This isn’t a technological answer, but set up a trust fund for the purpose. None of us know what web hosting or its equivalent will be in 109 years, let alone 500, so the only real solution is to ensure there will be somebody around whose job will be to sort that out.
Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
281–290 of 825 posts
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
> “What was there to say? Civilization was like a mad dash that lasted five thousand years. Progress begot more progress; countless miracles gave birth to more miracles; humankind seemed to possess the power of gods; but in the end, the real power was wielded by time. Leaving behind a mark was tougher than creating a world. At the end of civilization, all they could do was the same thing they had done in the distant…
I recall some scifi where some Diety/SuperAI left 'commandments' for humanity carved into giant monuments made of diamond. I presume that was considered the only thing that would survive deep time.
There was an interesting article online a few years back, can't find it now. It claimed that humans can't make anything that will last more that 16 million years. This includes any kind of nuclear pollution. Sure we might get lucky like Jurassic fossils, but not intentionally.
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#283https://permanent.org/
This is exactly what they claim to be solving.
Now if you trust them is another question.
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#284I think this question has a much deeper implication. What is going to happen to digital data, period? Think of all the letters between famous geniuses in Physics. Today all of that is locked up in emails on server, password (and possibly 2FA) protected. Will all of this be lost to encryption, even if the "wayback" machine of the exebyte internet manages to waste all that energy on SSDs to save it all????
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#285I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appe…
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
This DNA writing idea is premised on the concept that most of our DNA is "junk", which is an increasingly unlikely idea. Most of it does not code for proteins, that's true. We are slowly uncovering more and more functions for the rest.
Who said anything about modifying our existing genome? Perhaps in the future we’ll be able to add extra biologically inert genetic material solely for the purpose of permanently storing information, passed from generation to generation.
GP said :
> Perhaps there will be a technology that allows you to write site files in the DNA directly of your children
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#287Isn't there an 'arrogance' in the premise when we ask these sorts of questions? Not a personal criticism; just an aside from the technical question for a moment. It's the assumption that we've decided something we created should have permanence. Similar to billionaires deciding they would like to live forever and trying to make it happen. There's a beauty to the world, which is we get a short time to contribute, and…
There might be arrogance. It depends on what the person has in mind. If it’s someone making a time capsule purely with the hope that someone in the future might find it interesting and delightful, then no, I don’t think arrogance comes into that at all. If it’s an ancient king trying to preserve his face and memory by minting and burying coins, then maybe you could describe that ‘arrogant’, but so what, it’s still great for the people in the future who discover it and get a window into a different time.
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#288Print 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…
Put it on Vellum!
Create a social ritual to read it so it can stay pliable. Vellum lasts forever
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#289I think this question has a much deeper implication. What is going to happen to digital data, period? Think of all the letters between famous geniuses in Physics. Today all of that is locked up in emails on server, password (and possibly 2FA) protected. Will all of this be lost to encryption, even if the "wayback" machine of the exebyte internet manages to waste all that energy on SSDs to save it all????
When thinking of 500 years in the future I'd guess encryption would be the last thing to be worried about.
Re: Ask HN: Best way to host a website for 500 years?
#290I still think that baked clay tablets have the best bit retention rate of any media humans have invented. Doesn't take much skill to make or use them, either.
But for 500 years you're probably fine with acid-free paper, archival quality ink, and simple environmental control for storage (e.g., a well-designed box). Might want a nitrogen atmosphere, but it's probably not that critical.