Re: [ARSCLIST] Digital in a post-digital universe--was: Interesting WSJ Article on when libraries should discard their holdings.

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Scott:

This is really well said. I agree. We will not devolve into a Dark Ages again, it's not 
technologically possible. It'll be nuclear wipeout or cosmic disaster or some other rapid meltdown 
that will render human civilization kaput.

Hmm, this gets me thinking about those drooly aliens on "The Simpsons"!

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Scott Phillips" <scottp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 11:06 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Digital in a post-digital universe--was: Interesting WSJ Article on when 
libraries should discard their holdings.


Cindered planet means the 78's are nothing but ash anyway. Jokingly,
your argument only works before the time man had the ability to destroy
itself in a few microseconds. A meteoroid or comet would toast every
thing on only one side of the planet, just killing all the living beings
on that side. J/K. It is all a very circular argument, isn't it...?

<grin>

I'm thinking that all the regressions in human history were because of
geopolitical reasons, and relied mostly on the fact that only a select
few of the people/countries/regions possessed the technology that died.
In today's environment, I wonder if that is still applicable...

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steven C. Barr(x)
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 9:36 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Digital in a post-digital universe--was: Interesting
WSJ Article on when libraries should discard their holdings.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Don, this makes no sense. An occurance that would decimate every copy
> of every
digital data would
> definitely destroy all other matter, too. Books and records burn
> faster than
computers, last I
> checked.
Oddly enough...not QUITE true! Digital devices are electrical by nature,
and thus subject to electromagnetic impulses...so, IF digital
non-magnetic storage survived, we'd be left with a whole bunch of
unreadable objects (shades of Etruscan tablets?) until the survivors
could not only reconstruct digital computers but figure out the data
formats used!

Whereas, any old 78 that didn't get burnt or melted needs only a simple
(quite possibly, accidental) process to establish that it contains
(sonic) data. Run a fingernail, claw, talon, wothaveya, along a
groove...and vibrations are created. We're only in trouble if the
species that rediscovers our cindered planet has NO concept of "sound!"

Steven C. Barr