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Norway's Doomsday Vault Will Now Store and Protect the World's Data (wired.co.uk)
Doomsday may be closer than ever, but thanks to the Arctic World Archive, at least your data could survive the looming apocalypse. From a report: Norway is already the home to the Global Seed Vault, a frozen ark for 1.5 million seeds to avoid their extinction, and now the Arctic World Archive aims to do the same for your data -- in the same disused mine in the same mountain on the island of Svalbard, famous for its polar bear population. Run by a small Norwegian archiving company called Piql, the World Arctic Archive will store key documents, books and other files on photosensitive film held in protective boxes, a technique Piql says it's tested to survive for at least 500 years and believes will last for 1,000. That longevity is helped by the storage location. More on this here.
It was in Avengers 2 for fucks sake. Morton Downey Jr goes to Norway to find his robot
If you're encoding data on film, but you still need a digital camera or computer to read it, you still might be screwed and the data might be inaccessible. By microfilming the source docs, all you need is a light source and a magnifying glass -- both of which are decidedly analog and low-tech compared to the method being used for this project. Plus sliver halide microfilm lasts at least 500 years if properly stored. Either you're taking the digital component out of it, or you're not. Having a digital requirement in there might make the data inaccessible in a post-electricity, post-digital world post-apocalypse.
Will it protect everything for when the sun collapses and we all get crushed into the size of a baseball?
They've been playing the long-game for thousands of years now. But soon enough, they will make their move.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Stopped reading right there.
Would kind of suck for the people 500 years from now to find this, but have no idea what it is or what it does.
I tend to rant.
a technique Piql says it's tested to survive for at least 500 years
How long did the test take?
scientist> All the world's most valuable information has been stored in this room!
politician> All of it? Then why are you asking for so much additional funding?
scientist> You see those two mountains?
politician> Yeah?...
scientist> The one on the left will be filled with porn and the one on the right with pictures of cats.
politician> My God, it's beautiful!
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
The largest issue facing these sorts of efforts isn't the storage method, but rather deciding what is worth storing. There is a lot of information out there, and it needs to be prioritized so that the most important information is stored first and most durably, increasing its chance of survival.
Let's suppose that nearly all of humanity has been destroyed due to some global incident, like a large meteor strike or the dust from a huge volcanic eruption that blocks most sunlight.
In such a case, what information would we want the survivors to have? The answer is simple: the Rust Code of Conduct.
With this information they could rebuild society, and it would be free of intolerance, injustice, hate and patriarchy. The survivors could be whatever gender they feel like at any given time, sometimes changing throughout the day. And all critique would be structured.
Only after we have stored information like that should we start to consider storing additional information.
This is great and all but... being on slashdot this is prime for a backup analogy, don't put all your eggs in one basket and all that. Let just hope that mountain in Norway isn't the target of some rouge asteroid or other geologically significant event.
Copyright issues?
So if the RIAA, MPAA and others going to demand that they screen for copyrighted movies, music and more before they are stored there?
noone is going to take an army to go to Arctic to destroy seeds, but they might to destroy an Archive, and while they are there they'll trample the seeds...
I have nothing either for or against Norway, but I have nothing to do with that country. Why would I want my data - useless as it may be - to be on a computer on the islands that have the world's highest bandwidth? It would make sense if I lived there.
For the record, I'm not one of those conspiracy nuts who thinks that Snowden/Manning/Assange are the second coming, but given recent developments, like the surveillance by the Obamas and now Congress approving internet companies to sell personal data, I really would like more control on who has access to my data
"Compass", a science show on the Australian ABC TV network asked this question a few years ago. Their investigations yielded that zircon crystal etched with a laser would provide a stable medium lasting about a million years, stored in one of the world's most geologically stable regions, outback Western Australia. So they commissioned one and it has some of the lyrics to one of Justin bieber's songs inscribed on it, namely, "baby, baby, baby".
Include directions on making alcohol, the rest will happen naturally.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Transmet style. We know how inaccurate distributed digital "factual" data is, we can make it so that this theoretical future civilization that rises from the ashes thinks we are lunatics that worship cats, fat bottomed lawyers daughters and creepy businessmen...oh...wait.
So this magic film has been tested to last for 500 years, eh? Was the film really invented (and the testing started) back in 1517? Or has someone finally invented a time machine or maybe a telephone to the future, at least?
It simply is not possible to test something's viability for an extended time period with having that time period actually elapse! Some real-world processes simply cannot be rushed or physically simulated. Just because a thing survives one year at 500 times normal usage or exposure or whatever, doesn't mean it will survive 500 years at normal exposure. In fact, there is a strong likelihood (500 times stringer, in fact) that the material will be exposed to something that was not even tested and fail as a result during the real-world 500 year period. Of course there are fundamental chemical & physical issues as well... Just because a rat might survive for one year at 500 (some unit) of radiation doesn't mean that another rat will survive for 500 years at 1 unit of radiation. Yes, rats have a known lifespan, but don't chemicals, too? Especially complex chemical constructs like film?
All the data needs to be encoded on something like solid gold tape. That might last. Then there is only the problem of storing the knowledge of how and capability to actually utilize the data -- or has someone also found a way to do simulated-compressed-time tests of language, knowledge, and technology drift for 500 years, too?
The Chinese government stole my background case file for my security clearance a few years ago. So, yes, I believe a government is out to get me.
Go Chicoms!
Asteroids pinch - whores wear rouge.
Languages change. 500 years from now, will people be able to understand our current writing?
For the languages of the data that is stored in Norway, I suggest that they store a dictionary in those languages.
They should also store books on how to learn those languages. They might store books like the ones I used when I studied German in high school. Those books were completely in German. In the beginner's book, the first page had a small red rectangle, a small blue rectangle, and a small green rectangle, etc. Next to each rectangle was the German word for that color. So we learned those colors in German. Then the book showed the picture of hands pointing to rectangles of various colors. Next to them were the German words for "This is red.", or "This is blue.", etc. So we learned how to make those simple sentences. Then the book built on that, making the sentences more complicated, and introducing more words.
The Chinese government stole my background case file for my security clearance a few years ago. So, yes, I believe a government is out to get me.
I'm in the same boat – the US OPM data breach.
Think more broadly, though. Your own government could be out to get you, too.
Good idea, lets use the moon and Mars for our offsite backup locations. Then when it becomes feasible, maybe a couple of super probes that can take residence outside this solar system in case the sun goes supernova. While the ultimate goal of the Norway vault is for the benefit of remaining mankind, it will eventually become important for us to think of future extraterrestrial civilizations that may show up just a bit too late for contact.
Think more broadly, though. Your own government could be out to get you, too.
That would require the Republicans to negotiate among themselves on a common agenda to get something done. I don't expect that to change in the near future.
I prefer my Doomsday vaults more than 200 feet above potentially rising seas.
I have this vision of aliens landing and finding the vault on Svalbard as the only trace of humanity's existence. The head researcher sticks the flash drives in the ground while vainly attempting to extract all of our books and films from the seeds. Glumly, they radio home to file a No Contact and move on to the next planet.
They were just making sure it got backed up!
Now I know who to call when I need to restore a file.
Thanks Norway!
They insert the flash drive and it doesn't fit. Then they flip it upside down and it doesn't fit. Consequently they abandon the attempt at reading it, believing the interface to be incompatible, and not knowing that it requires a third flip to get it to insert correctly.
http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2388
In fact, if we wish to defeat our erstwhile alien overlords, we really ought to store all our secrets on flash drives, in plain text. It's a foolproof encryption system!
**Doomsday may be closer than ever,**
That is a stupid fucking statement to make.
Let just hope that mountain in Norway isn't the target of some rouge asteroid or other geologically significant event.
Nor a rogue president or other politically significant event.
Run by a small Norwegian archiving company called Piql...
Yeah right, and no ties at all with CIA, Soros? Oh wait, Gates 'Foundation'?
Where does all that money come from?
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
The reason for the existence of the seed vault is that once the natural habitat has been destroyed, nobody but Bill Gates (read: Monsanto and the likes) will have access to them. They will claim all the DNA as their own findings, patent it, and sell the seeds at a very high price. Because competition is for losers, monopoly is for the winners.
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
On the positive side, you can now easily tender for Chinese government contracts. A government is there to employ you and your company. (If only..)
I don't know much about this storage facility, but watched the recent Sunday Morning piece about it. My first concern was that the entrance appears to be about 15 meters above sea level. Won't that be underwater in about 200 years?
This is great and all but... being on slashdot this is prime for a backup analogy, don't put all your eggs in one basket and all that. Let just hope that mountain in Norway isn't the target of some rouge asteroid or other geologically significant event.
It's rogue, not rouge dumbass.