this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
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Microsoft develops ultra durable glass plates that can store several TBs of data for 10000 years::Project Silica’s coaster-size glass plates can store unaltered data for thousands of years, creating sustainable storage for the world

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's fairly easy to store data for a very long time. What's hard is remembering how to read that data after all that time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

You could use like 10% of the storage to have a pictogram that explains how to read the data.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Well that's the problem, you have absolutely no way to know if it will make sense 10000 years down the line. Humans only invented writing around 6000 or 7000 years ago. It's a really long time on our scale.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

What does that have to do with writing? Pictograms are images. You take a microscope look at it and it tells you in image form how to decode it. Something like the arecibo message or the golden record, but way more detailed, because you have way more space.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It has a lot to do with it, because writing is nothing more than standardised pictograms which have meanings and these change a lot over time.
I'm not saying it can't be done but to believe that what has been drawn or represented will be understood correctly 10000 years down the line, by humans or anything else is a big bet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

That is just wrong. Yes the meanings of words change, but images and math dont change.