5D
Store it forever:
That's a long time. Potentially longer than the time the universe has left as a going concern, depending on which hypothesis you subscribe to. The "disk" is a piece of crystal about the size of a quarter. Once again, Star Trek anticipates reality.
What I find more intriguing than an eternal library of human knowledge is the potential for such an archive invented by a long-extinct alien race, which we might be fortunate enough to discover as we spread into the universe from our planetary grenade target. (Temporal and spatial simultaneity of two intelligent, tool-using species similar enough to communicate is a vanishing small possibility, thus making actual face-to-face contact with aliens unlikely in the extreme, but I digress). I won't live long enough to see such a possible discovery, of course, but it's fascinating to speculate about it.
For example, one of the things already recorded on these archival disks is the farcical United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as phony a piece of political tripe as has ever been invented. It is placed alongside truly history-making documents such as the Magna Carta and the King James Bible. Would we even be able to discern this sort of nonsense in an alien library, winnowing the political chaff from actual important parts of an alien culture, or would we take it all at face value and puzzle that it didn't seem to fit the pattern? While I suppose it's possible there is such a thing as an utterly pragmatic form of intelligent life in the universe which is devoid of pests like politicians and diplomats, I can no more imagine such a thing than I can imagine the fifth dimension.
Scientists at the University of Southampton have made a major step forward in the development of digital data storage that is capable of surviving for billions of years.
Using nanostructured glass, scientists from the University’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC) have developed the recording and retrieval processes of five dimensional (5D) digital data by femtosecond laser writing.
The storage allows unprecedented properties including 360 TB/disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1,000°C and virtually unlimited lifetime at room temperature (13.8 billion years at 190°C ) opening a new era of eternal data archiving.
That's a long time. Potentially longer than the time the universe has left as a going concern, depending on which hypothesis you subscribe to. The "disk" is a piece of crystal about the size of a quarter. Once again, Star Trek anticipates reality.
What I find more intriguing than an eternal library of human knowledge is the potential for such an archive invented by a long-extinct alien race, which we might be fortunate enough to discover as we spread into the universe from our planetary grenade target. (Temporal and spatial simultaneity of two intelligent, tool-using species similar enough to communicate is a vanishing small possibility, thus making actual face-to-face contact with aliens unlikely in the extreme, but I digress). I won't live long enough to see such a possible discovery, of course, but it's fascinating to speculate about it.
For example, one of the things already recorded on these archival disks is the farcical United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as phony a piece of political tripe as has ever been invented. It is placed alongside truly history-making documents such as the Magna Carta and the King James Bible. Would we even be able to discern this sort of nonsense in an alien library, winnowing the political chaff from actual important parts of an alien culture, or would we take it all at face value and puzzle that it didn't seem to fit the pattern? While I suppose it's possible there is such a thing as an utterly pragmatic form of intelligent life in the universe which is devoid of pests like politicians and diplomats, I can no more imagine such a thing than I can imagine the fifth dimension.
posted by Jar(egg)head at 13:54
1 Comments:
1. They would have been better served to record the menu from McDonald's than anything the UN has done.
2. On your alien technology and language thing, I remember reading a story many moons ago, where it stated that communication with aliens would be started using the periodic tables. One thing that will be constant throughout the known universe is the basic elements, and since any society advanced enough to travel the stars will probably know the basic elements, it is a great starting point for learning any language. But yea, go ahead with that U.N. stuff, I'm sure its much more important than science.
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