Comment Record everything on stone tablets (Score 1) 251
These are easily readable, and will surely stand against the test of time.
Ok. More seriously, a large subset of the "digital" information can actually be stored on a lasting analog medium, where special hardware/software will not be required to retrieve it. For example, email and web pages can be stored onto microfilms. Same goes with source codes. Digital audio can be stored on audio tapes. Digital video goes on video tapes. These analog media are farely simple to handle. They do degrade slowly with time, but I'll bet at any age people will always have the ability to retrieve large percentages of the information stored on them.
So, if you want information preserved forever, go analog. The software standards can change all they want... You can always re-digitize the analog information, but not the other way around.
Ok. More seriously, a large subset of the "digital" information can actually be stored on a lasting analog medium, where special hardware/software will not be required to retrieve it. For example, email and web pages can be stored onto microfilms. Same goes with source codes. Digital audio can be stored on audio tapes. Digital video goes on video tapes. These analog media are farely simple to handle. They do degrade slowly with time, but I'll bet at any age people will always have the ability to retrieve large percentages of the information stored on them.
So, if you want information preserved forever, go analog. The software standards can change all they want... You can always re-digitize the analog information, but not the other way around.
