DescentBB

That's a lot like the story of Stanislav Petrov. There's something to be said about you when one can state without much exaggeration that you probably saved the world.

There's quite a lot of science fiction books that have events in their history like "The Great Forgetting"
It may just b a ploy so the author doesn't have to explain a whole bunch of past events, but it is probably going to happen.

Alister Reynolds (Century Rain) has it as the result of a virus that attacks and corrupts all data on all computers connected the Internet. He also mentioned that all information had been converted to electronic medium because of it's size before hand. Even the stuff that wasn't corrupted was cast into doubt. Who could tell what was real?

Oh, and I think that all opinions, even those we consider our own, are a mixture of others. We pick and chose our opinion on a subject based on other peoples, from reading, listening to others etc. So what is "My Opinion"? Is it even worthy of being called "Mine"
Maybe it's only the combination of other opinions that makes us have our own opinion?!

sdfgeoff wrote:There's quite a lot of science fiction books that have events in their history like "The Great Forgetting"
It may just b a ploy so the author doesn't have to explain a whole bunch of past events, but it is probably going to happen.

How do you figure?

About why I think it is going to happen?

Well, we are following the lines that someone said before. We are putting all information onto computers.
Think of Wikipedia, for research, it is fast replacing the library.
Similar things are happening, with scanned documents being available online.
So it comes down to an if.
If a virus does infect every comuter, then we will lose most of our information.

So, you're essentially basing this idea off of a work of fiction you once read? What sort of information do you have that suggests this is likely?

I feel like taking a quick look around the Library of Congress, or any comparable national library...or hell, any university library...would be enough to dispel that notion.

(also lol @ Wikipedia as an academic source)

Like earlier, I said that opinions are based on all the information we get, be it in the newspapers, internet or anywhere. I just got that bit of information from a fictional work, and tried to apply it to a real environment.

Ferno wrote:

woodchip wrote:So just to understand your point, when you made comments on Bush, the Iraq war and even your defense of the 9/11 conspiracy theorists, did you actually go to the White house and sit in on some of Bushes Cabinet meetings?
Did you go and visit Iraq first hand? Did you think up the 9/11 conspiracy all by yourself? Or did you read opinion pieces on MSNBC or get your facts from NPR?

this is ridiculous and only geared to provoke a reaction. I'm not falling for it.

Cop-out, but then you are good at that.

no it's not a copout. you posted a rather ridiculous statement that's only geared to cast doubt on me. It's also setting the bar so high that if I didn't reach it, you could capitalize on it and call me whatever name you decided. Therefore it's not worth it to answer.

but hey.. if you think that makes you superior, then unfortunately you're on your own island with that.

Next time, try and post something reasonable and then I'll engage you. Until then, i'll busy myself with something more productive.

What's wrong with wikipedia as an academic source?
I see it used everywhere, and use it enough myself.
I reckon 98% of people who change the pages do so in a manner to correct or add to an existing page, there are very few who will deliberately make something incorrect, and even then it will probably be found and changed within a day or two.
So one can assume it is mostly accurate, so why not use it?

Go use it in a professional paper, see what happens.

Ferno wrote:no it's not a copout. you posted a rather ridiculous statement that's only geared to cast doubt on me. It's also setting the bar so high that if I didn't reach it, you could capitalize on it and call me whatever name you decided. Therefore it's not worth it to answer.

but hey.. if you think that makes you superior, then unfortunately you're on your own island with that.

Next time, try and post something reasonable and then I'll engage you. Until then, i'll busy myself with something more productive.

Ferny, it was a question as to how you formed your opinions, what sources did you use, what experiences you had. Sorry if you think the question is ridiculous.

Giant libraries exist, but you must have noticed the trend to digitizing literature. I'm not talking overnight, but sooner or later, books might not be around any more.

We may someday come to a point where newly-published physical books are rare, but they'll never go away. Some people will always prefer to physically turn pages.

Plus, the existing books, once digitized, aren't being destroyed.

You never know what will happen. I'm not saying that we WILL lose all hard-coppies of books, but it's a possibility.

I'm not saying that tomorrow the Earth and the rest of the solar system WILL be swallowed by an errant black hole, but it's a possibility.

...Because there are just sooooo many etched-tablets and scrolls laying around!!

There's an interesting discussion on this subject here:
http://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore/?p=2298

I won't give up my physical copy of something for a digital only copy till this little problem called "Digital Rights Management" goes away. Like hell am I going to pay for a book/movie that the publisher can if they choose then "revoke" and won't let me read/watch anymore.

Ownership of physical media comes with some benefits like "You can have my book/movie when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.". Until digital media is that 'concrete', I'm not going to trust it.

SilverFJ wrote:...Because there are just sooooo many etched-tablets and scrolls laying around!!

It's awful tough to mass-produce etched tablets and scrolls without a printing press or a billion dollar publishing industry.

And I agree with you, Krom. I don't even fully trust media platforms like Steam, on the off chance that someday it might go down and I'll be unable to access my purchases.

woodchip wrote:Ferny, it was a question as to how you formed your opinions, what sources did you use, what experiences you had. Sorry if you think the question is ridiculous.

call it what you want

Hypothetically, if global warming causes the oceans to rise, it's gunna take out coastal cities. Taking out most of the paper-made books. In the world.

...yeah, you really don't know what you're talking about here.

Top Gun wrote:...yeah, you really don't know what you're talking about here.

Some people will latch onto anything for the sake of being afraid.

I don't even believe in man-made climate change. Clearly you two don't know what hypothetical means.

Silver, I think they're taking exception to the implication in your post that most of the world's books are in coastal cities.

Besides which, if a city was in danger of slowly being overrun by ocean, I rather doubt people and organizations would voluntarily leave their book collections behind.

What I'm taking exception to is the notion that global warming will trigger some massive surge of water that will immediately inundate coastal cities and all of their libraries. That worked well in "The Day After Tomorrow," but it's so far from reality as to be laughable.

As for beliefs...well, in the end, it doesn't really matter what we believe, does it?

all I can contribute to this climate speculation is this:

I own several hundred acres of land about 12 miles inland from the Atlantic. If this sea rise occurs, I will then own oceanfront land and y'all are invited to a beach party at 'slick's place. The beach house will be a total loss, but I have insurance on that one.......

I'll bring the chili!

You gotta understand, all these ideas of mine are wild hypotheticals, like I was judging how many books are left intact in the tsunami zones in Japan.

SilverFJ wrote:I'll bring the chili!

You gotta understand, all these ideas of mine are wild hypotheticals, like I was judging how many books are left intact in the tsunami zones in Japan.

I understand, but still should probably start stocking up liquor for the potential beach party! Only prudent, dontcha know!