Corbynomics: A Dystopia

Generali

antrobus wrote: »

This one.
http://www.obsoletemedia.org/2-inch-floppy-disk-video-floppy/

And look there's a whole Museum Of Obsolete Media! There are hundreds of the foxin things!

Yup. That was my point.

There are all sorts of cards and disks.

Fisher Price brought out a video camera that recorded black and white (silent?) onto a regular audio cassette. How many people could get the data off that?

It's a fascinating area and going to be a huge problem for future historians as we are producing huge quantities of data, most of which is haphazardly stored using proprietary methods. In 100 years it may well not be trivial to access a DVD.

gadgetmind

Generali wrote: »

How many people could get the data off that?

And again, that would be me. I'd have to make special hardware, write lots of software, but incentivise me properly (money, kudos, kicks, etc.) and it will happen.

What usually happens is that people more essential data from one format to the next before it dies. I've done this and have lost close to zero data over 30 years.

Generali

gadgetmind wrote: »

And again, that would be me. I'd have to make special hardware, write lots of software, but incentivise me properly (money, kudos, kicks, etc.) and it will happen.

What usually happens is that people more essential data from ones format to the next before it dies. I've done this and have lost close to zero data over 30 years.

For most people I suspect that what happens is that old photos, videos and sound sit about for a few years on obsolete media and then get chucked out when they die. I am watching this very process happening with my in-Laws.

Their kids don't know what the passwords are and what half the junk the parents have does. BiL might be able to salvage something but the chances of him getting round to it are basically nil.

michaels

Whereas nowadays it is all in the cloud init and the problem is trying to make sure stuff is really deleted and no one is sitting on a copy

Generali

michaels wrote: »

Whereas nowadays it is all in the cloud init and the problem is trying to make sure stuff is really deleted and no one is sitting on a copy

Just wait a couple of upgrade cycles and nobody will be able to open it anyway.

There's another poll out, this time of Labour members:

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/02/new-poll-puts-jeremy-corbyns-leadership-strong-position

It seems that it's not just Moby that loves Mr Corbyn.

cells

Generali wrote: »

Just wait a couple of upgrade cycles and nobody will be able to open it anyway.

it doesn't work like that any more

data that we want to keep is likely now eternal even a lot of very marginal data is eternal as the cost is now so low

the task will be how to store and retrieve the vast amounts of data not the loss of data due to physical media changes

Generali

cells wrote: »

it doesn't work like that any more

data that we want to keep is likely now eternal even a lot of very marginal data is eternal as the cost is now so low

the task will be how to store and retrieve the vast amounts of data not the loss of data due to physical media changes

It did until very recently and Google even reckon it's a problem.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11410506/Print-out-digital-photos-or-risk-losing-them-Google-boss-warns.html

vivatifosi

Re the finding out who is related to who question... could the answer to this come from the human genome?

You already have DNA tests to test immediate relations (paternity), as well as further back ancestry. The degree of closeness, aiui, can be worked out by genetic mutation. I would imagine that this is an area that has potential to grow yet more sophisticated over time.

Add that to the other data that we already have in legacy systems and it should be feasible to work out an awful lot of info in terms of family links.

Malthusian

gadgetmind wrote:

And again, that would be me. I'd have to make special hardware, write lots of software, but incentivise me properly (money, kudos, kicks, etc.) and it will happen.

That was why I was careful to say "Or to be strictly accurate, no-one is ever going to put the effort in to retrieve the data and convert it". It may always be possible to retrieve data in obsolete formats but the question is whether it will be worth the bother. We started with the idea of a global genealogy database which means we're talking about ancient censuses from people in third world countries. It's simply not important enough that anyone would pay you the necessary fee to make it worth your while.

Generali wrote:

There's another poll out, this time of Labour members: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/02/new-poll-puts-jeremy-corbyns-leadership-strong-position

It seems that it's not just Moby that loves Mr Corbyn.

The purges are working!

michaels

vivatifosi wrote: »

Re the finding out who is related to who question... could the answer to this come from the human genome?

You already have DNA tests to test immediate relations (paternity), as well as further back ancestry. The degree of closeness, aiui, can be worked out by genetic mutation. I would imagine that this is an area that has potential to grow yet more sophisticated over time.

Add that to the other data that we already have in legacy systems and it should be feasible to work out an awful lot of info in terms of family links.

Sadly it is time to watch Gattica again - frighteningly accurate :eek:

Malthusian wrote: »

That was why I was careful to say "Or to be strictly accurate, no-one is ever going to put the effort in to retrieve the data and convert it". It may always be possible to retrieve data in obsolete formats but the question is whether it will be worth the bother. We started with the idea of a global genealogy database which means we're talking about ancient censuses from people in third world countries. It's simply not important enough that anyone would pay you the necessary fee to make it worth your while.



The purges are working!

Problem is that SkyNet's AI will be able to do it all without the dedication of gadgetmind being required....