'digital Dark Age' by KingFISHER 2015/02/15 13:57
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.
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". Mr Cerf made his comments at a large science conference in San Jose. He arrived at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science stylishly dressed in a three-piece suit. This iconic figure, who helped define how data packets move around the net, is possibly the only Google employee who wears a tie. I felt obliged to thank him for the internet, and he bowed graciously. "One is glad to be of service," he said humbly. His focus now is to resolve a new problem that threatens to eradicate our history. Our life, our memories, our most cherished family photographs increasingly exist as bits of information - on our hard drives or in "the cloud". But as technology moves on, they risk being lost in the wake of an accelerating digital revolution. "I worry a great deal about that," Mr Cerf told me. "You and I are experiencing things like this. Old formats of documents that we've created or presentations may not be readable by the latest version of the software because backwards compatibility is not always guaranteed. "And so what can happen over time is that even if we accumulate vast archives of digital content, we may not actually know what it is."
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.
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". Mr Cerf made his comments at a large science conference in San Jose. He arrived at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science stylishly dressed in a three-piece suit. This iconic figure, who helped define how data packets move around the net, is possibly the only Google employee who wears a tie. I felt obliged to thank him for the internet, and he bowed graciously. "One is glad to be of service," he said humbly. His focus now is to resolve a new problem that threatens to eradicate our history. Our life, our memories, our most cherished family photographs increasingly exist as bits of information - on our hard drives or in "the cloud". But as technology moves on, they risk being lost in the wake of an accelerating digital revolution. "I worry a great deal about that," Mr Cerf told me. "You and I are experiencing things like this. Old formats of documents that we've created or presentations may not be readable by the latest version of the software because backwards compatibility is not always guaranteed. "And so what can happen over time is that even if we accumulate vast archives of digital content, we may not actually know what it is."
KingFISHER 2015/02/15 13:58
'Digital vellum'
Vint Cerf is promoting an idea to preserve every piece of software and hardware so that it never becomes obsolete - just like what happens in a museum - but in digital form, in servers in the cloud. If his idea works, the memories we hold so dear could be accessible for generations to come. "The solution is to take an X-ray snapshot of the content and the application and the operating system together, with a description of the machine that it runs on, and preserve that for long periods of time. And that digital snapshot will recreate the past in the future."
'Digital vellum'
Vint Cerf is promoting an idea to preserve every piece of software and hardware so that it never becomes obsolete - just like what happens in a museum - but in digital form, in servers in the cloud. If his idea works, the memories we hold so dear could be accessible for generations to come. "The solution is to take an X-ray snapshot of the content and the application and the operating system together, with a description of the machine that it runs on, and preserve that for long periods of time. And that digital snapshot will recreate the past in the future."
Jill 2015/02/15 16:23
Each day a new technology is introduced.... but I really don't understand if the world is going to encounter Digital dark age.. but I believe that until any disaster occurs the man kind will not face digital dark age....
Each day a new technology is introduced.... but I really don't understand if the world is going to encounter Digital dark age.. but I believe that until any disaster occurs the man kind will not face digital dark age....
Xiao Zen 2015/02/18 10:46
But that is just it is it not it, an unfortunately timed solar flare or a well placed EMP blast and an entire nation could find themselves back in the stone age. all electronics would cease to function, naturally the chances of either are not high, however it is something someone must plan for in the unlikely event that it does happen, no?
But that is just it is it not it, an unfortunately timed solar flare or a well placed EMP blast and an entire nation could find themselves back in the stone age. all electronics would cease to function, naturally the chances of either are not high, however it is something someone must plan for in the unlikely event that it does happen, no?
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