'Father of the Internet' Vint Cerf warns we could be heading towards a digital Dark Age

[cliffordcooley]

So whatever it was screwed up in that passage sorry to burst your Apple bubble but it was mistaken by the Apple device this is how good Apple device is the thing that you love so much.

Perhaps you should ask @SNGX1275 how much of an Apple fanatic I am. Calling me an Apple fanatic is currently your worst mistake so far. By the way there was absolutely nothing in yours or my comment that would draw you to the conclusion I was an Apple user. But then you label my comment as spam. All I was doing was making your comment a bit more readable, since you didn't take the time to reread and edit.

 

[k69gb]

It doesn't matter if he was at the Internet's footsteps, it doesn't make him a visionary today

@VitalyT
All you have done is show how illiterate and uneducated you are. You prove that you have little knowledge of how computer technology or programming code works. In addition; you have little knowledge about the workings of the World Wide Web, like most people today. Most of our data is stored on large company owned servers or the Cloud servers. Your personal data is saved on your computer or CD and DVD. If your computer does not work, your CD and DVD data will be useless. On a small scale you could buy a new computer but your data on your old computer would be lost forever. If you are wealthy, you could pay large sums $$$ for a professional company to ‘try’ and retrieve your old data. On a large scale, data stored on servers and the Cloud may be lost forever. Vint Cerf possesses far more knowledge that you will attain in your lifetime. I hate to continually see the ignorance of most of our younger generations and it is beginning to truly scare me. As the older, better educated generations retire and die; our country will be run by more people who have little or no critical thinking skills and no common sense. God help us!

 

[captaincranky]

Accessing old information is becoming a matter of copyrights and patents. Emulators are easy for modern computers to handle - there's nothing fundamentally different about how computers work now and how they worked 60 years ago - it's simply a matter of scale..

Perhaps, but 60 years ago, the only computer in town was the VACUUM TUBE, "UNIVAC I", at the Franklin Institute; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_I

And please spare me the "but will will it run Crysis", shtick.

Or if you insist, "but would it have been able to run Crysis", would be the conditional past tense of that. You're welcome.

As for the rest of you, 'how many bars do you think your stinking iPhone will get after the pulse"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse_in_fiction_and_popular_culture

 

[captaincranky]

Thank you so much spelling bee champion. Congratulations you're a winner for spam. By the way you didn't fix my typing your fixed Apple device typing since I'm dictating to this phone because let's face it I don't have time to finger type for you. So whatever it was screwed up in that passage sorry to burst your Apple bubble but it was mistaken by the Apple device this is how good Apple device is the thing that you love so much.

Perhaps you should ask @SNGX1275 how much of an Apple fanatic I am. Calling me an Apple fanatic is currently your worst mistake so far. By the way there was absolutely nothing in yours or my comment that would draw you to the conclusion I was an Apple user. But then you label my comment as spam. All I was doing was making your comment a bit more readable, since you didn't take the time to reread and edit.

Well now you're really gone and done it, guest interloper. You've 'piffed' (*)Cliff off

You've put yourself in the shoes of someone with the task of giving a dragon a prostate exam. Verily I say unto thee, 'flee, flee'.

(*) Notice the exchange of 'F', for 'S'. This is from middle English, and also from Latin. In the case of Latin, I believe it was necessary, since they were using stone tablets, and the curves in the S, were no doubt, an daunting task to chisel.

 

[James Newman]

I actually signed up just for the opportunity to note what a colossally stupid concern this is. I am aghast.

 

[Guest]

I'm guessing he is envisioning a hypothetical scenario where the scarce natural resources that exist on our planet become used up. Then perhaps, we can't make hard drives and computers to replace the ones currently in use which will fail over time. This in itself would cause the Internet and the rest of our digital footprint to slowly become extinct. With so much emphasis on the Internet and cloud storage, we could potentially lose a part of our history, culture and scientific breakthroughs if we do not utilize our scarce natural resources more effectively.

It seems Vint Cerf wants us to keep a physical backup of the data we have as well - I'm guessing a hard copy version.

 

[captaincranky]

I'm guessing he is envisioning a hypothetical scenario where the scarce natural resources that exist on our planet become used up. Then perhaps, we can't make hard drives and computers to replace the ones currently in use which will fail over time. .

Dude, when we're at that point, we likely won't have enough oil left to divert to the petro-chemical industry. That would result in no plastics to make DVD blanks either.

All of the oil remaining would likely be stolen, so that, "Mad Max XX", and, "Thunder Dome XV" could be filmed. "The show must go on"!(y)

 

[Guest]

15 years ago I attended a session at a national geriatrics conference that was devoted to the aging of information systems. Back then it was already occurring--- the loss of large amounts of significant research data stored on floppy disks or tapes that not only were recorded in obsolete formats but were also physically deteriorating. At the Smithsonian Institute archivists have found that among optical disks used for recording during the same period of time, some are now useless because of variations in the quality with which they were manufactured.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I can't help but wonder how much information was lost over the centuries because it either wasn't documented or documents was lost in fires. But yet we feel as if we are loosing more now. It is a crazy notion to think that loosing documents now is far worse than never having the documents previously.

 

[captaincranky]

...[ ].... At the Smithsonian Institute archivists have found that among optical disks used for recording during the same period of time, some are now useless because of variations in the quality with which they were manufactured.

Having on occasion ill advisedly purchased some 'bargain' DVD blanks, (DL cheapies from Microcenter), which wouldn't boot after a period of less than five years. I'd say that's almost a statement of the obvious. What did surprise me, was a pack of Fuji DVDs which failed to boot after very few years. .I had been used to using Fuji's film product, which worked quite well.

OTOH, papyrus has been known to stand the test of thousands of years. Given the right climate, of course.

 

[captaincranky]

I can't help but wonder how much information was lost over the centuries because it either wasn't documented or documents was lost in fires. But yet we feel as if we are loosing more now. It is a crazy notion to think that loosing documents now is far worse than never having the documents previously.

I'd argue that we've lost the ability to determine what's important, so we save everything, no matter how trivial.

But then again, where would we be 10,000 years from now, if we lost those hacked nude celebrity photos? There's nothing like regurgitated scandal to re-energize and imbue one's life with renewed meaning and vigor. Did I just say that? Oy... :sticksfingerdownownthroat:

 

[Thorney]

This is why I still keep all my vinyl and CDs yes I have over 40,000 mp3s but will they have any use in twenty years time, yes I use Spotify now but what if it goes need to start again. If I have my physical music I can always convert it back to the latest format, ok that's as long as we have CD players I guess but there is always a way to get music onto a PC or whatever even if that technology is obsolete even tapes. I will have a record player at least when the end comes, always need a record player in a post apocalypse.

 

[cartera]

I am shocked that he thinks this is a modern issue. Look at all the lost civilisations and cities we know very little of, languages and even skills we no longer use. This is a issue we have been dealing with for thousands of years.

When it comes down to it, if we lose it then we don't need it and if we need it again in the future we will need to diversify like we have been doing for thousands of years.

 

[Kibaruk]

I am shocked that he thinks this is a modern issue. Look at all the lost civilisations and cities we know very little of, languages and even skills we no longer use. This is a issue we have been dealing with for thousands of years.

When it comes down to it, if we lose it then we don't need it and if we need it again in the future we will need to diversify like we have been doing for thousands of years.

This, is the correct statement.

We've moved on from things we don't have a need for anymore. It's not that we have digitalized everything just for the sake of it, old formats were insuficient and unconvenient for the purposes required nowadays.

If you are worried that your photos will be lost in case of an "apocaliptic" EMP, I think it's the LAST thing you will have to worry about, the world as you know it will end three times before you can even start to think about your pictures.

 

[wiyosaya]

Also, old people fall out of the technology curve naturally, becoming bitter resemblance of their former self, because technology development continuously accelerates, which in itself pushes away older generations.

While maybe this coot has done that, not all old people shun technology. Those who do fall out of the curve are either incapable of understanding the technology in the first place (personal experience with the 86-year old father of my wife), or their actions have led them to not keep pace.

 

[cliffordcooley]

As long as we don't have a global war, this will not be a concern. And if we do have a global war, this will be the least of our concerns.

 

[Guest]

He is correct in what he says that some if not all the programs I use that worked with windows 98 win2000 and win 7 are becoming obsolete but no one care they want it faster so it will make them more and more dependable on it and just think of the cost of a program that worked on98 and other os's how many times do I fork out the money for the same program that works on the newer os and they will become obsolete so we are racing towards terminators or the matrix you chose personal we will become obsolete

 

[Guest]

As long as we don't have a global war, this will not be a concern. And if we do have a global war, this will be the least of our concerns.

think that way cause this wont affect us but maybe the nex gen or the nex gen of our children children is that the legacy you want to pass on how narrow minded you must be it doesn't have to be a war how about a plague people like you will be the ones so blame the sheep of the world

 

[cartera]

think that way cause this wont affect us but maybe the nex gen or the nex gen of our children children is that the legacy you want to pass on how narrow minded you must be it doesn't have to be a war how about a plague people like you will be the ones so blame the sheep of the world

I prefer to be the glass half full kinda guy.

Also nothing lasts forever, the inevitable is not preventable.

 

[captaincranky]

As long as we don't have a global war, this will not be a concern. And if we do have a global war, this will be the least of our concerns.

Well, we've only had two global conflicts so far. Surely a species as vicious an predatory as ours can do better!(y)

At the rate we're going though, we'll still be able to count them on our fingers and toes, as we approach the 4th millennium.

 

[FF222]

So do you not realize that you're answering your own question?

Wrong. I did not answer my own question. You did. And by doing so, you just confirmed what I said. Of course, all that went flying over your head.

 

[adamrussell]

Wow he's right. Ive got a library of cd's that can no longer be read now that computers have dvd drives instead of cd drives.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I don't recall ever seeing a DVD drive that was not backward compatible with CD's.

Are HD-DVD and Blu-ray Players Compatible with Standard DVDs and CDs?

most Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD players will play standard CDs/CD-R/RW discs.

Backward Compatibility of Optical Media

The big question is: which discs will work in which types of players? If all of this sounds confusing, it’s really not. To help illustrate which discs work in which machines, I have made this handy table:

 

[captaincranky]

Wow he's right. Ive got a library of cd's that can no longer be read now that computers have dvd drives instead of cd drives.

Surely you jest...?

 

[cmbjive]

Considering that the Islamic State is burning people alive and cutting off their heads, I would say this person's use of the term "Dark Age" to describe having to do things without the Internet is a bit misguided.