The Last Post Game!!!!

[Griffin NoName]

a good quality CD-R should last at least 15 years and potentially last for 200 years

A rather large margin of error.

Last _{Magna Carta is 700 years old next year} Post

[Swatopluk]

Almost each 'improvement' in data storage since the invention of writing was a step down in durability.

Well-preserved clay tablets are expected to last 100,000 years or more. That beats even many stone carvings. Parchment/vellum lasts many hundred years, possibly a few thousand. Paper made from textiles just a few hundred years provided a non-aggressive ink was used. Wood-derived paper will decay after a few decades unless treated with rather extreme means (at least before acidic production methods got replaced by a lye-based one) .  Electronic data storage is even worse. Even if the data does not evaporate by itself, it will quickly become unredable because the reading devices and knowledge about the coding disappear.
Celluloid film may last some time but it is an extreme fire hazard (closely related to high explosives chemically and ideally stored accordingly). Modern film tape is less dangerous but also less durable and has to get recopied on a regular base.

I guess in a hundred years we will know less about our age than we now do about the 18th century or even earlier times.

Last _{mankind's Alzheimer} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Why not transcribe wikipedia into clay tablets?

Last _{that could be an interesting project} Post

[Griffin NoName]

Wouldn't that need an enslaved workforce now we don't have large numbers of scribes?

Last _{how to do the links?} Post

[Aggie]

Just 3d print the damned thing out of clay, and laser-fire it on the spot. We've gotten good enough with new technology to have it replicate old technology by now, haven't we?

Last Post

[Griffin NoName]

I always forget 3d printers. Maybe because they are still too expensive to become household items. And because what I need most is good health and I don't think they can print that.

Last Post

[Aggie]

They're getting close to the point where they are affordable as household items, although I don't really see the utility for all users quite yet.  They make sense for designers, and there's certainly a case to be made for a family with children, to print toys, plastic tchotchkes, school projects and the like.  "Ink" will likely be the expensive bit, the same as with 2d printers.

Last _{but soon you'll be able to print a meal} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I insist, hard glass 3D laser-edged is better even than clay tablets.

Last _{they may last millions of years} Post

[Aggie]

Surely, if clay tablets are that durable, other forms of ceramic must be even better.

Last _{all fired up} Post

[Swatopluk]

Quite possible, we just had not yet the chance for long term testing.
With glass it would depend on the storage conditions. High density data inscriptions inside might become unreadable as a result of slow diffusion even with the block itself showing not much degrading/decay. Like a piece of household glass becoming milky when the wrong cleaning fluid is used or stored in it for too long. I am not talking about hydrofluoric acid. A mild lye like a potash or soda solution can have this effect. How far inside the glass the effect goes is just a matter of time.

We need a cheap way to grow large and pure diamond crystals with selective atom replacement for data storage.

Last _{diamond encyclopedias are a smart girl's best friend} Post

[Aphos]

Yesterday would have been Aunt Dee Dee's birthday.

Last _{I miss her} Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Last Post

[Griffin NoName]

Last Post

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Back to storage:

We need a cheap way to grow large and pure diamond crystals with selective atom replacement for data storage.

You could use junk DNA in common bacteria with some redundancy.

Last _{what kind of bacteria would be your choice} Post

[Swatopluk]

Bacteria exchange genetic information and also are prone to mutation => data corruption.

Last _{me not trust} Post