[Mizza]

I've been thinking a lot about this too. I was thinking people should start collecting written histories of their recollections of the internet, so future historians can understand the dynamics which shaped their future-present, like the "Great Digg Migration" and the "Tumblr Exodus", etc.

[DougEiffel]

Even with written recollections and archives, it's going to be so difficult to follow. Things just change so quickly. The irony and memes that require you to understand 5 other memes are just going to be so difficult to capture in any meaningful way.

I also think people might not care that much. They'll have an even more sophisticated and oversaturated version of the internet and I'm thinking they'll only really care about a few big highlights from our time. Whatever is contained in the Wikipedia page for Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook will probably be enough for most future people.

[marttt]

Reminds me of this excerpt in Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy":

"Ford!"

Ford looked up from where he was sitting in a corner humming to himself. He always found the actual travelling-through-space part of space travel rather trying.

"Yeah?" he said.

"If you're a researcher on this book thing and you were on Earth, you must have been gathering material on it."

"Well, I was able to extend the original entry a bit, yes."

"Let me see what it says in this edition then, I've got to see it."

"Yeah OK." He passed it over again.

Arthur grabbed hold of it and tried to stop his hands shaking. He pressed the entry for the relevant page. The screen flashed and swirled and resolved into a page of print. Arthur stared at it.

"It doesn't have an entry!" he burst out.

Ford looked over his shoulder.

"Yes it does," he said, "down there, see at the bottom of the screen, just under Eccentrica Gallumbits, the triple-breasted whore of Eroticon 6."

Arthur followed Ford's finger, and saw where it was pointing. For a moment it still didn't register, then his mind nearly blew up.

"What? Harmless? Is that all it's got to say? Harmless! One word!"

Ford shrugged.

"Well, there are a hundred billion stars in the Galaxy, and only a limited amount of space in the book's microprocessors," he said, "and no one knew much about the Earth of course."

"Well for God's sake I hope you managed to rectify that a bit."

"Oh yes, well I managed to transmit a new entry off to the editor. He had to trim it a bit, but it's still an improvement."

"And what does it say now?" asked Arthur.

"Mostly harmless," admitted Ford with a slightly embarrassed cough.

(Quoted from https://web.eecs.utk.edu/~hqi/deeplearning/project/hhgttg.tx...)

[DougEiffel]

So glad you shared this. Been too long since I read this book. Love this part and it's very relevant.

[ptek]

Ahh I remember the memes from 2013 which were the MS Paint drawn ones, "Forever alone", "Ma Gusta" ahh the rage comics.

Ever since I installed and started using EFF Privacy Badger I know a judge a website on the amount of trackers EFF Privacy Badger shows.

I get frustrated when I see my bank (Westpac) have trackers on their site :(.

This site is good as no trackers are showing up (for now).

[apantel]

This is true for most people regarding any part of history. But for any part of history there are those who take a deep interest and want to piece together the minutia of what happened. The limit case of that is an actual trained historian who specializes in that part of history.

[jackstraw14]

It's going to take a while to explain for the obvious reasons but all the extra stuff makes in incomprehensible imo.

[Mizza]

> will probably be enough for most future people.

There is a future historian reading this comment and screaming at you.

[Muromec]

Up to what resolution does this need to be recorded in history? Out of all those events, what would be if significance once the century gate opens in 2100? I suspect that general vibe-shift and dynamics are important, but all the constituent dramas may be just that — small personal dramas.

[eropple]

> but all the constituent dramas may be just that — small personal dramas

We still wish we knew more about Nanni and Ea-nāṣir.