OT: Digital dystopia
Johannes Patruus
David Rodericius
> http://www.physorg.com/news168717176.html
>
> Patruus
Well, of course, you have to be organized, and part of organization
means keeping up with the new technologies and transferring the data
you have saved in old technologies (like a ZIP disk) to the newer
forms of technology, something Mr. O'Brien should have done years ago.
How hard can that be, seriously? The real problem as I see it is if
tomorrow computers could no longer read JPEG files, for instance, but
even in that case there would always be the technology, I imagine, to
convert your JPEG files to the new image format, whatever it may be.
Rod.
Johannes Patruus
I think the ultimate solution to the problem of digital storage will be
realised in a future iteration of the "Carrington Event" of 1859, the
effect of which, in DOS terminology, would be: DELETE *.*
Frying tonite!
Patruus
B. T. Raven
Yes, but we won't have to take the responsibility. The data erosion will
happen automagically in most cases. It will be like when grandpa is
moved from cryogenic storage to the dumpster because of the power
failure last night.
I was reminded of these people, whose project I haven't looked into in a
while:
http://www.longnow.org/press/articles/Michael_Chabon_-_The_Omega_Glory.pdf
These are the same people who built the sun and planet driven 10,000
year clock in Nevada.
Some thoughts on digital disintegration:
http://www.longnow.org/projects/past-events/time-and-bits/discussion/
Ed Cryer
"B. T. Raven" <ni...@nihilo.net> wrote in message
news:vvOdnRc1U9M3OebX...@sysmatrix.net...
Thank God that the discs on Voyager 1 & 2 are in analogue format, with
grooves, to be played at 16 rpm. They're gold as well. That should bring
the little green men a-rushing in.
They'll just love the first movement of Bach's Brandenburg 2 on them!
Ed
B. T. Raven
Same with the nickel alloy Rosetta disk. You need only Leeuwenhoek
vintage technology to read it all. The etchings are expected to be
readable after 2000 years, just like the Dead Sea Scrolls:
Ed Cryer
It's a warming thought that somewhere in the world there lie the lost
books of Livy.
Come to think of it, maybe on some palimpsest, like the Archimedes
palimpsest used for a 13th prayer book. It's only recent technology
that's brought it off the page.
Ed
Ed Cryer
What I find most fascinating is wireless communication. In my house the
signal from desktop PC router is so strong everywhere, and it transmits
at not far short of the BB speed that comes down the telephone wire; and
never drops any packet. As well as that there are detectable quite
strong signals from a few other neighbouring routers. Add to that
satnavs, clocks that adjust from satellites, mobile phones, FM and DAB
radio; and you feel that the air all around us must be buzzing and alive
with digital information.
The UFO maniacs claim that the things started appearing almost as soon
as we started exploding nuclear bombs. And SETI have been transmitting
for many decades. But these days our little planet must be giving out
very strong
"hey-you-out-there-we've-definitely-reached-a-high-stage-of-technology"
signals. And if any alien civilisation has planted a beacon on the moon
to come alive when it detects higher life-forms, well, it's more that
time now than it was for 2001 Space Odyssey.
Ed
Johannes Patruus
Ed Cryer
"Johannes Patruus" <inv...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:7e3919F...@mid.individual.net...
Some time ago my wireless front-door bell started ringing when nobody
was there; and it played a tune that I couldn't find in the installed
repertoire.
It took weeks and weeks to track down the source; one of next-door's
key-fobs.
As for the tune itself, the best I can offer is that it must be on the
bell chip, but not available through normal channels. Which makes me
wonder just how many more tunes are on it; and, more worryingly, just
how much more havoc can be wrought by wireless interference.
Ed
Walter Turner
> "Johannes Patruus" <inva...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>
> - Show quoted text -
Ed, this may work non-digitally, as well. It reminds me of a story by,
I think, Joel Chandler Harris, in which a little boy takes a clock
apart. Repaired, it has a number of functions it never had before.
I searched, but couldn’t find the story in the Internet.
non-digitally:
Clocks with hands are now called analogue clocks. Is there an adverb
to go along with digitally? Analogously just seems too removed from
the idea. But, then, the modern usage of the word digital has got away
from fingers and toes.
Walter Turner
Ed Cryer
"Walter Turner" <theperfectp...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:d17b5742-e7e0-44b4...@t13g2000yqt.googlegroups.com...
I searched, but couldn�t find the story in the Internet.
non-digitally:
Clocks with hands are now called analogue clocks. Is there an adverb
to go along with digitally? Analogously just seems too removed from
the idea. But, then, the modern usage of the word digital has got away
from fingers and toes.
Walter Turner
******************
The opposite of "digital" is given as "analog(ue)". But the former is an
adjective, the latter a noun.
I suppose it's just the result of early computer days; trying to get a
bit to represent more than just on/off, with varying voltages. The terms
just got used and stuck, but it's left us with linguistic problems, as
you point out.
"Analogically" doesn't do the job either.
Ed
Johannes Patruus
OED dubs the latter an adjective in this sense.
> I suppose it's just the result of early computer days; trying to get a
> bit to represent more than just on/off, with varying voltages. The terms
> just got used and stuck, but it's left us with linguistic problems, as
> you point out.
> "Analogically" doesn't do the job either.
"Analogly" is not without a constituency:
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22analogly%22%20%22digitally%22
> Ed
Patruus
John W Kennedy
> Some time ago my wireless front-door bell started ringing when nobody
> was there; and it played a tune that I couldn't find in the installed
> repertoire.
> It took weeks and weeks to track down the source; one of next-door's
> key-fobs.
> As for the tune itself, the best I can offer is that it must be on the
> bell chip, but not available through normal channels. Which makes me
> wonder just how many more tunes are on it; and, more worryingly, just
> how much more havoc can be wrought by wireless interference.
All the clues seem to me to indicate that the tune is on the key, and
the bell just plays what it's given.
Unquabain
>
> These are the same people who built the sun and planet driven 10,000
> year clock in Nevada.
>
> Some thoughts on digital disintegration:
>
> http://www.longnow.org/projects/past-events/time-and-bits/discussion/
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"John W Kennedy" <jwk...@attglobal.net> wrote in message
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