191–200 of 825 posts
I remember seeing an HN article about a stone disc that could keep your data intact for 1000 years. I can't seem to find it. All that comes up in search is something called M-Disc
M-Disc is a DVD made out of stone that lasts 1,000 years
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2868296
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/92286-m-disc-is-a-dvd-...
Blockchain: IPFS and FIL Though, who knows what will be around in 500 years. In theory, some blockchains will be, if only as museum pieces.
I think it could be relevant here.
I would probably create some type of small self-contained unit, that's battery powered, and can recharge itself via solar panels. I'd have this device periodically try to fetch data from the internet. Once the internet goes down it goes down, and you'd have the local cached copy. I'd also have this mystical device print out the entire website in paper form every year or so, and then it would automatically shove the b…
How do you keep the battery from degrading after a few decades? Are there specific battery types that are long-term (hundreds of years?). Such as capacitors? And the solar panels themselves would need maintenance, even if it is simply cleaning.
Print it out on acid-free paper with a stable, acid-free ink. Have it bound as a hardback, and seal it into a waterproof container. Entrust it to one of your children, tell them to keep it in a safe-deposit box and take it out once a year to share with their children, and to pass it on to their children with the same instructions. If you have it electronically, the absolute best case in 500 years is that it will be a…
The second part of your answer is hilarious and depressing.
Software's intangibility will be its downfall when our modern society eventually collapses.
I've toyed with the idea of putting money into a trust and having the executors of the trust use the money to maintain stuff like this. It's more of an institutional solution than a technical one, but I'm personally more comfortable with an institution lasting 500 years than an unmaintained piece of hardware or software. It's the same strategy used by museums--they take a grant from somewhere (from government, public…
IANAL but I believe "the rule against perpetuities" is one of the sticking points in using something like a trust as an institutional solution to this problem.