Is Earth's Magnetic Field Flipping Soon? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is Earth's Magnetic Field Flipping Soon?

#131

Post by kybernetikos » Sat, Feb 02, 2019, 10:47 AM UTC

int_19h wrote: post #129

kybernetikos wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Kiwix is the reader software rather than the dump. I use a huge dump that includes images, but there are lots of choices inluding other reference works and in other languages (useful for learning). I've used a number of different offline readers over the years, TomeRaider, Aard, but kiwix is the one I use at the moment.

Wait, is there anybody else other than the guys behind Kiwix who regularly make compact archives of Wikipedia? The only place I know of where you can download a premade archive (rather than archive it yourself) is off their servers.

I don't know about regular, but there are lots of dumps out there, and you can make them yourself if you have your own preferred format. Lots more information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Database_download

Re: Is Earth's Magnetic Field Flipping Soon?

#132

Post by magduf » Mon, Feb 04, 2019, 4:13 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #115

magduf wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, but you're probably not going to find whatever books the OP was referring to printed on that paper. You'll have to scan them and print them on that paper yourself (assuming that laser toner will also last as long; probably so, given it's basically melted plastic, but I'm not sure).

Most of the discussion was around things like Wikipedia and other internet knowledge which you would have to print anyway. For books you would buy, or course what the publisher will agree to sell you is a limit - and you are probably not big enough to get an acid-free version printed. Though if civilization collapsed bad enough to need this I think most of the useful information I'd want saved was published in the 18…

>We wouldn't be able to use the knowledge of how to make a transistor until long after even acid free paper was useless.

What are you talking about? Transistors don't require some huge industrial base to build; the first one was made with some gold and a germanium crystal. A lot of technologies don't build on top of older technologies, they bypass them altogether. Your rebooted civilization does not need to go through a phase with fossil-fuel-burning cars to get to electric vehicles, for instance. A rebooted civilization, with stored knowledge of modern technology and enough smart people able to make use of that knowledge would be able to get back to current tech levels pretty quickly, and probably avoid most of the mistakes of the past as well.

As for useful information from the 1800s, that would mean you're losing all the modern medical knowledge, which is pretty important, and much of which does not require advanced technology to utilize. Back then, they barely even understood germs and the importance of washing hands (surgeons didn't even bother!). That alone saves tons of lives, and requires no real technology at all.

Re: Is Earth's Magnetic Field Flipping Soon?

#133

Post by bluGill » Mon, Feb 04, 2019, 4:47 PM UTC

magduf wrote: post #132

bluGill wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the discussion was around things like Wikipedia and other internet knowledge which you would have to print anyway. For books you would buy, or course what the publisher will agree to sell you is a limit - and you are probably not big enough to get an acid-free version printed. Though if civilization collapsed bad enough to need this I think most of the useful information I'd want saved was published in the 18…

>We wouldn't be able to use the knowledge of how to make a transistor until long after even acid free paper was useless. What are you talking about? Transistors don't require some huge industrial base to build; the first one was made with some gold and a germanium crystal. A lot of technologies don't build on top of older technologies, they bypass them altogether. Your rebooted civilization does not need to go throug…

I can make a simple transistor, but what good will it do me? Modern electronics needs billions of them - something I cannot do, and the details to scale my simple transistor require a large society to make use of.

I do agree that there are a lot of things we have learned that do apply, but a lot of modern medicine requires laboratories that we wouldn't be able to build. Hand washing only goes so far, can you make a polio vaccine in your kitchen? Can you make an ibuprofen pill - pure enough to safely use?