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Comments     Threshold


RE: 2 Weeks Write Time.
By maugrimtr on 1/25/2013 9:46:55 AM , Rating: 2
Yes, but the point here is long term storage. Magentic media deteriorates over time (even hard drives). SSDs are high capacity but they are teeny tiny electronic devices that are known to fail over time even in normal use cases. Paper, obviously, has an annoying tendency to rot away. Metal inscriptions can suffer from catastrophic oxidation.

These types of destruction happen on a scale of mere years.

The three best ways to preserve information for thousands of years is going to be far more extreme and mechanically simpler:

A: Make deep cuts in a hard stone that can resist weathering. We know that works!
B: Same as A, but use a non-corroding metal such as Gold or something really hard like diamond. Far more expensive than stone but easier to justify being maintained in a high security location beyond the reach of Nature.

I sort of doubt either of these two options are attractive!

C: Use the information technology that has proven its worth in retaining information with self-correcting mechanisms and redundancy across countless years (barring the odd infrequent cosmic ray or radiation induced bit corruption) - DNA!

It really is a fascinating idea but the core problem will be latency - it would take a long time to procedurally read DNA strands (not to mention inventing a sequential or reference based storage medium for lots of DNA).

RE: 2 Weeks Write Time.
By JediJeb on 1/25/2013 5:22:28 PM , Rating: 2
It would still require some special storage conditions to make sure the DNA last for a long period of time. Oxygen can even cause damage to DNA so that would need to be regulated as well as high temperatures, any type of denaturing conditions( organic solvents, chlorine, ect).

Can imagine putting a drop of sulfuric acid in a vial with 1g of DNA and wiping out most of recorded history in one fell swoop.

