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by lyjackal 1620 days ago
I think you may also be overestimating the quantity of current data that will actually survive. Computer records are pretty ephemeral unless actively maintained and archived.
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We could be living in a modern dark ages. Just imagine the treasure trove that will be lost when YouTube or the internet archive blinks offline for the last time. That's part of why I think patents are valuable. There will be multiple copies of a discrete set of systematized records of 'invention' or at the least just writings of people from this age. I estimate a good chance that the US patent database outlives the internet, for example.