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What content/knowledge would you choose to store on the device and why?
>“If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another.” ― Richard Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol 1
This should be generalized and augmented to the idea of analysis and synthesis in general, what we could call "general alchemy". That is physical and symbolic isolation & scientific controls help to understand the world, but we also need to figure out the "chemistry" so to speak of how things tend to combine and transform so we can understand the whole ecology of the integrated system.
The freedom to choose among terabytes would take a ton of thought to actually come up with some optimal set. You could probably churn over thoughts on the subject for years.
As many engineering documents as I could find.
Copy of the Great Books.
The Art of Computer programming.
Terabytes would be enough to contain perhaps most written material in English but the above is what I would start with.
Wrapping a phone a bit in aluminum foil didn't work for me. But if I was liberal with how much foil to use, I could eventually keep the phone off the hook.
Will that work to save an ssd from a signal millions of times more intense with a far sharper rise? I kind of doubt it. So that aluminum foil covering my lifes work or dreams is probably as good as 3 day old wheat bread toast after a dedicated electronic nuke is detonated.
Well if I could just impart one idea or concept it would be similar to Feynman's quote: >“If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made…
ring around the rosy pocket full of posy ashes ashes we all fall down
The inscription date was 538 ad, the second year of the plague of Justinian and the installment of the Biship of Rome.
I find it funny (but not surprising) that tech people will always put some random science knowledge in there but post-apocalyptic, small scattered communities aren't going to rely on computers and need, if anything, human knowledge which is always relevant and answers on how to govern themselves and how they ended up in the mess.
Basically whatever prevents Lord of the Flies and people dying of dysentery would I think have priority. Also gonna throw Ashley Book of Knots as a concrete recommendation in there because knowing your knots is probably a good idea when the world has ended and that book is a classic
Handbook of Chemistry. As many engineering documents as I could find. Copy of the Great Books. The Art of Computer programming. Terabytes would be enough to contain perhaps most written material in English but the above is what I would start with.