growing potential in their grey matter, ie reducing their own capacity for smarts..and this is happening to 1/3rd of the population, overall (from severe to mild)....well you can see the hole the human race is walking into.

It's not specifically about the ability to move faster, without the paper, but who controls what aspects about you. Especially when 1 in maybe 4,000-10,000 people is actually fully conscious.

[kaon]

I would venture to say that our current and near future saved information will be transferrable when new technologies arise. I have photographs that were digitally transferred through photo scanning and as previously mentioned, the internet is not going anywhere. Just like vinyl albums, 8 track, and cassettes (music) are transferred but not lost.
I have serious doubts about his story, but Google may just be preparing us for some new technology. I don't trust them regardless as they are the king of data mining now and they probably will be in the future.

[TargeT]

FYI, EMP's generally only effect electrical components ( circuit boards etc) that are susceptible to ESD (Electro-static discharge), magnetic media (in the vast majority of cases) will be perfectly safe (though what will read it...).

to protect from EMP's is fairly simple, no need for a lead lined box, a simple Faraday cage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) will suffice.

[Carmody]

I would venture to say that our current and near future saved information will be transferrable when new technologies arise. I have photographs that were digitally transferred through photo scanning and as previously mentioned, the internet is not going anywhere. Just like vinyl albums, 8 track, and cassettes (music) are transferred but not lost.
I have serious doubts about his story, but Google may just be preparing us for some new technology. I don't trust them regardless as they are the king of data mining now and they probably will be in the future.

Actually, vinyl records also have a long lifespan. Longer than film, with less difficult to maintain storage conditions. Outside of carefully preserved scrolls, tablets, and so on, vinyl records are 'ok'. If well stored, possibly a few hundred years of lifespan. I have many 50 year old records, that are doing fine, so far.

[donk]

Is there really that much INFORMATION worth saving, anyways?? Other than that which will allow you control/power over others??

The rest (like that needed for survival) will be handed down, somehow...else how would you exist?

It will be sad that future generations may never get to experience kitty memes and amateur porn, but hey....is it REALLY that important? ;)

[Carmody]

There's quite a bit of other things on the net, other than that. ie, the shape of coming human clarity and the force with which it is being put down.

If the record is not kept and the line is not held, then you'll quite probably find yourself totally down and reset, with no idea who you are or how you got there.

[kaon]

I would venture to say that our current and near future saved information will be transferrable when new technologies arise. I have photographs that were digitally transferred through photo scanning and as previously mentioned, the internet is not going anywhere. Just like vinyl albums, 8 track, and cassettes (music) are transferred but not lost.
I have serious doubts about his story, but Google may just be preparing us for some new technology. I don't trust them regardless as they are the king of data mining now and they probably will be in the future.

Actually, vinyl records also have a long lifespan. Longer than film, with less difficult to maintain storage conditions. Outside of carefully preserved scrolls, tablets, and so on, vinyl records are 'ok'. If well stored, possibly a few hundred years of lifespan. I have many 50 year old records, that are doing fine, so far.

I was not referring to the decay rate of vinyl albums vs tapes, but perhaps I should really etch my biography in stone. :p

[donk]

I sure wish the internet (or someone) would tell me who I am and how I got here.

[TargeT]

Which circles back to the issue of consciousness and how less than 0.01% of humans actually have it.

I see it more like liquids.. or perhaps water and oil,, there are patches of consciousness that move around on the oceans of unconsciousness, occasionally most people experience brief sessions of "consciousness" where they are truly self aware and in control, but these are brief and fleeting moments; but hopefully like a bag of popcorn that slowly starts popping at first, we too are slowly building up to a more conscious and aware existence.



Then we add in that recent studies are showing that incessant cell phone or smart phone use is making people in the literal sense, more stupid, with less functional and less growing potential in their grey matter, ie reducing their own capacity for smarts..and this is happening to 1/3rd of the population, overall (from severe to mild)....well you can see the hole the human race is walking into.

could you link that study? while I agree that generalization is important to convey large ideas, I think this may be overly generalized.



It's not specifically about the ability to move faster, without the paper, but who controls what aspects about you. Especially when 1 in maybe 4,000-10,000 people is actually fully conscious.

I don't consider myself to be fully conscious, I'd say maybe 15-20% of my day is spent "mostly" conscious; ie completely aware of my actions and directly choosing them with perhaps some thought to the future implications of said actions.






Actually, vinyl records also have a long lifespan. Longer than film, with less difficult to maintain storage conditions. Outside of carefully preserved scrolls, tablets, and so on, vinyl records are 'ok'. If well stored, possibly a few hundred years of lifespan. I have many 50 year old records, that are doing fine, so far.

long term stability in a world that is in constant struggle with entropy and creation is certainly a difficult challenge.

I think diamond would work fairly well, with binary inscription; but it is rather brittle and prone to shattering, perhaps diamond sphere's with binary inscriptions? Clearly megalithic monuments last a certain amount of time, but even with the astrological hints and specific placements we STILL aren't able to discern their messages.

[donk]

Sounds to me like the transhumanist’s wet dream of transferring the human collective consciousness onto a more “durable” physical medium….maybe the internet is more of a reflection of what we actually are than the “data” it contains…which is just our measly finite interpretation of reality as we perceive it right now—which I find it to be a couple nuggets of truth and/or useful expressions of what actually IS (or seems to be), buried under a giant pile of distraction.

And a dark age will be a reflection of whatever we fill our consciousness with then, if that is how it is.

All is well…universe is as universe does

[Carmody]

In order to be a functional bit of energy in a pure energy environment, ie, no 3d solids, no frozen lattice structures... one requires being a organized and held (hold the line) intelligence (being, self, I, etc) of variance in differential of energies.

otherwise, if the line is not held and so on... one finds themselves taken apart by predatory energy stealers/thieves, or winds down through leakage.

It takes full involvement and full investment in self and self expansion.

It is a PRO-ACTIVE situation, one that depends on DATA and AWARENESS within all aspects of it.

In the case of set-backs, one can look at the origin of the set back, and if, foolish and of self created limited reach and not liking the feel of being shown up in and of the self... one can call it the will of the universe.

so, one can take the setback in stride but it does in no way mean to slow down stop or relax one's attention.

Otherwise one finds themselves being turned into someone's food animal, fodder, or stepping stone...in whatever way it may take place.

The multiverse s a very friendly place, if you hang out in the friendly areas.

If you want to test your ability to hang on, hold the line, and possibly, grow.... you come to places like this.

Places where if you don't pay attention, stay on it, and expand within it...you get eaten.

(Orwell's corollary about breaking the line of emergent awareness, by keeping people in the animal state: "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."
It is what is required to help keep people from awakening. Constant animal agitation, to prevent the rising of intelligence and situational awareness. The drip-drip of slow motion long term waterboarding)

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

Vint Cerf, a "father of the internet", says he is worried that all the images and documents we have been saving on computers will eventually be lost.

Currently a Google vice-president, he believes this could occur as hardware and software become obsolete.

He fears that future generations will have little or no record of the 21st Century as we enter what he describes as a "digital Dark Age".


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31450389

Consequences of our own actions.

Thank you for sharing this, I for one do believe it is a possibility.

I remember going into a Border's Bookstore about 5 years ago,
running into one of the only other customers there.

Half the stock was on sale because so few people go to the bookstore anymore.

He and I eventually started talking .. he told me how much he loved books,
and how sad he was that so few people came into the store to read books.

He said, soon much of this will be lost because there are so few people left who value it.


P.s. those who put false hope in the internet somehow "saving" all of what we think is important,
so that we don't have to go through the work of saving it ourselves, are sadly misguided.

How many people here have criticized the building of the pyramids in Egpyt as an act of slavery,
without once considering it was done for us, the children of the future, so that we would have a chance of preserving our heritage as a species.

[donk]

What, besides our own egos, is "worth preserving"? If given a chance, I'd put my energy into sustaining a species on the verge of exitinction now (how many species go extinct every day again?) rather than any "heritage" that can't be passed down through example or oral tradition....but that's just me, who's leaving this thread with apologies for any misdirection I may have caused. I personally feel we are in the "dark ages" of useful information anyways, brought to us by avalanches of lies, disinfo, distraction, and misguided, selfish intent. Sorry...catch yall elsewhere!

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

What, besides our own egos, is "worth preserving"? If given a chance, I'd put my energy into sustaining a species on the verge of exitinction now (how many species go extinct every day again?) rather than any "heritage" that can't be passed down through example or oral tradition....but that's just me, who's leaving this thread with apologies for any misdirection I may have caused. I personally feel we are in the "dark ages" of useful information anyways, brought to us by avalanches of lies, disinfo, distraction, and misguided, selfish intent. Sorry...catch yall elsewhere!

I think it might be possible to have both -- save our history -- and also help the planet.
Humanity, if it survives capitalism, will relearn how to prioritize.

Prioritizing, i.e. judgement, isn't popular anymore, but necessary to survival!

I.e. without books and shared knowledge many of us might not even know about extinctions.
:(

[Sunny-side-up]

FYI, EMP's generally only effect electrical components ( circuit boards etc) that are susceptible to ESD (Electro-static discharge), magnetic media (in the vast majority of cases) will be perfectly safe (though what will read it...).

to protect from EMP's is fairly simple, no need for a lead lined box, a simple Faraday cage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) will suffice.

thanks TargeT (Faraday_cage) thats a lot cheaper ;) and lighter in weight to move!