1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:18,159 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland, Diamond executive producer with I Heart Radio and 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:20,960 Speaker 1: how the tech are yet. You know, I thought it 5 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: might be interesting to talk about how data can both 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: be easy to lose and hard to lose. It's a paradox, 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: but really this is all about the media upon which 8 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: we store data and how that media can pose various challenges. Now, 9 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: first up, let's just talk about the concept of obsolescence. 10 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:49,519 Speaker 1: So as our technology, our language, our culture, as all 11 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: these things evolve and we discover new ways to commit 12 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: information to different types of media, we often leave the 13 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: older methods behind. For example, very few people are recording 14 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: audio to wax cylinders today. For example, you know, Thomas 15 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: Edison did it, but you don't see people doing it now, 16 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: at least not outside of you know, historical demonstrations and 17 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: that sort of thing. The days of storing info magnetically 18 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 1: onto strips of metal, like we saw at the end 19 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: of the nineteenth century, that's pretty far behind us too, 20 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: although magnetic tape is built on the same principle. But 21 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: before we use tape, we used wire um, not that frequently, 22 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: but it was one of those things that kind of 23 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: paved the way toward magnetic tape. Now, over time, all 24 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: media will ultimately go obsolete, either because the stuff we 25 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: recorded upon has worn out, the actual physical stuff has broken, 26 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: or because we've lost the ability to retrieve information from 27 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: that type of media. And that inability to retrieve can 28 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: range from the technical to just our knowledge of how 29 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: to do it. So let's take a moment to consider 30 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,639 Speaker 1: something that is pretty far removed from modern technology unless 31 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: you watch stargate, and that is hieroglyphs. So thousands of 32 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: years ago, the people of ancient Egypt developed a writing 33 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: system that was complicated, to say the least. So our 34 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: Latin alphabet, the one that we use in in English, 35 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,079 Speaker 1: for example, has twenty six characters, right, twenty six letters 36 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: in the alphabet, and hieroglyphs had hundreds of characters, like 37 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: a thousand or more. Now, some of the characters in 38 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: ancient Egypt represented basic phonemes. Phonemes are sounds within a language, right, 39 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: like would be a phoneme or like these are basic sounds. 40 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: But other characters in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs they represented entire words, 41 00:02:55,200 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 1: or at least parts of words. Uh. Some represented still bles, 42 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,399 Speaker 1: so not necessarily parts of words like you would think, 43 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: but a syllable that was common in ancient Egypt. But 44 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 1: over the millennia, the knowledge of how to read hieroglyphs 45 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: faded from Egyptian culture. There were a lot of reasons 46 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: for this, I mean, the the style of writing down 47 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: information changed from hieroglyphs to like demonic writing, and beyond also, 48 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: you had folks like you know, Europeans, like Greeks and 49 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: Romans who were invading Egypt and changing things and disrupting 50 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: Egyptian culture significantly. By the time we got a few 51 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: centuries into the common era, pretty much no one knew 52 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: how to read the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt anymore. So 53 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: we had all this knowledge stored in various places and 54 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: no way to retrieve that knowledge. It appeared as though 55 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: we had lost all of it, or that we had, 56 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: due to some misconceptions, completely miss interpreted that knowledge. So 57 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:05,119 Speaker 1: by the time we got into the medieval era, there 58 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: was this prevailing hypothesis that the Egyptian hieroglyphs were symbolic 59 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: in meaning and by that I mean that the images 60 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: that the Egyptians used were thought of to be direct 61 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: symbols of whatever the message was. So let's say you 62 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: had images of a boat and a snake, then you 63 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: might be led to think that what you're looking at 64 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: must be an allegorical story about snakes on a boat, 65 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:36,559 Speaker 1: possibly starring Samuel L. Jackson. But no, the symbols used 66 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: weren't meant to represent exactly what they looked like. They 67 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: represented elements of a language. So for example, if you 68 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: want to understand what I'm saying, our letter S looks 69 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: kind of like a snake, right, but it doesn't mean snake. 70 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: When you see the letter S, that doesn't mean snake. Uh. 71 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: It could be the beginning of the word snake. Obviously 72 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 1: that begins with S, but it could mean anything. It 73 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: represents the S sound, which is found in lots of words, 74 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: not just snake. And the hieroglyphs were similar, but no 75 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: one had a document that matched hieroglyphs to some other 76 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: known language so that someone could actually decipher the symbols. 77 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: So it just seemed to be, you know, all these 78 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: icons that the meaning had been completely lost. But then 79 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: came Napoleon Bonaparte and his armies invaded Egypt toward the 80 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: end of the eighteenth century, and in the process the 81 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: armies happened across something incredibly important, and it would later 82 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: be called the Rosetta Stone. Now, the Rosetta Stone itself 83 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: is a type of monument, and there are carvings on 84 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:50,480 Speaker 1: the monument that represent an official dynastic decree. The carvings 85 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: are in three different written languages. So at the base 86 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:57,599 Speaker 1: of the monument you have the carving in ancient Greek, 87 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: above that is Demotic, that is an Egyptian language that 88 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: followed the hieroglyphic language, and at the top are hieroglyphs. 89 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: And since all three carvings represented the same decree, this 90 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: gave experts the opportunity to finally begin deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, 91 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: and so began the long process of uncovering lost knowledge. 92 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: And this was helped by subsequent discoveries of similar decrees, 93 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: so that we over time we're able to understand what 94 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,360 Speaker 1: these these hieroglyphs actually stood for. We understood that it 95 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 1: was a written language that wasn't just purely symbolic. Now, 96 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: my point in telling the story is that we have 97 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: to remind ourselves that while we have ways to record knowledge, 98 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: it would be foolish for us to assume that any 99 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: way that we use is permanent, because we've got plenty 100 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: of examples of knowledge being lost in the past, whether 101 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: it's because people forgot how to access that knowledge, or 102 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: maybe the knowledge was based in folklore and the people 103 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 1: that were the stewards of that knowledge were wiped out 104 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: or assimilated and the knowledge was lost, or maybe the 105 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: physical copies, if it was like a written language, maybe 106 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: the physical copies were lost. And shout out to the 107 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: late Great Library of Alexandria, which I should add kind 108 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: of faded away, not just because of the famous fire 109 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: set by Julius Caesar's forces, though that clearly was a 110 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: catastrophic event, but also there was a long period in 111 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: which leaders were cracking down on scholars because well, a 112 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so a lot of 113 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: knowledge has got to be absolutely deadly right. But anyway, 114 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: let's skip ahead to the modern era. So even today 115 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: we run the risk of losing access to information because 116 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: we no longer make the stuff, what plays the media 117 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: that we used in the old days, or at least 118 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: in many cases, it is getting really tricky to track 119 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: down the components that can retrieve data from those types 120 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: of media. Right, you might be able to find old 121 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: working equipment that can access certain types of stuff that 122 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: otherwise we no longer can access, but it's it's rare 123 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: that you're gonna find someone make a new version of that. 124 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 1: It's not impossible. It's not like we've lost all ability 125 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 1: to It's just that unless there is a pressing financial 126 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 1: benefit to creating that kind of stuff, no one's gonna 127 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: bother to do it. Because you know, it's expensive to 128 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:39,559 Speaker 1: produce older types of of technologies, and unless there's a 129 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: financial incentive, no one's gonna do it. Um, it's sad 130 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: to say so. There's also the danger that the media 131 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: we rely upon could wear out and deteriorate over time. So, 132 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:56,719 Speaker 1: for example, let's consider celluloid or film. Cinematic film degrades 133 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: over time, particularly if it's in a hot and moist environment. 134 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:06,080 Speaker 1: And you might have heard about some filmmakers storing prints 135 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: of their movies or masters of their movies in old 136 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,120 Speaker 1: salt mines such as the one that's below Hutchinson, Kansas 137 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 1: in the United States. These subterranean spaces maintain a constant 138 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 1: temperature of around sixty eight fahrenheit or twenty celsius, and 139 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: they have a low humidity somewhere between like forty humidity. 140 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: Of course, movies are not the only thing stored in 141 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: those minds that in fact, we got the idea because 142 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: of the story of the monument men who ended up 143 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: finding lots of stolen art from various parts of Europe 144 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,679 Speaker 1: that the Nazis had collected and stored in salt mines. 145 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:48,839 Speaker 1: We ended up kind of using the same idea. So, 146 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,079 Speaker 1: because it's a great way to preserve stuff, if you 147 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: otherwise it's in danger of deterioration. Also, we have to 148 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,079 Speaker 1: acknowledge that while it's a great way to preserve stuff, 149 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: there's a tragedy year because we're also removing it right 150 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,600 Speaker 1: from us. You know, we're storing it and we're preserving it, 151 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: but to what end if you can't access it, then 152 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: it doesn't really like there's a lot of questions. There 153 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: are philosophical questions. If you have a priceless work of 154 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:20,400 Speaker 1: art stored an assault mine and no one can go there, 155 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,280 Speaker 1: is it the same as not having it at all? 156 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: Now in the case of film. A lot of studios 157 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,680 Speaker 1: will actually use those master recordings when they want to 158 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,560 Speaker 1: do a remastered version of the film they want to 159 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: release it on, say like Blu ray or something, they'll 160 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,959 Speaker 1: go to the the original print that's stored in a 161 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: salt mine and they'll pull from that. But yeah, there's 162 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,959 Speaker 1: lots of other stuff besides just film down there, anything 163 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,319 Speaker 1: that needs a controlled environment in order to stop or 164 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:52,719 Speaker 1: at least slow deterioration. Now, magnetic tape is another important 165 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: storage method, and we've been using magnetic tape as storage 166 00:10:56,600 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: since the mid twenty century, around nine or so, and 167 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 1: again the basic principle behind it dates back to the 168 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: late nineteenth century. That was when we were using magnetic wire. 169 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: But whether it's real to real tape, or cassettes or 170 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: VHS tapes, we've relied on this methodology to store all 171 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: sorts of information, from you know, computer information to music 172 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:24,439 Speaker 1: in the case of like the cassette tapes of the 173 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:30,040 Speaker 1: eighties nineties or the VHS video tapes, all sorts of 174 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: info we have committed to magnetic tape, and a lot 175 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:36,680 Speaker 1: of companies still rely on magnetic tape for long term 176 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 1: storage and backups. When I use long term storage. I'm 177 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: speaking relatively, as we will see now, some older forms 178 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:48,760 Speaker 1: of magnetic tape are largely obsolete because the devices we'd 179 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,719 Speaker 1: use to read the data from them are out of production. 180 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: You might find a working device here or there, but 181 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: they can be pretty rare, and being mechanical in nature, 182 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: they will eventually require maintenance or they'll stop working. And 183 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:06,199 Speaker 1: when you're talking about this kind of stuff, often you're 184 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: talking about things that have parts that no one's making anymore. 185 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:12,640 Speaker 1: So it becomes very challenging to keep them in good 186 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:16,200 Speaker 1: working order because there's a limited supply of components you 187 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: can use to make replacements when something breaks down. On 188 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: top of all that, magnetic information itself can degrade over time, 189 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 1: actually can degrade really quickly if it's in the presence 190 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 1: of a strong magnetic field, which is why as a 191 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: kid I was told never to bring a magnet close 192 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: to a computer or computer disks because you could actually 193 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:41,280 Speaker 1: uh corrupt information that's stored on those those devices, because 194 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: the magnet would realign the magnetic components that were on 195 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: this plastic film or in the case of a computer, 196 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:53,559 Speaker 1: uh arraid on a platter inside the hard disk drive. Now, 197 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 1: on average if stored in decent conditions, magnetic tape typically 198 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: will retained data from anywhere between ten to twenty years. 199 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 1: When stored in prime conditions like in that salt mine, 200 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: for example, you might stretch it to around thirty years. 201 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: So magnetic tape can hold onto data for a while, 202 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: but certainly not indefinitely. It will sooner or later degrade 203 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: to a point where the the information will be corrupted 204 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: or irretrievable. Now, on a similar note, let's talk floppy disks. 205 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:30,559 Speaker 1: So when I was a kid, our Apple to E 206 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:34,360 Speaker 1: computer had a five and a quarter inch floppy disk drive. 207 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: These were not the first floppy discs. There were older ones. 208 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:40,640 Speaker 1: There were larger ones. IBM created eight inch floppy disks 209 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:45,080 Speaker 1: for example, And the disks that I was familiar with 210 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:47,520 Speaker 1: back when I was using the Apple to E were 211 00:13:47,559 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: these plastic envelopes, and the envelopes were covering a disc 212 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:56,559 Speaker 1: of magnetic film on the inside, and it was on 213 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,839 Speaker 1: this magnetic disc that you could save and retreat data. 214 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:02,839 Speaker 1: And I actually had to look this up because I 215 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: could not remember it myself, but the original five and 216 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: a quarter inch floppy disks could hold up to nine 217 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: bytes of data. That's when they were first created, so 218 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: that's just ninety kilobytes. But over time, you know, engineers 219 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: improved the technology. They increased the capacity of floppy disks. Typically, 220 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,240 Speaker 1: they did this by creating more precise read write heads 221 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: so they could store data in smaller physical sizes, which 222 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: meant you could cram more of it onto the same 223 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 1: sized disc. They also figured out how to multilayer discs, 224 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: so that increased storage as well. I think, you know, 225 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: some disks maxed out at around so significantly more than 226 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: ninety but still weigh less than what we use today. 227 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna talk more about floppy disks and other 228 00:14:54,840 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: forms of storage and why all these different types kind 229 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: of a limited shelf life of one span or another. 230 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: But before we get to that, let's take a quick break. Okay, 231 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 1: we're back, and we were talking about floppy discs. Well, 232 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: my parents write novels, and so my dad's first books, 233 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: which were written in the early eighties, they were written 234 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:26,920 Speaker 1: on that old Apple to E computer, and he would 235 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 1: save chapters of his books too floppy disks. Each novel 236 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: would take up several discs, like I don't know, around 237 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,920 Speaker 1: a dozen or so. I can't quite remember I remember 238 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: we had disc holders that would hold like maybe three 239 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: of his novels, because that's how many discs would be 240 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: taken up just by you know, storing chapters onto them. 241 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: I'm not sure if he actually still owns those floppy discs, 242 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 1: but I imagine that even if he does, he doesn't 243 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: have any way to check and see if the data 244 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: is still there or not. He would need an Apple 245 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: to E or an emulator to simulate an Apple to 246 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: E on another machine. Plus he would have to have 247 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: a floppy disk drive connected to whatever computer he was 248 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: using in order to try and read those disks. And 249 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 1: floppy disk drives are not completely gone. They you can 250 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: still find them. They are increasingly rare, however, so it's 251 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: easy to imagine that a day will come when anything 252 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 1: stored on disks like that, like my dad's books, will 253 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: just become lost simply because no one makes the stuff 254 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: capable of reading it anymore. And the stuff that already 255 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: exists will eventually break down. Um and you know, the 256 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: the actual magnetic information on the discs will degrade over 257 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: time to just like with magnetic tape. The eventually you'll 258 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: you'll have some of those magnetic particles move out of alignment. 259 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 1: That's going to corrupt your data. I know, I keep 260 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: saying data and data. I know I do that. I 261 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: don't know why do that, and I can't predict when 262 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: it happens. It just does. I apologize for it though, 263 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: because I know it drives some of you crazy, and 264 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:11,239 Speaker 1: my apologies. It just happens anyway, Those particles will move 265 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:14,879 Speaker 1: out of alignment, the information gets corrupted. So yeah, switch 266 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,640 Speaker 1: to information there, and then you can't retrieve it anymore. 267 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: So that can happen to even if you have a 268 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,919 Speaker 1: working computer system that could theoretically pull that information off 269 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 1: the disk. Sometimes the information on the disc itself will 270 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: become corrupt. Now, we also have to keep in mind 271 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: that media that we still use today because hardly. I mean, 272 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,400 Speaker 1: people do still use floppy disks depending on the situation, 273 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: but it's pretty rare. But even the stuff that we 274 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:42,960 Speaker 1: do use today, eventually that's gonna become obsolete too. Just 275 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: a few years ago, compact discs were the go to 276 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,840 Speaker 1: for data storage, at least for personal computers, though a 277 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: lot of enterprises would continue to rely on magnetic tape 278 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:56,000 Speaker 1: for more long term backups, and compact discs are a 279 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:59,880 Speaker 1: type of optical storage, meaning that rather than using magnetism 280 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: to align tiny particles on a physical surface, we're using 281 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 1: lasers to write and to read from these disks. UH, 282 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 1: the information is stored in water called pits and lands, 283 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: pits being designated pit in the surface, and lands being 284 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: the spaces between PITSU. The rewriteable CD is actually kind 285 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:27,199 Speaker 1: of use foggy and clear UH sections that are very 286 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: very tiny. You wouldn't be able to see them with 287 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:32,680 Speaker 1: the naked eye. Now, compact discs allow us to create 288 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,360 Speaker 1: a more dense storage system, so we could put way 289 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 1: more information on a single CD than we could with 290 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:43,560 Speaker 1: stuff like floppy disks. Now, unlike cassettes and floppy disks, 291 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,119 Speaker 1: optical discs are not affected by magnetism. So if you 292 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: did bring a powerful magnet close to a bunch of 293 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,120 Speaker 1: floppy disks or cassette tapes or anything that uses magnetic storage, 294 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,119 Speaker 1: you would scramble the information on there because the powerful 295 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: magnet would realign the magnetic particles that are on the tape. 296 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,879 Speaker 1: But optical discs don't have magnetic particles, so they would 297 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 1: be immune to that kind of interference. However, this does 298 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: not mean that optical discs last forever, so the there 299 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,119 Speaker 1: are many layers on a compact disc. Same thing with 300 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: DVDs and blue race, by the way, there are several 301 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:26,400 Speaker 1: layers involved, and these layers can have chemical reactions in them, 302 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: and those chemical reactions can cause those layers to degrade 303 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,680 Speaker 1: over time. So like a CD that's stored in a 304 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 1: very humid and warm place, like if people had stored 305 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: their CDs, their music CDs inside their car in the 306 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 1: summer and Georgia, they might find that those CDs don't 307 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 1: last that long, like they might last a few seasons, 308 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: but eventually they degrade and they you know, if you're 309 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: in a hot and humid environment, then disc is going 310 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:58,960 Speaker 1: to degrade faster, not like instantaneously, but it will start 311 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,639 Speaker 1: to degrade faster than it would if you stored it 312 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: in a cooler, dry place. And that outer layer on 313 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,159 Speaker 1: a CD, that's the clear layer, right, it's protective and 314 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,399 Speaker 1: it's clear so that a laser can go through it. 315 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,760 Speaker 1: But sometimes that clear layer can start to rot away 316 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: and it can leave the reflective layer that's underneath it exposed. 317 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 1: And with some CDs, that reflective layer is made up 318 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:29,680 Speaker 1: of a silver or sometimes a silver compound and silver 319 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: when exposed to air will tarnish. The tarnished silver won't 320 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: reflect a laser properly, and so you start to get 321 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 1: errors when you're trying to read information off of that 322 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 1: kind of c D. Now, not all CDs were made 323 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,040 Speaker 1: that way, right, so only some CDs have this particular 324 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: bronzing issue. In fact, our research group determined that the 325 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,679 Speaker 1: c ds that really have this specific problem we're all 326 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: pressed in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, between the year's nineteen eight 327 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 1: and nineteen nine D three. That's pretty darn specific. Now. 328 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,640 Speaker 1: The issue here, though, is that there's really no way 329 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:11,720 Speaker 1: to give an average lifespan for a compact disc because 330 00:21:11,760 --> 00:21:14,679 Speaker 1: there's no such thing as an average compact discs. There 331 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:18,440 Speaker 1: were there were so many different manufacturing and pressing processes 332 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: and recording processes that different ones could last a different 333 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:28,640 Speaker 1: you know, theoretical maximum amount of time. So we can't 334 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:31,879 Speaker 1: really answer the question how long on average will a 335 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: s c D last. I've seen a lot of people 336 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 1: suggest five to ten years, some people saying ten to twenty, 337 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,440 Speaker 1: some people going as far as fifty. I think it 338 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: really depends on the way the CD was made and 339 00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:47,399 Speaker 1: what storage facility it's in, Like, is it in a 340 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,120 Speaker 1: house where it's kept out of sunlight because UV radiation 341 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 1: can affect c D suh. Is it kept cool and dry, 342 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: then it's gonna last longer. Is it not handled a lot? 343 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 1: Like if it's your favorite music CD and you handle 344 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:07,640 Speaker 1: it a lot, then it's gonna degrade faster. Again, not instantaneously, 345 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 1: and it may not even be noticeable at first, but 346 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: eventually you might get the things where it starts to 347 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: skip on a certain track, or it won't even play 348 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 1: certain tracks. That will happen over time. It's a similar 349 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,040 Speaker 1: story for other optical formats, which include you know, DVDs 350 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,560 Speaker 1: and Blu ray discs. These two have a limited lifespan, 351 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,399 Speaker 1: though that lifespan may stretch to as long as a 352 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 1: century under ideal conditions. In a century is a long 353 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:36,840 Speaker 1: time for a single person, right, I mean, that's that's 354 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 1: a significant amount of time. However, if we step outside 355 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,360 Speaker 1: of a humans lifespan and we look at it from 356 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: the perspective of, you know, a historical account, then a 357 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,240 Speaker 1: hundred years is not long at all. I mean, imagine 358 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: for a moment, if you had no access to any 359 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:01,520 Speaker 1: information that was recorded before nineteen twenty because all the 360 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,400 Speaker 1: media that we had used to record info on had 361 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:10,840 Speaker 1: fallen apart or was otherwise unusable or inaccessible, that nothing 362 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: before nineteen twenty two would be knowable apart from what 363 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:19,760 Speaker 1: people wrote about those times post nineteen two. That would 364 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: be crazy, right, But that's the kind of situation we're 365 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: in when we start looking at digital information. All right, Well, 366 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,440 Speaker 1: what about we look at like hard drives, hard disk 367 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,040 Speaker 1: drives and solid state drives, you know, the stuff that's 368 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: in your computer systems, your smartphones, that kind of thing. 369 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:41,000 Speaker 1: What what do they have? You know, how long will 370 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:45,920 Speaker 1: information last in those? Well, they stored information in different ways. 371 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,120 Speaker 1: Hard disk drives have one or more platters in them, 372 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,840 Speaker 1: and each platter has a magnetic coding on it upon 373 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: which information can be stored. So, just like cassettes and 374 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 1: floppy disks and other magnetic storage methods, hard disk drives 375 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,160 Speaker 1: can be affected by powerful magnetic fields because they too, 376 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: store information magnetically. Hard disk drives have moving parts, so 377 00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: the platters spin quite quite quickly in fact, and an 378 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: actuator mechanical arm with a ReadWrite quote unquote head on it. 379 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,920 Speaker 1: This is the bit that either can read the magnetic 380 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,120 Speaker 1: particles that are stored on a platter, or it can 381 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:33,360 Speaker 1: actually exert a magnetic field that aligns the particles. When 382 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,960 Speaker 1: you're writing information on the platter, it moves across the 383 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: platter and it starts to retrieve or right information to 384 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: the disc itself. And because we're talking about moving parts here, 385 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 1: stuff can and does wear down over time and use. 386 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: If it gets a lot of use, it wears out 387 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: more quickly. Also, it means that you should be gentle 388 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,560 Speaker 1: when you're moving anything that happens to have a hard 389 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,040 Speaker 1: disk drive inside of it, because a good whack and 390 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: damage the delicate parts. If you knock that actuator arm 391 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,120 Speaker 1: out of alignment, that's a big problem. It's it's going 392 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: to be impossible to read or write stuff reliably to 393 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:16,440 Speaker 1: that hard disk drive. Now, hard drives don't tend to 394 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,840 Speaker 1: last very long because of those mechanical parts. I've seen 395 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,760 Speaker 1: estimates of the lifespan for hard disk drives lasting somewhere 396 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:27,920 Speaker 1: between three two maybe six and a half years, seven years. 397 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,120 Speaker 1: Some give it a little bit longer, some a little 398 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: bit shorter. Of course, a hard disk drive can last 399 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: longer than a decade, but that's you know, if we're 400 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: looking at typical use and we're looking at the average 401 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,440 Speaker 1: lifespan of hard disk drives, we tend to fall on 402 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: that three to seven year range. So your mileage may vary. 403 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: It may depend upon how you use your hard disk 404 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: drive and the setting that you're in. So they will 405 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:01,200 Speaker 1: eventually break down. Also, even if they don't down sooner 406 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 1: or later, really later, that magnetic information will start to 407 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: move out of alignment just naturally. And so even if 408 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: you were to preserve a hard disk drive perfectly and 409 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 1: come back to it in a century, chances are a 410 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: lot of the information would no longer be accessible because 411 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: the actual magnetic particles would no longer be in the 412 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: proper alignment. Solid state drives store information in a totally 413 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,880 Speaker 1: different way from hard disk drives, So instead of aligning 414 00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: magnetic particles, and ss D stores information through flash memory 415 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,320 Speaker 1: similar to USB sticks and other types of flash drives. 416 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,920 Speaker 1: These drives store information using nanned flash that's in a 417 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: n D and that in turn is composed of what 418 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,200 Speaker 1: are called floating gate transistors. And all of this gets 419 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,120 Speaker 1: super technical, but let's just kind of imagine it this way. 420 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,400 Speaker 1: Each floating gate can be either charged, which means it's 421 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,160 Speaker 1: a zero, or it could be non charged, which means 422 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,680 Speaker 1: it's a one. So it gets a little bit confusing 423 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,400 Speaker 1: because we often think of binary with zero being off 424 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,920 Speaker 1: and one being on. But in this case, zero means 425 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: that there is a charge in a cell and one 426 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 1: means there is no charge in that cell, and a 427 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,280 Speaker 1: drive is made up of a grid of these cells. 428 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,919 Speaker 1: So USB flash drives and s s d s are 429 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,880 Speaker 1: non volatile memory. That means that they retain information even 430 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 1: if they are not receiving power. Right, So, if you 431 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 1: were to turn off your computer and it has an 432 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 1: SSD drive in it, you didn't just wipe out everything 433 00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 1: that was stored on that SSD. It remains there. However, 434 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,040 Speaker 1: if an S s D goes without power for an 435 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:49,400 Speaker 1: extended period, so we're talking like five to ten years here, 436 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: it can experience what is called bit rot That is, 437 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: some of those charged gates might lose their charge without 438 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: access to power, and over time the information degrades. So 439 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,440 Speaker 1: s s d s are not immune to deterioration either. 440 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:09,640 Speaker 1: You know, given enough time, the information on those will 441 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 1: be corrupted as well. Without any other external forces being 442 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:17,359 Speaker 1: applied to the S s D s well, what about 443 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:21,160 Speaker 1: cloud storage, because that's changed everything, right. I mean, there's 444 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: so much of the information that we use day to 445 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: day that isn't even stored on our our native device 446 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: at all, or what is stored in our native devices 447 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:36,639 Speaker 1: a temporary representation of that file. The actual file lives 448 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 1: in the cloud. Well, assuming that the company that's providing 449 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,440 Speaker 1: the storage remains strong, data stored in the cloud tends 450 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 1: to be pretty darn resilient. And that's because in order 451 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,080 Speaker 1: to provide a reputable cloud storage service, or really any 452 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: cloud service, companies have to ensure redundancy. Now, that just 453 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,520 Speaker 1: means that any information that's stored to the cloud system 454 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: has to be stored on multiple machines, because remember, cloud 455 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: just means someone else's computer. That's really what the cloud is. 456 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 1: When you're storing stuff in the cloud, it's not like 457 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: just floating around in the Internet. It's being stored on 458 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: servers that are part of some massive data server farm 459 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: that are owned by some even more massive company like 460 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:31,720 Speaker 1: Amazon or Microsoft or Google. Now, the reason why these 461 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: companies store the information on multiple machines is that should 462 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:41,520 Speaker 1: a single machine holding information malfunctions or I don't know, 463 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: it goes on fire, or something. There are backups on 464 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:49,840 Speaker 1: other machines, so the customer ideally never even notices that 465 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: there's any problem. There's no interruption of service, there's no delay, 466 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: their information is still on quote unquote the cloud, when 467 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: really it's on multiple machines. So this is important because 468 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: most of these data server farm places, they're using really 469 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 1: cheap components, like lots of them, but they're inexpensive and 470 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: it's you know, it's just off the shelf inexpensive components 471 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:18,719 Speaker 1: to store all this information or to run processes. Uh. 472 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 1: That's what allows them to have this kind of redundancy 473 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: because they're not spending ridiculous amounts of money to get 474 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: state of the art machines in there. They don't need that. 475 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 1: They just need machines that are you know, more or 476 00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: less reliable and more importantly inexpensive, so that you can 477 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: have lots of them so that you have backup. So 478 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 1: in the background, these companies can replace broken or damage 479 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,120 Speaker 1: systems with newer ones. They can migrate copies of information 480 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: onto new machines or existing machines, keep things going smoothly, 481 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:53,200 Speaker 1: and the customers never noticed an issue. Now there is 482 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: a caveat there which I will get to after we 483 00:30:56,120 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: come back from this break. So before the break, I 484 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: alluded to a caveat about you know, having these indefinitely 485 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: resilient data storage systems using the cloud, and that is 486 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: I said at the beginning, assuming the company providing the 487 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: storage remains strong. So we have to remember that much 488 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: of cloud storage out there is resting in these few 489 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,480 Speaker 1: big companies, and they are really big and thus pretty 490 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: resilient to change into going out of business, but they're 491 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:39,840 Speaker 1: not immune to it. Even companies like Amazon, Microsoft and 492 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: Google have their vulnerabilities, and in fact, we're seeing increased 493 00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: pressure from around the world to break some of these 494 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:51,480 Speaker 1: companies up because they are so dominant in their respective spaces. 495 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: So the odds of these companies going out of business 496 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: are really really low, but they're not zero, or at 497 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 1: least it's not zero that they won't be split up, 498 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: and that ultimately that could lead to discontinuation of services 499 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 1: in some areas. So we have to remember that the 500 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: access to this information remains dependent upon these various companies 501 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:19,719 Speaker 1: staying in business and being capable of providing that service, 502 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: so it's never a guarantee. So even the stuff that's 503 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 1: saved in the cloud isn't necessarily permanent. It's probably it's 504 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: probably in better shape than say, something that's saved on 505 00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:35,120 Speaker 1: a magnet are magnetized tape that you keep in your 506 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: your neodyne magnet room. It's going to be better than that, 507 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: but it's not bulletproof. There are several other methods for 508 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,480 Speaker 1: storing information as well, including some that are, you know, 509 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:51,240 Speaker 1: fairly new. But the point remains our ability to hold 510 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: onto knowledge depends upon the media we use uh and 511 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 1: the machinery we used to access that media. And if 512 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: we do not consistently information to new storage methods, we 513 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: run the risk of losing the older information. UH. And 514 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:10,520 Speaker 1: I'll come back to that at the very end, But 515 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 1: let's switch gears for a second, because sometimes we want 516 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,840 Speaker 1: to get rid of information. Sometimes we need to wipe 517 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: some storage, you know, maybe we need to make room 518 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: for something new. Anyone who's had a gaming PC, you've 519 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: probably at some point said, all right, well, I gotta 520 00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 1: install a couple of these titles so that I can 521 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: install the newest game I want to play. Or maybe 522 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: we want to just get rid of something we no 523 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 1: longer need or use, or maybe we need to get 524 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: rid of something because we don't want someone else to 525 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:42,360 Speaker 1: see it. For example, let's say that you've upgraded to 526 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:45,800 Speaker 1: a brand new computer and you want to sell your 527 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:48,200 Speaker 1: old computer, or you're gonna donate it to like a 528 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: school or something, or maybe you just want to recycle it. Well, 529 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,240 Speaker 1: chances are before you do that, you're going to want 530 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:58,360 Speaker 1: to wipe that computer clear of information first. If there's 531 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 1: anything personal on computer, you probably don't want it falling 532 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,160 Speaker 1: into someone else's hands. Like let's say you get some 533 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 1: financial or medical information that was stored somewhere on that machine, 534 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,840 Speaker 1: you definitely want to get that wiped off before you 535 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,920 Speaker 1: hand it over to someone else. Well, what happens when 536 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,520 Speaker 1: you delete data, Well, if you're using a computer and 537 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,240 Speaker 1: you're moving files to the recycled bin, that doesn't actually 538 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:25,920 Speaker 1: mean that the files are gone. Even emptying the recycled 539 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,880 Speaker 1: bin doesn't necessarily mean the files are gone. What it 540 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: means is that the computer has essentially designated the respective 541 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:37,479 Speaker 1: parts on the storage system holding those files as being 542 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:43,040 Speaker 1: available for new information. So like the markers that would 543 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: designate that as being a file or gone, but the 544 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,760 Speaker 1: file itself, the information of the file itself is still there. 545 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:52,279 Speaker 1: But then When it's time for you to save new 546 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:55,440 Speaker 1: information to your computer, some of that new information might 547 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,960 Speaker 1: be overwritten on top of the older files that you 548 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:03,400 Speaker 1: quote unquote de eated. So over time you will slowly 549 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,400 Speaker 1: eradicate the information of that deleted file as your computer 550 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:12,200 Speaker 1: rights new information to those segments. But it's not instantaneous. 551 00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: And the important thing to remember is that deleting a 552 00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,799 Speaker 1: file doesn't mean the file is gone. It's not enough 553 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 1: to just delete a file. Many operating systems include options 554 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 1: to let you permanently delete files, and this option typically 555 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:32,920 Speaker 1: just involves overwriting the selected deleted files with information, usually 556 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,319 Speaker 1: garbage data that doesn't actually mean anything. The original file 557 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: is gone and it's replaced with gibberish. But let's say 558 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,160 Speaker 1: you have to be absolutely certain that no one will 559 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:47,840 Speaker 1: ever retrieve information from your hard drive. Maybe this computer 560 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,319 Speaker 1: held crucial financial information for an important company, or maybe 561 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,000 Speaker 1: it held medical information for lots of people, and say 562 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,960 Speaker 1: like a hospital, and it's time for you to downgrade 563 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,439 Speaker 1: the system and get rid of it. Well, you're gonna 564 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,480 Speaker 1: really want to make sure that that machine is wiped clear. 565 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,320 Speaker 1: So then you might want to engage in what I 566 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:09,279 Speaker 1: would like to think of as the nuclear option. It's 567 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 1: called the Gutman method, so Peter Gutman and Colin Plum 568 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,840 Speaker 1: came up with this process in the nineties. It involves 569 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:23,319 Speaker 1: overwriting a disk drive with gibberish thirty five times, using 570 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:27,600 Speaker 1: different patterns, including some that are not patterns but random passes. 571 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:29,920 Speaker 1: So there's no pattern at all. It's just a random 572 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,400 Speaker 1: overright pass followed by a whole bunch of patterned overrites 573 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,840 Speaker 1: followed by more random passes. Uh. And this is because 574 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:40,320 Speaker 1: even with your standard gibberish overwrite, it can still be 575 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,520 Speaker 1: possible for a determined person with the right tools to 576 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,759 Speaker 1: retrieve at least some information off of a hard drive. UM. 577 00:36:48,160 --> 00:36:51,560 Speaker 1: This is because of that magnetic storage. We're talking about 578 00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:55,040 Speaker 1: the hard disk drive era here, so we're really talking 579 00:36:55,040 --> 00:37:01,480 Speaker 1: about looking for faint traces of magnetic imprints that could 580 00:37:01,520 --> 00:37:04,759 Speaker 1: suggest what the original data saved on that hard disk 581 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:09,560 Speaker 1: drive was. Even by overwriting, those faint traces might remain. 582 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:14,920 Speaker 1: So this was Gutman's way of just obliterating any trace 583 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:18,600 Speaker 1: of what was there originally. So you really got to 584 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,520 Speaker 1: go to extremes, or at least you used to, because 585 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 1: Gutman and Plumb were really concerned about that magnetic issue. 586 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:29,000 Speaker 1: These days, most experts suggest that the Gutman method is 587 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: really overkill, especially if you're using a solid state drive, 588 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:36,640 Speaker 1: and that after three passes you're usually in pretty reliable 589 00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:38,640 Speaker 1: shape and you don't have to worry about someone getting 590 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,400 Speaker 1: access to your information. There are also several software packages 591 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:44,759 Speaker 1: on the market that can go through the process of 592 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:48,760 Speaker 1: deleting files permanently, usually using some form of multi pass 593 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 1: overwrite patterns multi pass meaning going over the entire storage drive, 594 00:37:55,560 --> 00:38:00,719 Speaker 1: not like Lulu Dallas multi pass. Sometimes folks go to 595 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: even further extremes, such as using powerful magnets to destroy 596 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:09,279 Speaker 1: you know, magnetic storage that happens where you know you're 597 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:13,279 Speaker 1: that will be part of the process. Some will even 598 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,279 Speaker 1: use shredders to destroy like hard disc platters and such, 599 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: so that not only have the files been thoroughly deleted 600 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:25,239 Speaker 1: and overwritten, but the physical media itself has been physically destroyed. 601 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:28,960 Speaker 1: That's probably over a kill for most of us, unless 602 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,239 Speaker 1: you go by a three number designation like double oh 603 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,400 Speaker 1: nine or something. But it really is interesting to me 604 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:40,960 Speaker 1: that information can simultaneously be challenging to preserve and difficult 605 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,920 Speaker 1: to get rid of. But we're also talking about different 606 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,520 Speaker 1: time scales here, right, it's not apples to apples for preservation, 607 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 1: We're really concerned about the long haul. How can we 608 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:54,800 Speaker 1: keep information accessible even as the way we generate, store, 609 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:59,800 Speaker 1: and retrieve information changes. How can we ensure that future 610 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,080 Speaker 1: generations will have access to the information that's at our 611 00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:08,319 Speaker 1: disposal today. There are so many offshoots of this as well. 612 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:13,360 Speaker 1: For example, the desire to preserve old information is what 613 00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:17,920 Speaker 1: drove the creators of the Multi Arcade Machine Emulator software 614 00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:20,920 Speaker 1: or MAIM to do what they do. They wanted to 615 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:24,520 Speaker 1: create a way to preserve code that otherwise could fade 616 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:29,440 Speaker 1: into obscurity because these old arcade machines were physically coded 617 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:33,400 Speaker 1: onto chips that were part of these arcade cabinets, and 618 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,440 Speaker 1: over time more of those cabinets end up being destroyed 619 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:41,560 Speaker 1: or they become inoperable, and so this was an attempt 620 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:44,279 Speaker 1: to create a system that would preserve that code, to 621 00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:48,239 Speaker 1: make it playable, not necessarily for people to play, but 622 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,760 Speaker 1: again to preserve the code itself, otherwise it would be lost. 623 00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:55,759 Speaker 1: And as for destroying information, well that tends to be 624 00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:59,399 Speaker 1: for short term requirements, right, Uh, if there's nothing that's 625 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:03,960 Speaker 1: threatening us or our information, Well, we could just play 626 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,760 Speaker 1: the waiting game, depending on how we've stored the information 627 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:10,800 Speaker 1: in the first place, because sooner or later the medium 628 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:14,719 Speaker 1: that the information is on will deteriorate or it'll go obsolete, 629 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:17,240 Speaker 1: and no one will be able to get the information anyway, 630 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:20,520 Speaker 1: including you. So if you don't, if you're not in 631 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,640 Speaker 1: a rush, you could just wait and the information will 632 00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:28,320 Speaker 1: eventually no longer be accessible. Now related to these concepts, 633 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:30,879 Speaker 1: by the way, is the challenge of figuring out how 634 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:35,200 Speaker 1: to future proof messaging so that people far into the 635 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:39,080 Speaker 1: future will understand what those messages mean. Let's think back 636 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:42,520 Speaker 1: to the Egyptian example. Without the Rosetta stone, we would 637 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:44,520 Speaker 1: have no way of knowing what the higher glyphs mean. 638 00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:47,000 Speaker 1: Not for sure, we could have a lot of hypotheses, 639 00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:50,680 Speaker 1: but we wouldn't be able to really test them improve 640 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:56,000 Speaker 1: that our hypothesis is accurate. So let's take an example. 641 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:01,880 Speaker 1: Let's take the problem of nuclear waste from nuclear power facilities. 642 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:06,640 Speaker 1: So some nuclear waste remains dangerous for thousands of years, 643 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:09,359 Speaker 1: and we have to store it. We have to put 644 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:11,760 Speaker 1: it someplace where it's out of the way and safe. 645 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:15,000 Speaker 1: And it also means that any warnings that we put 646 00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:18,640 Speaker 1: up at nuclear waste storage facilities really needs to be 647 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:22,200 Speaker 1: easy for future generations to interpret, even if they have 648 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:27,120 Speaker 1: lost all other records of what that site is. So 649 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:31,640 Speaker 1: the signage needs to convey displace is dangerous. But then, 650 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,439 Speaker 1: as that hieroglyphs example showed us, this is easier said 651 00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:38,000 Speaker 1: than done. We might do something that to us seems 652 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:42,760 Speaker 1: completely obvious, but there's no way of knowing that people 653 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:46,960 Speaker 1: ten thousand years from now will still understand it. There 654 00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:50,800 Speaker 1: are experts who work hard to create iconography and messaging 655 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,200 Speaker 1: that someone unfamiliar with our current alphabet and language and 656 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,400 Speaker 1: symbols might understand. So for a really awesome treatment of 657 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:05,400 Speaker 1: this top I highly recommend a classic episode of Invisible, 658 00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:08,320 Speaker 1: a phenomenal show. If you've never listened to it, you 659 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:11,279 Speaker 1: definitely need to. It is It is one of the 660 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,640 Speaker 1: best podcasts I've ever listened to. But this particular one 661 00:42:14,719 --> 00:42:16,920 Speaker 1: comes from way back when it was like two thousand 662 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:21,520 Speaker 1: fourteen when it published, and it is titled ten thousand Years. 663 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:25,640 Speaker 1: Really a great, great episode, You should check that out. 664 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:28,719 Speaker 1: It's an incredible treatment of the challenge of how do 665 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:33,600 Speaker 1: you convey information to people that you you there's no 666 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:36,239 Speaker 1: way for us to know anything about them, and keeping 667 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,800 Speaker 1: in mind, like we're talking ten thousand years, because nuclear 668 00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:43,000 Speaker 1: waste can stay dangerous that long. You go back ten 669 00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:46,360 Speaker 1: thousand years and you suddenly think, wow, Yeah, creating a 670 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,000 Speaker 1: message that would be readable ten tho years from now 671 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:53,799 Speaker 1: that is going to be super challenging to do so. Yeah. 672 00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:58,160 Speaker 1: Storing data, retrieving data, destroying data, all of these things 673 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:02,319 Speaker 1: have their own challenges and obstacles in front of them. 674 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:05,839 Speaker 1: It's important for us to think about because it's also 675 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:09,000 Speaker 1: important for us to take steps to preserve things when 676 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:12,600 Speaker 1: we can. Um there are other great examples we can use. 677 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:16,680 Speaker 1: One I would point out is that a lot of people, 678 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:21,160 Speaker 1: particularly in my generation, we used stuff like Facebook to 679 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:26,560 Speaker 1: become kind of the storage center for photographs, right, Like, 680 00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:31,880 Speaker 1: I have hundreds of photos stored on Facebook. But then 681 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,960 Speaker 1: I decided to piece out of Facebook. So I needed 682 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:39,000 Speaker 1: to download my Facebook information because otherwise I was going 683 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,800 Speaker 1: to lose access to all those pictures that I had stored. 684 00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:45,319 Speaker 1: And it was just a kind of thing I had 685 00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:48,320 Speaker 1: taken for granted that I would always be on Facebook 686 00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:51,560 Speaker 1: and I would always have access to those images, and 687 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:55,520 Speaker 1: now I don't, And so it's it's it's again. An 688 00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:57,600 Speaker 1: example of things that we have to keep in mind 689 00:43:57,719 --> 00:44:02,600 Speaker 1: when we choose a orange method is that we should 690 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:07,120 Speaker 1: also occasionally think of ways to my great information to 691 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:10,560 Speaker 1: a new storage method to make certain that we don't 692 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:15,120 Speaker 1: lose what came before. All right, I hope you enjoyed 693 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:20,600 Speaker 1: this episode about the paradoxical nature of information in the 694 00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:23,680 Speaker 1: digital age. If you have suggestions for topics I should 695 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:26,520 Speaker 1: cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, please reach out 696 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:28,880 Speaker 1: to me. The best way to do that is on Twitter. 697 00:44:29,360 --> 00:44:32,239 Speaker 1: The handle for the show is tech Stuff H s 698 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:42,080 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech 699 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:45,560 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 700 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:48,400 Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 701 00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:51,640 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.