> On Jan 17, 2023, at 2:07 PM, Chris via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> The ones that HAVE survived have kept worthwhile data integrity, granted.
>
> There we go. Just find a big mountain and start etching hex code. Or
> texhtonic plates? They're pretty big. But those damned earthquakes. On
> Tuesday, January 17, 2023, 01:32:32 PM EST, Sellam Abraham via cctalk
> <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Jan 17, 2023 at 8:57 AM Chris via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
>> The bottom line is you have to dispense with the fantasy that any media
>> will reliably keep data for really any length of time.
>
>
> I don't know, man. Those stone walls with carvings in them have carried
> data forward so far for centuries, practically aeons.
>
> Sellam
Old stuff being preserved is often a matter of chance or luck rather than
planning. Consider the Linear B clay tablets; those were preserved because
they were accidentally baked, in the fires that were set when the city was
sacked. Papyrus documents were preserved in Egypt because it's desert, but not
in other places that aren't quite so dry.
As some civil engineer put it, it's not that the old timers built so much
better allowing us to see the buildings they put up centuries ago -- rather,
the buildings that are still there for us to see are the ones that happened to
be strong enough. Sometimes just barely so, like the cathedral in Utrecht (the
Netherlands) -- part of it blew down in a storm centures ago, but about 3/4 of
it didn't and is still good today.
paul
