1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:12,559 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland 3 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: di'mond executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech are yet. 4 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:22,439 Speaker 1: You know, I thought it might be interesting to talk 5 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,600 Speaker 1: about how data can both be easy to lose and 6 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: hard to lose. It's a paradise, but really this is 7 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: all about the media upon which we store data and 8 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: how that media can pose various challenges. Now, first up, 9 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:46,240 Speaker 1: let's just talk about the concept of obsolescence. So as 10 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: our technology, our language, our culture, as all these things 11 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: evolve and we discover new ways to commit information to 12 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: different types of media, we often leave the older methods behind. 13 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: And for example, very few people are recording audio to 14 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: wax cylinders today. For example, you know Thomas Edison did it, 15 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: but you don't see people doing it now, at least 16 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: not outside of you know, historical demonstrations and that sort 17 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:17,479 Speaker 1: of thing. The days of storing info magnetically onto strips 18 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: of metal, like we saw at the end of the 19 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 1: nineteenth century, that's pretty far behind us too, although magnetic 20 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: tape is built on the same principle. But before we 21 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: use tape, we used wire, not that frequently, but it 22 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: was one of those things that kind of paved the 23 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,319 Speaker 1: way toward magnetic tape. Now, over time, all media will 24 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: ultimately go obsolete, either because the stuff we recorded upon 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 1: has worn out, the actual physical stuff has broken, or 26 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: because we've lost the ability to retrieve information from that 27 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: type of media. And that inability to retrieve can range 28 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: from the technical to just our knowledge of how to 29 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: do it. So let's take a moment to consider something 30 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: that is pretty far removed from modern technology unless you 31 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: watch stargate, and that is hieroglyphs. So thousands of years ago, 32 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: the people of ancient Egypt developed a writing system that 33 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: was complicated, to say the least. So our Latin alphabet, 34 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: the one that we use in English, for example, has 35 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: twenty six characters write twenty six letters in the alphabet, 36 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: and hieroglyphs had hundreds of characters, like a thousand or more. Now, 37 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: some of the characters in ancient Egypt represented basic phonemes. 38 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: Phonemes are sounds within a language, right, like would be 39 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: a phoneeme or like these are basic sounds. But other 40 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: characters in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, they represented entire words, or 41 00:02:55,320 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: at least parts of words. Some represented stills, so not 42 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: necessarily parts of words like you would think, but a 43 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: syllable that was common in ancient Egypt. But over the millennia, 44 00:03:10,919 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: the knowledge of how to read hieroglyphs faded from Egyptian culture. 45 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: There were a lot of reasons for this. I mean, 46 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: the style of writing down information changed from hieroglyphs to 47 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: like demonic writing, and beyond Also, you had folks like 48 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: you know, Europeans, like Greeks and Romans, who were invading 49 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: Egypt and changing things and disrupting Egyptian culture significantly. By 50 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: the time we got a few centuries into the common era, 51 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: pretty much no one knew how to read the hieroglyphs 52 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: of ancient Egypt anymore. So we had all this knowledge 53 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: stored in various places and no way to retrieve that knowledge. 54 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: It appeared as though we had lost all of it, 55 00:03:55,440 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: or that we had, due to some misconceptions, completely miss 56 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: interpreted that knowledge. So by the time we got into 57 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: the medieval era, there was this prevailing hypothesis that the 58 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: Egyptian hieroglyphs were symbolic in meaning, And by that I 59 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: mean that the images that the Egyptians used were thought 60 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: of to be direct symbols of whatever the message was. 61 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: So let's say you had images of a boat and 62 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:25,359 Speaker 1: a snake, then you might be led to think that 63 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: what you're looking at must be an allegorical story about 64 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: snakes on a boat, possibly starring Samuel L. Jackson. But no, 65 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 1: the symbols used weren't meant to represent exactly what they 66 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: looked like. They represented elements of a language. So, for example, 67 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: if you want to understand what I'm saying, our letter 68 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: S looks kind of like a snake, right, but it 69 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: doesn't mean snake. When you see the letter S, that 70 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: doesn't mean snake. It could be the beginning of the 71 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 1: word snake. Obviously that begins with S, but it could 72 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: mean anything. It represents the S sound, which is found 73 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:06,919 Speaker 1: in lots of words, not just snake. And the hieroglyphs 74 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: were similar, but no one had a document that matched 75 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: hieroglyphs to some other known language so that someone could 76 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: actually decipher the symbols. So it just seemed to be, 77 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: you know, all these icons that the meaning had been 78 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: completely lost. But then came Napoleon Ponaparte and his armies 79 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: invaded Egypt toward the end of the eighteenth century, and 80 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: in the process the armies happened across something incredibly important, 81 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: and it would later be called the Rosetta Stone. Now, 82 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: the Rosetta Stone itself is a type of monument, and 83 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: there are carvings on the monument that represent an official 84 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:53,040 Speaker 1: dynastic decree. The carvings are in three different written languages. 85 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: So at the base of the monument you have the 86 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: carving in ancient Greek, above that is Demotic that is 87 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:04,480 Speaker 1: an Egyptian language that followed the High language, and at 88 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: the top are hieroglyphs. And since all three carvings represented 89 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: the same decree, this gave experts the opportunity to finally 90 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: begin deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, and so began the long process 91 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: of uncovering lost knowledge. And this was helped by subsequent 92 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: discoveries of similar decrees, so that we, over time were 93 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: able to understand what these hieroglyphs actually stood for. We 94 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: understood that it was a written language that wasn't just 95 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: purely symbolic. Now, my point in telling the story is 96 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: that we have to remind ourselves that while we have 97 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: ways to record knowledge. It would be foolish for us 98 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,600 Speaker 1: to assume that any way that we use is permanent, 99 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,920 Speaker 1: because we've got plenty of examples of knowledge being lost 100 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,039 Speaker 1: in the past, whether it's because people forgot how to 101 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: access that knowledge, or maybe the knowledge was based in 102 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: folklore and the people that were the stewards of that 103 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: knowledge were wiped out or assimilated and the knowledge was lost, 104 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: or maybe the physical copies, if it was like a 105 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: written language, maybe the physical copies were lost. And a 106 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: shout out to the late great Library of Alexandria, which 107 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: I should add kind of faded away, not just because 108 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: the famous fire set by Julius Caesar's forces, though that 109 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: clearly was a catastrophic event, but also there was a 110 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: long period in which leaders were cracking down on scholars 111 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: because well, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so 112 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: a lot of knowledge has got to be absolutely deadly, right. 113 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: But anyway, let's skip ahead to the modern era. So 114 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: even today we run the risk of losing access to 115 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: information because we no longer make the stuff, what plays 116 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: the media that we used in the old days, or 117 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: at least in many cases, it is getting really tricky 118 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: to track down the components that can retrieve data from 119 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: those types of media. Right, you might be able to 120 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: find old working equipment that can access certain types of 121 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: stuff that otherwise we no longer can access. But it's 122 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: rare that you're gonna find someone make a new version 123 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: of that. It's not impossible. It's not like we've lost 124 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: all ability to It's just that unless there is a 125 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: pressing financial benefit to creating that kind of stuff, no 126 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: one's going to bother to do it. Because you know, 127 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: it's expensive to produce older types of technologies, and unless 128 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: there's a financial incentive, no one's going to do it. 129 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: It's had to say so. There's also the danger that 130 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,559 Speaker 1: the media we rely upon could wear out and deteriorate 131 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:54,320 Speaker 1: over time. So, for example, let's consider celluloid or film. 132 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: Cinematic film degrades over time, particularly if it's in a 133 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: hot and moist environment. And you might have heard about 134 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: some filmmakers storing prints of their movies or masters of 135 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: their movies in old salt mines such as the one 136 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: that's below Hutchinson, Kansas in the United States. These subterranean 137 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: spaces maintain a constant temperature of around sixty eight fahrenheit 138 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: or twenty celsius, and they have a low humidity somewhere 139 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,319 Speaker 1: between like forty to forty five percent humidity. Of course, 140 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 1: movies are not the only things stored in those minds. 141 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: That in fact, we got the idea because of the 142 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: story of the monument men who ended up finding lots 143 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 1: of stolen art from various parts of Europe that the 144 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: Nazis had collected and stored in salt mines. We ended 145 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: up kind of using the same idea because it's a 146 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: great way to preserve stuff. If you otherwise, it's in 147 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: danger of deterioration. Also, we have to acknowledge that while 148 00:09:57,920 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: it's a great way to preserve stuff, there's a tragedy 149 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: here because we're also removing it right from us. You know, 150 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: we're storing it and we're preserving it, But to what 151 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: end if you can't access it, then it doesn't really 152 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: like there's a lot of questions. There are philosophical questions. 153 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: If you have a priceless work of art stored in 154 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: assault mind and no one can go there, is it 155 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:24,360 Speaker 1: the same as not having it at all. Now, in 156 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 1: the case of film, a lot of studios will actually 157 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: use those master recordings. When they want to do a 158 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,080 Speaker 1: remastered version of the film they want to release it 159 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: on say like Blu ray or something, they'll go to 160 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: the original print that's stored in as salt mine and 161 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: they'll pull from that. But yeah, there's lots of other 162 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 1: stuff besides just film down there, anything that needs a 163 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:50,319 Speaker 1: controlled environment in order to stop or at least slow deterioration. Now, 164 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: magnetic tape is another important storage method, and we've been 165 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: using magnetic tape as storage since the mid twentieth century, 166 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 1: around nineteen fifty one or so, and again the basic 167 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:04,559 Speaker 1: principle behind it dates back to the late nineteenth century. 168 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: That was when we were using magnetic wire. But whether 169 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: it's real to real tape, or cassettes or VHS tapes, 170 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:18,079 Speaker 1: we've relied on this methodology to store all sorts of information, 171 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: from computer information to music in the case of like 172 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: the cassette tapes of the eighties nineties or the VHS videotapes, 173 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,960 Speaker 1: all sorts of info we have committed to magnetic tape, 174 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:35,959 Speaker 1: and a lot of companies still rely on magnetic tape 175 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,640 Speaker 1: for long term storage and backups. When I use long 176 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,720 Speaker 1: term storage, i'm speaking relatively as we will see now 177 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: some older forms of magnetic tape are largely obsolete because 178 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: the devices we'd use to read the data from them 179 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 1: are out of production. You might find a working device 180 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:57,640 Speaker 1: here or there, but they can be pretty rare, and 181 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,839 Speaker 1: being mechanical in nature, they will eventually require maintenance or 182 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: they'll stop working. And when you're talking about this kind 183 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 1: of stuff, often you're talking about things that have parts 184 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,840 Speaker 1: that no one's making anymore, so it becomes very challenging 185 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: to keep them in good working order because there's a 186 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: limited supply of components you can use to make replacements 187 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: when something breaks down. On top of all that, magnetic 188 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: information itself can degrade over time, actually can degrade really 189 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: quickly if it's in the presence of a strong magnetic field, 190 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:30,679 Speaker 1: which is why as a kid I was told never 191 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: to bring a magnet close to a computer or computer 192 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:39,360 Speaker 1: discs because you could actually corrupt information that's stored on 193 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:44,320 Speaker 1: those devices because the magnet would realign the magnetic components 194 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 1: that were on this plastic film, or in the case 195 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:52,200 Speaker 1: of a computer, a raid on a platter inside the 196 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:57,439 Speaker 1: hard disk drive. Now, on average, if stored in decent conditions, 197 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: magnetic tape typically will retain data from anywhere between ten 198 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 1: to twenty years. When stored in prime conditions like in 199 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: that salt mine, for example, you might stretch it to 200 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,439 Speaker 1: around thirty years. So magnetic tape can hold on to 201 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: data for a while, but certainly not indefinitely. It will 202 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: sooner or later degrade to a point where the information 203 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 1: will be corrupted or irretrievable. Now, on a similar note, 204 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 1: let's talk floppy disks. So when I was a kid, 205 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: our Apple two E computer had a five and a 206 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 1: quarter inch floppy disk drive. These were not the first 207 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: floppy disks. There were older ones. There were larger ones. 208 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: IBM created eight inch floppy disks for example. And the 209 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,839 Speaker 1: discs that I was familiar with back when I was 210 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,439 Speaker 1: using the Apple to E were these plastic envelopes, and 211 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: the envelopes were covering a disc of magnetic film on 212 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 1: the inside, and it was on this magnetic disc that 213 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: you could save and retreat data. And I actually had 214 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: to look this up because I could not remember it myself. 215 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: But the original five and a quarter inch floppy disks 216 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: could hold up to ninety kilobytes of data. That's when 217 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:15,200 Speaker 1: they were first created. So that's just ninety kilobytes. But 218 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:20,720 Speaker 1: over time, you know, engineers improved the technology. They increased 219 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:24,160 Speaker 1: the capacity of floppy discs. Typically, they did this by 220 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: creating more precise read write heads so they could store 221 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: data in smaller physical sizes, which meant you could cram 222 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 1: more of it onto the same sized disc. They also 223 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: figured out how to multilayer discs, so that increased storage 224 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: as well. I think, you know, some discs maxed out 225 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,720 Speaker 1: at around seven hundred and twenty kilobytes, so significantly more 226 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: than ninety, but still way less than what we use today. 227 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,600 Speaker 1: Now I'm going to talk more about floppy disks and 228 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: other forms of storage and why all these different types 229 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: have kind of a limited shelf life of one span 230 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: or another. But before we get to that, let's take 231 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: a quick break. Okay, we're back, and we were talking 232 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: about floppy discs. Well, my parents write novels, and so 233 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: my dad's first books, which were written in the early eighties, 234 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,880 Speaker 1: they were written on that old Apple two E computer, 235 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 1: and he would save chapters of his books to floppy discs. 236 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: Each novel would take up several discs, like I don't know, 237 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 1: around a dozen or so, I can't quite remember. I 238 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: remember we had disk holders that would hold like maybe 239 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: three of his novels, because that's how many discs would 240 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: be taken up just by storing chapters onto them. I'm 241 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: not sure if he actually still owns those floppy discs, 242 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 1: but I imagine that even if he does, he doesn't 243 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 1: have any way to check and see if the data 244 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: is still there or not. He would need an Apple 245 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: to E or an emulator to simulate an Apple to 246 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: E on another machine. Plus he would have to have 247 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: a floppy disk drive connected to whatever computer he was 248 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: using in order to try and read those disks. And 249 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: floppy disk drives are not completely gone. You can still 250 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: find them. They are increasingly rare, however, so it's easy 251 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: to imagine that a day will come when anything stored 252 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: on discs like that, like my dad's books, will just 253 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: become lost simply because no one makes the stuff capable 254 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: of reading it anymore. And the stuff that already exists 255 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: will eventually break down, and you know, the actual magnetic 256 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: information on the discs will degrade over time too, just 257 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: like with magnetic tape. Eventually you'll have some of those 258 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 1: magnetic particles move out of alignment. That's going to corrupt 259 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: your data. I know I keep saying data and data. 260 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: I know I do that. I don't know why I 261 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: do that, and I can't predict when it happens. It 262 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 1: just does. I apologize for it, though, because I know 263 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: it drives some of you crazy, and my apologies. It 264 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: just happens anyway. Those particles will move out of alignment, 265 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 1: the information gets corrupted, So yeah, switch to information there, 266 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:18,359 Speaker 1: and then you can't retrieve it anymore. So that can 267 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,560 Speaker 1: happen too. Even if you have a working computer system 268 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:25,200 Speaker 1: that could theoretically pull that information off the disc, sometimes 269 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: the information on the disc itself will become corrupt. Now, 270 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,199 Speaker 1: we also have to keep in mind that media that 271 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:34,000 Speaker 1: we still use today because hardly. I mean, people do 272 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,959 Speaker 1: still use floppy disks depending on the situation, but it's 273 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: pretty rare. But even the stuff that we do use today, 274 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: eventually that's going to become obsolete too. Just a few 275 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,959 Speaker 1: years ago, compact discs were the go to for data storage, 276 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: at least for personal computers, though a lot of enterprises 277 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 1: would continue to rely on magnetic tape for more long 278 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:57,920 Speaker 1: term backups, and compact discs are a type of optical storage, 279 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: meaning that Rather than using magnetism to align tiny particles 280 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: on a physical surface, we're using lasers to write and 281 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 1: to read from these discs. The information is stored in 282 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:17,120 Speaker 1: water called pits and lands, pits being a designated pit 283 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: in the surface, and lands being the spaces between pits. 284 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,359 Speaker 1: Though rewriteable CDs actually kind of use foggy and clear 285 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: sections that are very very tiny, you wouldn't be able 286 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,400 Speaker 1: to see them with the naked eye. Now, compact discs 287 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: allow us to create a more dense storage system, so 288 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: we could put way more information on a single CD 289 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,159 Speaker 1: than we could with stuff like floppy discs. Now, Unlike 290 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: cassettes and floppy disks, optical discs are not affected by magnetism. 291 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: So if you did bring a powerful magnet close to 292 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: a bunch of floppy disks or cassette tapes or anything 293 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: that uses magnetic storage, you would scramble the information on 294 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,600 Speaker 1: there because the powerful magnet would realign the magnetic particles 295 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: that are on the tape. But optical discs don't have 296 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: magnetic particles, so they would be immune to that kind 297 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: of interference. However, this does not mean that optical discs 298 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: last forever, so there are many layers on a compact disc. 299 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: Same thing with DVDs and blue rays. By the way, 300 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: there are several layers involved, and these layers can have 301 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:28,720 Speaker 1: chemical reactions in them, and those chemical reactions can cause 302 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,879 Speaker 1: those layers to degrade over time. So like a CD 303 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:35,679 Speaker 1: that's stored in a very humid and warm place, like 304 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:40,240 Speaker 1: if people had stored their CDs, their music CDs inside 305 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:43,119 Speaker 1: their car and the summer in Georgia, they might find 306 00:19:43,119 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: that those CDs don't last that long, like they might 307 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:50,720 Speaker 1: last a few seasons, but eventually they degrade, and they will. 308 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:52,920 Speaker 1: You know, if you're in a hot and humid environment, 309 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: then a disc is going to degrade faster, not like instantaneously, 310 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 1: but it will start to degrade faster than it would 311 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 1: if you stored it in a cooler, dry place. And 312 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,919 Speaker 1: that outer layer on a CD, that's the clear layer, right, 313 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: It's protective and it's clear so that a laser can 314 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: go through it. But sometimes that clear layer can start 315 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:18,879 Speaker 1: to rot away and it can leave the reflective layer 316 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:23,639 Speaker 1: that's underneath it exposed. And with some CDs, that reflective 317 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: layer is made up of silver or sometimes a silver compound, 318 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: and silver when exposed to air will tarnish. The tarnished 319 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,000 Speaker 1: silver won't reflect a laser properly, and so you start 320 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: to get errors when you're trying to read information off 321 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,120 Speaker 1: of that kind of CD. Now, not all CDs were 322 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 1: made that way, right, so only some CDs have this 323 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: particular bronzing issue. In fact, our research group determined that 324 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: the CDs that really have this specific problem we're all 325 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: pressed in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, between the years nineteen eighty 326 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: eight and nineteen nine. That's pretty darn specific. Now. The 327 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: issue here, though, is that there's really no way to 328 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 1: give an average lifespan for a compact disc because there's 329 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:14,960 Speaker 1: no such thing as an average compact discs there were 330 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:18,639 Speaker 1: there were so many different manufacturing and pressing processes and 331 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:25,560 Speaker 1: recording processes that different ones could last a different you know, 332 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:29,639 Speaker 1: theoretical maximum amount of time. So we can't really answer 333 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: the question how long on average will as CD last. 334 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of people suggest five to ten years, 335 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: some people saying ten to twenty, some people going as 336 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,679 Speaker 1: far as fifty. I think it really depends on the 337 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:46,240 Speaker 1: way the CD was made and what storage facility it's in, Like, 338 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:49,439 Speaker 1: is it in a house where it's kept out of 339 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:54,520 Speaker 1: sunlight because UV radiation can affect CDs. Is it kept 340 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,200 Speaker 1: cool and dry, then it's gonna last longer. Is it 341 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: not handled a lot? Like if it's it's your favorite 342 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 1: music CD, and you handle it a lot, then it's 343 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:08,360 Speaker 1: going to degrade faster. Again, not instantaneously, and it may 344 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: not even be noticeable at first, but eventually you might 345 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: get the things where it starts to skip on a 346 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: certain track, or it won't even play certain tracks. That 347 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,399 Speaker 1: will happen over time. And it's a similar story for 348 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 1: other optical formats, which include you know, DVDs and Blu 349 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:28,240 Speaker 1: ray discs. These two have a limited lifespan, though that 350 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 1: lifespan may stretch to as long as a century under 351 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,879 Speaker 1: ideal conditions. And a century is a long time for 352 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: a single person, right, I mean, that's that's a significant 353 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:42,679 Speaker 1: amount of time. However, if we step outside of a 354 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: human's lifespan and we look at it from the perspective 355 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: of a historical account, then one hundred years is not 356 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: long at all. I mean, imagine for a moment, if 357 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: you had no access to any information that was recorded 358 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,719 Speaker 1: before nineteen twenty ten, because all the media that we 359 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,399 Speaker 1: had used to record info on had fallen apart or 360 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 1: was otherwise unusable or inaccessible. That nothing before nineteen twenty 361 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:16,159 Speaker 1: two would be knowable apart from what people wrote about 362 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:21,000 Speaker 1: those times post nineteen twenty two. That would be crazy, right, 363 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: But that's the kind of situation we're in when we 364 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: start looking at digital information. All right, Well, what about 365 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:31,960 Speaker 1: we look at like hard drives, hard disk drives and 366 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,680 Speaker 1: solid state drives, you know, the stuff that's in your 367 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: computer systems, your smartphones, that kind of thing. What do 368 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: they have? You know, how long will information last in those? Well, 369 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: they stored information in different ways. Hard disk drives have 370 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,160 Speaker 1: one or more platters in them, and each platter has 371 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:56,199 Speaker 1: a magnetic coding on it upon which information can be stored. So, 372 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:01,000 Speaker 1: just like cassettes and floppy disks and other magnetic storage methods, 373 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,120 Speaker 1: hard disk drives can be affected by powerful magnetic fields 374 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:10,719 Speaker 1: because they too, store information magnetically. Hardness drives have moving parts, 375 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:16,440 Speaker 1: so the platters spin quite quickly in fact, and an 376 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:20,159 Speaker 1: actuator mechanical arm with a read write quote unquote head 377 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,919 Speaker 1: on it. This is the bit that either can read 378 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: the magnetic particles that are stored on a platter, or 379 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:33,119 Speaker 1: it can actually exert a magnetic field that aligns the particles. 380 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,959 Speaker 1: When you're writing information on the platter, it moves across 381 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 1: the platter and it starts to retrieve or write information 382 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,919 Speaker 1: to the disc itself. And because we're talking about moving 383 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: parts here, stuff can and does wear down over time 384 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: and use. If it gets a lot of use, it 385 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,840 Speaker 1: wears out more quickly. Also, it means that you should 386 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 1: be gentle when you're moving anything that happens to have 387 00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: a hard disk drive inside of it, because a good 388 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: whack can damage the delicate parts. If you knock that 389 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: actuator arm out of alignment, that's a big problem. It's 390 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: going to be impossible to read or write stuff reliably 391 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: to that hard disk drive. Now, hard drives don't tend 392 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: to last very long because of those mechanical parts. I've 393 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: seen estimates of the life span for hard disk drives 394 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:27,359 Speaker 1: lasting somewhere between three to maybe six and a half years, 395 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: seven years. Some give it a little bit longer, some 396 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: a little bit shorter. Of course, a hard disk drive 397 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: can last longer than a decade. But that's you know, 398 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: if we're looking at typical use and we're looking at 399 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: the average life span of hard disk drives, we tend 400 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,359 Speaker 1: to fall in that three to seven year range, So 401 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: your mileage may vary. It may depend upon how you 402 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,880 Speaker 1: use your hard disk drive and the setting that you're in. 403 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: So they will eventually break down. Also, even if they 404 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: don't break down sooner or later, really later, that magnetic 405 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:08,600 Speaker 1: information will start to move out of alignment just naturally. 406 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,639 Speaker 1: And so even if you were to preserve a hard 407 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 1: disk drive perfectly and come back to it in a century, 408 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: chances are a lot of the information would no longer 409 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:23,359 Speaker 1: be accessible because the actual magnetic particles would no longer 410 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:27,879 Speaker 1: be in the proper alignment. Solid state drives store information 411 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: in a totally different way from hard disk drives, So 412 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:37,120 Speaker 1: instead of aligning magnetic particles, and SSD stores information through 413 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,680 Speaker 1: flash memory similar to USB sticks and other types of 414 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:45,640 Speaker 1: flash drives. These drives store information using nand flash that's 415 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: in a n D and that in turn is composed 416 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:52,879 Speaker 1: of what are called floating gate transistors. And all of 417 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: this gets super technical, but let's just kind of imagine 418 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:59,520 Speaker 1: it this way. Each floating gate can be either charged, 419 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 1: which means it's a zero, or it could be non charged, 420 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,200 Speaker 1: which means it's a one. So it gets a little 421 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: bit confusing because we often think of binary with zero 422 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: being off and one being on. But in this case, 423 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: zero means that there is a charge in a cell 424 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,040 Speaker 1: and one means there is no charge in that cell, 425 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:20,679 Speaker 1: And a drive is made up of a grid of 426 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:25,359 Speaker 1: these cells. So USB flash drives and SSDs are non 427 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:29,200 Speaker 1: volatile memory. That means that they retain information even if 428 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,160 Speaker 1: they are not receiving power. Right, So, if you were 429 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,200 Speaker 1: to turn off your computer and it has an SSD 430 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,520 Speaker 1: drive in it, you didn't just wipe out everything that 431 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,480 Speaker 1: was stored on that SSD. It remains there. However, if 432 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 1: an SSD goes without power for an extended period, so 433 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: we're talking like five to ten years here, it can 434 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:54,159 Speaker 1: experience what is called bit rot That is, some of 435 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: those charged gates might lose their charge without access to power, 436 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: and over time the information degrades. So SSDs are not 437 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:09,199 Speaker 1: immune to deterioration either. Given enough time, the information on 438 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 1: those will be corrupted as well, without any other external 439 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:18,400 Speaker 1: forces being applied to the SSDs. Well, what about cloud storage, 440 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: because that's changed everything, right, I mean, there's so much 441 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 1: of the information that we use day to day that 442 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,400 Speaker 1: isn't even stored on our native device at all, or 443 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: what is stored on our native device is a temporary 444 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 1: representation of that file. The actual file lives in the cloud. Well, 445 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: assuming that the company that's providing the storage remains strong, 446 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: data stored in the cloud tends to be pretty darn resilient. 447 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: And that's because in order to provide a reputable cloud 448 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: storage service, or really any cloud service, companies have to 449 00:28:54,880 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: ensure redundancy. Now, that just means that any information that's 450 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,720 Speaker 1: stored to the cloud system has to be stored on 451 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: multiple machines, because remember, cloud just means someone else's computer. 452 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: That's really what the cloud is. When you're storing stuff 453 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: in the cloud, it's not just floating around in the Internet. 454 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: It's being stored on servers that are part of some 455 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: massive data server farm that are owned by some even 456 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:29,800 Speaker 1: more massive company like Amazon or Microsoft or Google. Now, 457 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,960 Speaker 1: the reason why these companies store the information on multiple 458 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 1: machines is that should a single machine holding information malfunctions 459 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:44,080 Speaker 1: or I don't know, goes on fire or something, there 460 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: are backups on other machines. So the customer ideally never 461 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,840 Speaker 1: even notices that there's any problem. There's no interruption of service, 462 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,920 Speaker 1: there's no delay. Their information is still on quote unquote 463 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 1: the cloud, when really it's on multiple machines. So this 464 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: is important because most of these data server farm places, 465 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 1: they're using really cheap components, like lots of them, but 466 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: they're inexpensive and it's you know, it's just off the 467 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 1: shelf inexpensive components to store all this information or to 468 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: run processes. That's what allows them to have this kind 469 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: of redundancy because they're not spending ridiculous amounts of money 470 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 1: to get state of the art machines in there. They 471 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:31,080 Speaker 1: don't need that. They just need machines that are you know, 472 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: more or less reliable and more importantly inexpensive, so that 473 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: you can have lots of them so that you have backup. 474 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 1: So in the background, these companies can replace broken or 475 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,560 Speaker 1: damage systems with newer ones. They can migrate copies of 476 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:49,040 Speaker 1: information onto new machines or existing machines, keep things going 477 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:53,160 Speaker 1: smoothly and the customers never notice an issue. Now, there 478 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: is a caveat there, which I will get to after 479 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: we come back from this break. So before the break, 480 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:11,920 Speaker 1: I alluded to a caveat about having these indefinitely resilient 481 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: data storage systems using the cloud, and that is I 482 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 1: said at the beginning, assuming the company providing the storage 483 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:24,040 Speaker 1: remains strong. So we have to remember that much of 484 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: cloud storage out there is resting in these few big companies, 485 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: and they are really big and thus pretty resilient to 486 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 1: change and to going out of business, but they're not 487 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: immune to it. Even companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Google 488 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: have their vulnerabilities, and in fact, we're seeing increased pressure 489 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 1: from around the world to break some of these companies 490 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: up because they are so dominant in their respective spaces. 491 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:54,680 Speaker 1: So the odds of these companies going out of business 492 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: are really really low, but they're not zero, or at 493 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,160 Speaker 1: least it's not zero that they won't be split up, 494 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:07,760 Speaker 1: and that ultimately that could lead to discontinuation of services 495 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 1: in some areas. So we have to remember that the 496 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 1: access to this information remains dependent upon these various companies 497 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: staying in business and being capable of providing that service, 498 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:22,720 Speaker 1: So it's never a guarantee. So even the stuff that's 499 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:28,120 Speaker 1: saved in the cloud isn't necessarily permanent, it's probably it's 500 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 1: probably in better shape than say something that's saved on 501 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:35,120 Speaker 1: a magnet or magnetized tape that you keep in your 502 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: neodyne magnet room. It's going to be better than that, 503 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,960 Speaker 1: but it's not bulletproof. There are several other methods for 504 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: storing information as well, including some that are fairly new. 505 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: But the point remains our ability to hold on to 506 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:56,480 Speaker 1: knowledge depends upon the media we use and the machinery 507 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: we use to access that media, and if we do 508 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: not consistently move information to new storage methods, we run 509 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: the risk of losing the older information. And I'll come 510 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,400 Speaker 1: back to that at the very end, but let's switch 511 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 1: gears for a second, because sometimes we want to get 512 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 1: rid of information. Sometimes we need to wipe some storage, 513 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: you know, maybe we need to make room for something new. 514 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,960 Speaker 1: Anyone who's had a gaming PC, you've probably at some 515 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,160 Speaker 1: point said, all right, well, I got to uninstall a 516 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 1: couple of these titles so that I can install the 517 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: newest game I want to play. Or maybe we want 518 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 1: to just get rid of something we no longer need 519 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 1: or use, or maybe we need to get rid of 520 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,040 Speaker 1: something because we don't want someone else to see it. 521 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 1: For example, let's say that you've upgraded to a brand 522 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: new computer and you want to sell your old computer, 523 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:48,680 Speaker 1: or you're going to donate it to like a school 524 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:51,480 Speaker 1: or something, or maybe you just want to recycle it. Well, 525 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: chances are before you do that, you're going to want 526 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 1: to wipe that computer clear of information first. If there's 527 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,240 Speaker 1: anything personal on computer, you probably don't want it falling 528 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:05,240 Speaker 1: into someone else's hands. Like, let's say you get some 529 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:09,240 Speaker 1: financial or medical information that was stored somewhere on that machine, 530 00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: you definitely want to get that wiped off before you 531 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: hand it over to someone else. Well, what happens when 532 00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:19,640 Speaker 1: you delete data, Well, if you're using a computer and 533 00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:23,360 Speaker 1: you're moving files to the recycle bin, that doesn't actually 534 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:25,920 Speaker 1: mean that the files are gone. Even emptying the recycle 535 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 1: bin doesn't necessarily mean the files are gone. What it 536 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:33,080 Speaker 1: means is that the computer has essentially designated the respective 537 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:37,600 Speaker 1: parts on the storage system holding those files as being 538 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: available for new information. So like the markers that would 539 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,759 Speaker 1: designate that as being a file or gone, but the 540 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,840 Speaker 1: file itself, the information of the file itself is still there. 541 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,399 Speaker 1: But then when it's time for you to save new 542 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: information to your computer, some of that new information might 543 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:59,080 Speaker 1: be overwritten on top of the older files that you 544 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:04,400 Speaker 1: quote unquote, So over time, you will slowly eradicate the 545 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:08,239 Speaker 1: information of that deleted file as your computer writes new 546 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 1: information to those segments. But it's not instantaneous. And the 547 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,720 Speaker 1: important thing to remember is that deleting a file doesn't 548 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,400 Speaker 1: mean the file is gone. It's not enough to just 549 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:23,440 Speaker 1: delete a file. Many operating systems include options to let 550 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:27,880 Speaker 1: you permanently delete files, and this option typically just involves 551 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: overwriting the selected deleted files with information, usually garbage data 552 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,040 Speaker 1: that doesn't actually mean anything. The original file is gone 553 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:40,480 Speaker 1: and it's replaced with gibberish. But let's say you have 554 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: to be absolutely certain that no one will ever retrieve 555 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: information from your hard drive. Maybe this computer held crucial 556 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:52,920 Speaker 1: financial information for an important company, or maybe it held 557 00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:55,880 Speaker 1: medical information for lots of people, and say like a hospital, 558 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: and it's time for you to downgrade the system and 559 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:01,120 Speaker 1: get rid of it. Well, you're gonna really want to 560 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,920 Speaker 1: make sure that that machine is wiped clear. So then 561 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,759 Speaker 1: you might want to engage in what I would like 562 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:09,719 Speaker 1: to think of as the nuclear option. It's called the 563 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,600 Speaker 1: Gutman method. So Peter Gutman and Colin Plum came up 564 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:18,719 Speaker 1: with this process in the nineties. It involves overwriting a 565 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:24,360 Speaker 1: disk drive with gibberish thirty five times, using different patterns, 566 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: including some that are not patterns but random passes. So 567 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,520 Speaker 1: there's no pattern at all. It's just a random overright 568 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: pass followed by a whole bunch of patterned overwrites followed 569 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,360 Speaker 1: by more random passes. And this is because even with 570 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:41,080 Speaker 1: your standard gibberish overwright, it can still be possible for 571 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,239 Speaker 1: a determined person with the right tools to retrieve at 572 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:48,560 Speaker 1: least some information off of a hard drive. This is 573 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:52,600 Speaker 1: because of that magnetic storage. We're talking about the hard 574 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,760 Speaker 1: disk drive era here, so we're really talking about looking 575 00:36:55,800 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: for faint traces of magnetic imprints that could suggest what 576 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:05,400 Speaker 1: the original data saved on that hard disk drive was. 577 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:10,480 Speaker 1: Even by overwriting, those faint traces might remain. So this 578 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:15,360 Speaker 1: was Gutman's way of just obliterating any trace of what 579 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 1: was there originally. So you really got to go to extremes, 580 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:22,359 Speaker 1: or at least you used to, because Gutman and Plum 581 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:27,120 Speaker 1: were really concerned about that magnetic issue. These days, most 582 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:30,760 Speaker 1: experts suggest that the Gutman method is really overkill, especially 583 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,400 Speaker 1: if you're using a solid state drive and that after 584 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: three passes, you're usually in pretty reliable shape and you 585 00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:39,800 Speaker 1: don't have to worry about someone getting access to your information. 586 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:43,319 Speaker 1: There are also several software packages on the market that 587 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:47,000 Speaker 1: can go through the process of deleting files permanently, usually 588 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:52,400 Speaker 1: using some form of multipass overwrite patterns. Multipass meaning going 589 00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:58,239 Speaker 1: over the entire storage drive, not like Leelu Dallas multipass. 590 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:03,200 Speaker 1: Sometimes folks go to even further extremes, such as using 591 00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:07,880 Speaker 1: powerful magnets to destroy you know, magnetic storage that happens 592 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,840 Speaker 1: where you know you're that'll be part of the process. 593 00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:16,479 Speaker 1: Some will even use shredders to destroy like hard disk 594 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,240 Speaker 1: platters and such, so that not only have the files 595 00:38:19,239 --> 00:38:22,880 Speaker 1: been thoroughly deleted and overwritten, but the physical media itself 596 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 1: has been physically destroyed. That's probably overkill for most of us, 597 00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:31,200 Speaker 1: unless you go by a three number designation like double 598 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:34,400 Speaker 1: oh nine or something. But it really is interesting to 599 00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:39,560 Speaker 1: me that information can simultaneously be challenging to preserve and 600 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:43,719 Speaker 1: difficult to get rid of. But we're also talking about 601 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:46,680 Speaker 1: different time skills here, right, It's not apples to apples 602 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:50,399 Speaker 1: for preservation. We're really concerned about the long haul, how 603 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:54,920 Speaker 1: can we keep information accessible even as the way we generate, store, 604 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,920 Speaker 1: and retrieve information changes. How can we ensure that future 605 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:03,200 Speaker 1: generations will have access to the information that's at our 606 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:08,479 Speaker 1: disposal today. There are so many offshoots of this as well. 607 00:39:08,520 --> 00:39:13,520 Speaker 1: For example, the desire to preserve old information is what 608 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 1: drove the creators of the multi Arcade Machine Emulator software 609 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:21,040 Speaker 1: or MAIM to do what they do. They wanted to 610 00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:24,600 Speaker 1: create a way to preserve code that otherwise could fade 611 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:29,560 Speaker 1: into obscurity because these old arcade machines were physically coded 612 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:33,520 Speaker 1: onto chips that were part of these arcade cabinets, and 613 00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:37,560 Speaker 1: over time more of those cabinets ended up being destroyed 614 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:41,759 Speaker 1: or they become inoperable, and so this was an attempt 615 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,400 Speaker 1: to create a system that would preserve that code, to 616 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:48,400 Speaker 1: make it playable, not necessarily for people to play, but 617 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,880 Speaker 1: again to preserve the code itself, otherwise it would be lost. 618 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:55,880 Speaker 1: And as for destroying information, well that tends to be 619 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,880 Speaker 1: for short term requirements, right, if there's nothing that's threatening 620 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:04,160 Speaker 1: us or our information, well we could just play the 621 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:07,960 Speaker 1: waiting game, depending on how we've stored the information in 622 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,200 Speaker 1: the first place, because sooner or later the medium that 623 00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:14,839 Speaker 1: the information is on will deteriorate or it'll go obsolete, 624 00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 1: and no one will be able to get the information anyway, 625 00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,600 Speaker 1: including you. So if you don't, if you're not in 626 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:23,759 Speaker 1: a rush, you could just wait and the information will 627 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:28,400 Speaker 1: eventually no longer be accessible. Now related to these concepts, 628 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,080 Speaker 1: by the way, is the challenge of figuring out how 629 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:35,319 Speaker 1: to future proof messaging so that people far into the 630 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,160 Speaker 1: future will understand what those messages mean. Let's think back 631 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 1: to the Egyptian example. Without the Rosetta stone, we would 632 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:44,759 Speaker 1: have no way of knowing what the hieroglyphs mean. Not 633 00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 1: for sure. We could have a lot of hypotheses, but 634 00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:50,800 Speaker 1: we wouldn't be able to really test them and prove 635 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:56,120 Speaker 1: that our hypothesis is accurate. So let's take an example. 636 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:02,000 Speaker 1: Let's take the problem of nuclear waste from nuclear power facilities. 637 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:06,720 Speaker 1: So some nuclear waste remains dangerous for thousands of years 638 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 1: and we have to store it. We have to put 639 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,560 Speaker 1: it someplace where it's out of the way and safe. 640 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:15,080 Speaker 1: And it also means that any warnings that we put 641 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:18,759 Speaker 1: up at nuclear waste storage facilities really needs to be 642 00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,319 Speaker 1: easy for future generations to interpret, even if they have 643 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:27,319 Speaker 1: lost all other records of what that site is, so 644 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:31,719 Speaker 1: the signage needs to convey displace is dangerous. But then, 645 00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,520 Speaker 1: as that hieroglyphs example showed us, this is easier said 646 00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:38,120 Speaker 1: than done. We might do something that to us seems 647 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:42,880 Speaker 1: completely obvious, but there's no way of knowing that people 648 00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:47,040 Speaker 1: ten thousand years from now will still understand it. There 649 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:50,920 Speaker 1: are experts who work hard to create iconography and messaging 650 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,359 Speaker 1: that someone unfamiliar with our current alphabet and language and 651 00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:59,520 Speaker 1: symbols might understand. So for a really awesome treatment of 652 00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:04,239 Speaker 1: this topic, I highly recommend a classic episode of ninety 653 00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,520 Speaker 1: nine percent Invisible, a phenomenal show. If you've never listened 654 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:11,200 Speaker 1: to it, you definitely need to is It is one 655 00:42:11,239 --> 00:42:14,000 Speaker 1: of the best podcasts I've ever listened to. But this 656 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:16,440 Speaker 1: particular one comes from way back when it was like 657 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:20,280 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen when it published, and it is titled ten 658 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:25,359 Speaker 1: thousand Years. Really a great, great episode. You should check 659 00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:28,400 Speaker 1: that out. It's an incredible treatment of the challenge of 660 00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:33,719 Speaker 1: how do you convey information to people that there's no 661 00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,360 Speaker 1: way for us to know anything about them, and keeping 662 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:38,880 Speaker 1: in mind, like we're talking ten thousand years, because nuclear 663 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:43,120 Speaker 1: waste can stay dangerous that long. You go back ten 664 00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:46,480 Speaker 1: thousand years and you suddenly think, wow, yeah, creating a 665 00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:49,160 Speaker 1: message that would be readable ten thousand years from now 666 00:42:49,239 --> 00:42:54,040 Speaker 1: that is going to be super challenging to do so. Yeah. 667 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:58,360 Speaker 1: Storing data, retrieving data, destroying data, all of these things 668 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:02,439 Speaker 1: have their own challenges and obstacles in front of them. 669 00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:05,919 Speaker 1: It's important for us to think about because it's also 670 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,080 Speaker 1: important for us to take steps to preserve things when 671 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:12,719 Speaker 1: we can. There are other great examples we can use. 672 00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:16,800 Speaker 1: One I would point out is that a lot of people, 673 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:21,279 Speaker 1: particularly in my generation, we used stuff like Facebook to 674 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:26,719 Speaker 1: become kind of the storage center for photographs, right, Like, 675 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:32,000 Speaker 1: I have hundreds of photos stored on Facebook. But then 676 00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:35,080 Speaker 1: I decided to peace out a Facebook. So I needed 677 00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:39,160 Speaker 1: to download my Facebook information because otherwise I was going 678 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,880 Speaker 1: to lose access to all those pictures that I had stored. 679 00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:45,400 Speaker 1: And it was just a kind of thing I had 680 00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,440 Speaker 1: taken for granted that I would always be on Facebook 681 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:51,759 Speaker 1: and I would always have access to those images, and 682 00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:56,200 Speaker 1: now I don't. And so it's again an example of 683 00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:58,839 Speaker 1: things that we have to keep in mind when we 684 00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:04,680 Speaker 1: choose a storage method, is that we should also occasionally 685 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:08,360 Speaker 1: think of ways to migrate information to a new storage 686 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:12,400 Speaker 1: method to make certain that we don't lose what came before. 687 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:18,160 Speaker 1: All right, I hope you enjoyed this episode about the 688 00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:22,239 Speaker 1: paradoxical nature of information in the digital age. If you 689 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:24,840 Speaker 1: have suggestions for topics I should cover in future episodes 690 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:27,439 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff, please reach out to me. The best 691 00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 1: way to do that is on Twitter. The handle for 692 00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:33,960 Speaker 1: the show is tech Stuff HSW and I'll talk to 693 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:44,320 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. 694 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:49,640 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 695 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:55,680 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.