Original Title: Historical data hoarders at the library of Alexandria lost untolds amount of work and knowledge after the library was burned. Sumerian texts survived 4000+ years due to being written on clay tablets. Is there any efforts to transcribe some of our knowledge into more permanent media?
I mostly hoard books. Its amazing how many I can fit onto just a small 10 tb hard drive. But if that gets wet, dropped, or someone holds a magnet to it, I've lost millions of hours of research and knowledge from 10's of thousands of authors.
Even looking at the history of the dead sea scrolls, Whatever idiots were in charge of transporting those did an awful job. They were taken from the dry desert to a place where they could get humid and rot.
Are there any organizations out there that have transcribed some of our more important items into stone or clay? I've been looking more into Sumerian history and the reason we have many of these items still is because they were carved into clay - and clay can last a pretty long time.
Its kind of short sighted of humans to think we're immune to a giant asteroid or nuclear winter. In that situation, What would humans 5,000 years in the future after a major catastrophe be able to look back on and decipher about the 2000s?
Edit: also I can't believe I forgot about plastic. That supposedly forever product that never breaks down. Does anyone know if it is really as permanent as something like ceramic? I've seen it become quite brittle and disintegrate when left out in the sun for even 6-12 months