Now There's an Armageddon-Proof Library to Go With Norway's Doomsday Seed Bank

Stash your important documents in case of apocalypse.

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The seed bank has a buddy.

Way up north in Norway, the Svalbard Global Seed Bank is a repository for the world's most important crop seeds, stored there in case of worldwide catastrophe. A few days ago, we saw the opening of the World Arctic Archive, set up in an abandoned mineshaft.

What the seed bank does for plants, this library hopes to do for information. The founders plan to store data in a sturdier analog form that they say could still be decipherable in 500 to 1,000 years. Piql founder Rune Bjerkestrand told Live Science that by putting digital data onto photosensitive film, they are effectively making "big QR codes on films."

Here's how it works, according to Gizmodo:

According to documents from Piql, a country can upload test, images or audio-visual content to Piql's servers. That data is then transferred to the special film that is designed to withstand significant wear and tear. It's then placed into a secure box and housed inside the heavily fortified vault. As long as the internet and servers are still functioning, the data will remain searchable online. Upon request, it can be delivered digitally or shipped on a physical format of the users' choice.

So far, only Mexico and Brazil have stepped up to house their important digital data here. But who knows—maybe by the time they get around to making National Treasure 3, Nic Cage and company will be dogsledding across the Arctic to break into the doomsday library.

Source: Gizmodo

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