Re: [ba-unrev-talk] solar flare wipeout WAS: the myth of the paperless office
Peter Jones wrote: (01)
> I believe some researchers are working on storage mechanisms that use
> binary-state structured crystal molecules that can be switched back and
> forth with lasers. I'm sure I read something like that in Scientific
> American a year or two ago. So storage is non-magnetic. (02)
Removes one risk. But I'm sure it leaves others. Thinking in terms
of low-probability, catastrophic risks I'm a big fan of the redundant
information stored in easily-accessible libaries. (03)
In fact, I'd like to see libaries that were devoted to nothing but how-to
information, for everything from plumbing to surgery. I'd include how
to write and how to draw and how to play music, but I'd leave out the
great inspiration literature and music and everything else, just to keep
the space free for civilization-rebuilding information. (04)
As great as all the "great stuff" is, there is a gradual slope from it down
to "trash", so it's hard to draw any kind of line. It's kind of like picking
a natural boundary in the landscape to draw your boundaries, either for
a country or for a battle line. The distinction between "how to" and
"other" is sharply enough delinated. to form a sort of "cliff" that makes
a natural boundary. (05)