'Digital Dark Age' May Doom Some Data
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 09:35
in Mathematics & Economics
What stands a better chance of surviving 50 years from now, a framed photograph or a 10-megabyte digital photo file on your computer's hard drive? The framed photograph will inevitably fade and yellow over time, but the digital photo file may be unreadable to future computers -- an unintended consequence of our rapidly digitizing world that may ultimately lead to a "digital dark age."