Pogue Article from Scientific American

[toronado]

Originally Posted by Format C:

Add DRM into the equation and ask yourself the same question.
What are the odds to be still able to read a DRM'd ebook 2 years from now?

Personally? I'd say there is an extremely high chance that I'll be able to read a DRM'd eBook 2 (or 20) years from now. But maybe that's just me. I still have computer hardware/software from 15 years ago, and can read any format from that era. And all of my important data has been converted to newer formats along the way.

Ironically, I just randomly clicked on this yesterday. I'd never seen it before, nor did I know what it contained. If you want to get directly to the point, jump to about the 05:45 mark.

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

That's not entirely the case, since it was "religious zealots" like Christian monks and Islamic scholars who actually did the work of protecting and re-copying texts -- including a few as disruptive as Satyricon. AFAIK Japan never had an equivalent to Qin Shi Huang, but many cultural writings are still lost.

Books have been lost or destroyed for many reasons, none of which are simple....

No, the reasons are not simple, but saying that Christian monks and Islamic scholars protected ancient "pagan" writings is akin to saying that Josef Mengele protected the subjects of his experiments from the gas chambers.

Religious zealots have always engaged in destroying competing ideas, and the Christian and the Islamic ones have been more successful than many.

An important reason why more was not destroyed is that parchment was expensive, so that old manuscripts which were not burned, were collected to be later scraped and reused for pious writings.

Of course, some ancient authors were accepted and copied and studied by the zealots and the religious establishment, but they were few and far between.

As to preserving works in the digital age, I'd imagine that stuff worth preserving will survive well. DRM can of course make it more difficult, but hey, may be some authors will have to thank file-sharing for their immortality....

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sonist

Of course, some ancient authors were accepted and copied and studied by the zealots and the religious establishment, but they were few and far between.

Plato is an example of such an author. He was widely revered by the early Christian Church as being a "Christian who lived before Christ". Many of Plato's ideas fit extremely well into a Christian framework. That's one of the reasons that we still have what is believed to be his complete works.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by MikeFromHC

Our ability to produce vacuum tubes has been essentially lost and we would have to start over again if the need arose.

not so fast

http://www.jolida.com/index.php?p=products

http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products...-amplifier.asp

http://www.pyleaudio.com/itemdetail.asp?model=PTVT790A

well you get the idea

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

It would probably be easier to hire a competent vacuum tube designer than a competent buggy whip maker, let alone a flint knapper.

not so fast

http://www.shopatron.com/products/ca...23465.0.0.0.0l

http://www.statelinetack.com/western...nd-crops/2314/

http://flintknappers.com/

http://knapper_dan.tripod.com/

http://www.beyond2000bc.co.uk/

well you get the idea

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

Wrong. A TV signal is simply pictures encoded in radio waves, and a TV receiver is a device to recreate those pictures by decoding the radio waves (until recently, via a big vacuum tube). It is absolutely an add-on to radio.



Wrong. Vacuum tubes are still produced on a regular basis. There are also still entire books of instructions on how to design tubes, not to mention pre-existing designs. It would probably be easier to hire a competent vacuum tube designer than a competent buggy whip maker, let alone a flint knapper.

Old movies were not lost because of their format; they were lost because the film CAUGHT FIRE or FELL APART, or was never saved at all. Let's not even go into what the Time executives did when they bought Warner Brothers. Physical disintegration affects old films, old data tapes ... and old books.

actually I took a class in flint knapping when I was getting my Anthropology degree. I know, not particularly germane to the conversation

[WillAdams]

Glad to see the posts on flintknapping --- I've recently taken up archery again and have been working my way back though making my own archery tackle (bows, strings and wood cases thus far, arrows and leather accessories are next).

On one discussion group, a participant has the signature, ``I don't have weird hobbies, I'm developing a robust post-apocalyptic skill set.''

William

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Glad to see the posts on flintknapping --- I've recently taken up archery again and have been working my way back though making my own archery tackle (bows, strings and wood cases thus far, arrows and leather accessories are next).

On one discussion group, a participant has the signature, ``I don't have weird hobbies, I'm developing a robust post-apocalyptic skill set.''

William

ha! that works!