jevon’s paradox

Humans and all animals, really, use up whatever resources are available, while they’re available. Certainly it’s possible to overcome that tendency as individuals, but have we ever in human history seen a culture voluntarily refrain from using a valuable resource? I don’t know if that’s a thing that can be changed. Not just with technology, but with resources in general.

culturally adapted norm

Culture shift is the only way to make lasting change. So I guess that’s like education system above all, followed by religious beliefs and media portrayal. But at the moment none of them seem to be even slightly interested in “less” of any kind. Quite the reverse; they still push growth. So I see no hope for it, as things currently stand.

datahoarder

I feel what I know as civilization stands at the brink of a new dark ages, teetering on the brink of information oblivion. How fragile the net of free information we have enjoyed! How little thought we have taken to future generations, and to what knowledge will be available. To this end you could say I have dedicated my life so far: to the collection, sorting, organization, and preeservation of the knowledge that I think is critical to building on the best of humanity’s past, and learning from the worst of humanity’s mistakes.

In the end, the digital formats are a viable method distribution, but not preservation, of knowledge. And here’s where this diatribe meets the topic at hand. Reliance on any method for knowledge preservation that requires a constant energy input will eventually result in the loss of that knowledge.

So I’ve taken to approaches that parallel the suggestions from your links. Books are pretty damn good, in terms of cost/availability vs longevity. But some things deserve to be preserved for the long haul. There are people working on this, like etching ceramic microdiscs for the arctic world archive or selecting the world’s best books by the long now.

We can’t expect the digital freedom of information that we have now to outlive its energy budget.