Submitted via IRC for SoyCow0245
This nonprofit plans to send millions of Wikipedia pages to the Moon — printed on tiny metal sheets
A nonprofit with grand ambitions of setting up a library on the Moon is planning to send the entire English archive of Wikipedia to the lunar surface sometime within the next couple of years.
Don't worry: there won't be reams of Wikipedia printouts sitting in the lunar soil. Instead, the organization says it will send up millions of Wikipedia articles in the form of miniaturized prints, etched into tiny sheets of metal that are thinner than the average human hair. The nonprofit claims that with this method, it can send up millions of pages of text in a package that's about the size of a CD.
The unusual mission is the brainchild of the Arch Foundation (pronounced "arc," short for archive.) Formed in 2015, the nonprofit's goal is to set up archives of humanity's culture in different places throughout our cosmic neighborhood, as a way to inspire people about space. "We thought of this project to archive human civilization around the Solar System — to create a permanent off-site backup of all our cultural achievements," Arch co-founder Nova Spivack tells The Verge. "So, our knowledge, our art, our languages, our history — all the stuff the human mind has produced." The idea is that these archives could last for millions to billions of years in space, where they might be found and read by future humans.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 15 2018, @11:20PM (4 children)
English only ... because human knowledge does not include language diversity.
Also, the micro-tech is cute, but when we find ancient writings, the fact that we can see the symbols tells us they're probably valuable. I won't presume of the eyesight of future space travelers from Stavromula Beta, but our rockets are powerful enough to send many tons into space, so a low-tech readable solution might be a lesser waste of time.
(Score: 3, Informative) by requerdanos on Tuesday May 15 2018, @11:40PM (2 children)
No, that doesn't seem to be the reason. On the contrary, it's a diversity and inclusiveness measure: "Printed in a language spoken by each and every human ever to have walked on the moon."
I guess a future reading would need to be scheduled in advance, "The Opening Of Arch Mission Foundation™, Inc. Time Capsule!" or whatnot.
Their primary goal seems to be (FTFS):
And a distant second of
but either way, humans (coincidentally with dollars to donate) seem to be the target audience. So inclusive, but not *too* inclusive.
(Score: 4, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 16 2018, @12:09AM (1 child)
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey's on the moon)
I can't pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.
(while Whitey's on the moon)
The man jus' upped my rent las' night.
('cause Whitey's on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
I wonder why he's uppi' me?
('cause Whitey's on the moon?)
I was already payin' 'im fifty a week.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Taxes takin' my whole damn check,
Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is goin' up,
An' as if all that shit wasn't enough
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face an' arm began to swell.
(but Whitey's on the moon)
Was all that money I made las' year
(for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain't no money here?
(Hm! Whitey's on the moon)
Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I'll sen' these doctor bills,
Airmail special
(to Whitey on the moon)
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @12:50AM
lying signing mofo
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday May 16 2018, @05:51AM
I just wonder if this is kinda like etching the New Testament on the head of a pin. Only maybe less pointless.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 15 2018, @11:24PM
If you don't send porn, you're not archiving humanity's greatest achievement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 15 2018, @11:31PM (4 children)
Like littering?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @12:07AM (3 children)
These kinds of "projects" are stupid. A waste of resources for what? And anyway, one micro-meteorite would turn the Library into dust. Those do still hit the moon you know.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by requerdanos on Wednesday May 16 2018, @12:49AM (2 children)
Why, on the contrary. According to their founding document [novaspivack.com]:
So, benefiting future generations and inspiring current ones and all, it's not stupid at all.
I'm glad you asked!
Their words, not mine. And that's just for starters.
Anyone who thinks I'm making this up should visit the link above and read for yourself. These people are some of the most visionary thinkers in the space business.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @04:06AM
I was thinking that the AC has never encountered "The Star".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_(Clarke_short_story)#firstHeading [wikipedia.org]
The revised Twilight Zone did it in 1985.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_(The_Twilight_Zone)#firstHeading [wikipedia.org]
Video (The entire page is JavaScript)
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54yrjm [dailymotion.com]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by lentilla on Wednesday May 16 2018, @06:46AM
In all the laundry list of possible hazards listed, I note they didn't what I consider to be the most likely threat to humanity's collected knowledge: deliberate book burning resulting in a second Dark Age.
It's worth reading A Canticle for Leibowitz [wikipedia.org] that explores the concept of another Dark Age.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 16 2018, @12:06AM (5 children)
A while back I emailed all my relatives to request that if I die or am incapacitated I want them to ensure that my writing stays online - forever.
My brother-in-law is into computers; he said he'd take care of it.
But Stan is several years older than me; if I die first it's unlikely that Stan will be around to look after my essays for very long.
I recently contemplated asking an Estate Attorney to set up a trust that I could fund with all the Samoleon's I'm getting out of Portland Custom Software Development [soggywizards.com]. That money will be invested in some way so as to ensure I don't spend it all on hookers and blow before my Tick expires.
Hopefully the domain registration, web hosting and webmastering could all be paid for out of the earnings of that investment. All those are cheap but they do cost something.
Now I'm puzzling over how to ensure that trust really _does_ spend those earnings on publishing my writing and nothing else.
I am well aware that my domains are unlikely to survive a nuclear war. But provided you're not directly exposed to the blast you won't even be deafened by a nuclear explosion because The Bomb is not very brizent. That is, it's not "shocky".
So I will as well publish collections of my essays in books composed of acid-free paper. Extra credit if I can find a printer that can print them on hemp.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday May 16 2018, @12:26AM (1 child)
https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.warplife.com [archive.org]
https://web.archive.org/web/20160320200933/http://www.warplife.com/mdc/books/schizoaffective-disorder/strange.html [archive.org]
Internet Archive [wikipedia.org]
For the long term, they could store data on something like this, which was linked in TFA:
https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/16/11018018/5d-data-storage-glass [theverge.com]
If Internet Archive is about 15 petabytes, it would take just fourty-two 360 TB quartz discs to store. Depending on how cheaply the discs can be created and written, it might be no trouble to get exabytes of storage that can last "forever" and be resistant to catastrophes.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 16 2018, @04:35AM
I in fact recovered a mostly-lost website from The Wayback Machine.
The problem is SEO: all the organic links to my writing point to warplife.com.
While I could redirect those URLs to anywhere, if my domain expired then snapped up by a... uh... "Domain Speculator" those redirects would also break.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday May 16 2018, @01:35AM
Oh, I'm pretty sure all of the Three Letter Agencies have all of your stuff stored and well protected far better and for much longer than most other methods.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @01:25PM (1 child)
Why do you care? You'll be reincarnated as something or someone else so why bother?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 16 2018, @01:42PM
Or rather, "When you're dead, you won't know if anyone remembers you".
She's a Shambhala Buddhist.
To which I replied "When the end comes, to know that I will be remembered will give me a great deal of comfort".
But that's my own purely selfish reason. Rather more charitably:
Some of my essays have helped a great many people, not just regarding their own or a love one's mental illness, but lots of coders, business owners and webmasters as well.
Even before the end approaches, were my writing somehow manage to avoid dropping off the edge of the Earth my articles and essays would doubtlessly help a great many more such people.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @12:35AM (3 children)
And then an astronaut named John Smith came upon these writings and established the Church of Lunar Day Saints.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Wednesday May 16 2018, @01:33AM (2 children)
However, that church was revisioned and now is a Burger King drive in.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday May 16 2018, @01:57AM (1 child)
Would you like God with that?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Wednesday May 16 2018, @05:13AM
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/dear-god-3 [smbc-comics.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 16 2018, @05:57PM
More would be achieved by educating today's living humans about their current reality. Inspire people about space... nice, but inspire who? The vast majority who pray to magic fairies? Who are easily deceived by liars and conmen. And think the deceiving khazar jews are the real children of israel and therefore must be protected and served for all eternity. WTF!!!!
Or maybe any civilizations who will appear after the khazar jews destroy this planet will learn about us and not let their deceivers destroy theirs.
(Score: 2) by ants_in_pants on Thursday May 17 2018, @02:56AM
Put all of libgen on there.
And while you're at it put sci-hub on there too.
-Love, ants_in_pants
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 20 2018, @12:59PM
Neat.