do you think people will be able to read this post in 500 years?

[Markbnj]

Well, if you can find any of my posts from Compuserve in the late 80's then I'll say yes. In reality... no. Assuming civilization continues intact then the media will probably be able to be read by specialists, but it's unlikely that anyone will archive the contents of AT forums.

 

[KeithTalent]

Of course because Anand will be Master of the Universe!

KT

 

[clamum]

OP is pretty scurred
That his words may not be found
After 500 years incurred
His descendants will write pomes profound

 

[airdata]

The human race lasting another 500 years could be a miracle in itself.

 

[Saint Nick]

In 500 years, the contents of the internet will just be a book on a shelf. Think of all the other books.

 

[Ausm]

I really think we need to load excerpts of this forum on a space friendly disk and shoot it into space on a Satellite.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

thats way past the singularity dude.

 

[T9D]

I really think we need to load excerpts of this forum on a space friendly disk and shoot it into space on a Satellite.

Aliens will think Earth inhabitants worship Cats

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

In 500 years people probably won't even know how to read. :hmm:

That's probably true. I expect the general ability to think and reason will as well. We do so now because it was a survival skill in the past, but even today those who have the most children are the least able to afford it. Society makes up the difference. The result is more general ignorance because the need to think is less important, the ability to accomplish is irrelevant to breeding, which in the Darwinian sense "WIN!"

One day I expect we will have AI's or at least highly advanced expert systems and the need to understand will be completely obsolete. Certainly there will be those who wish to learn, but the means of human interaction to make it so will deteriorate and no machine will replace human interaction, the University of Phoenix notwithstanding.

All needs will be provided for. There will be no motivation, the population can be controlled by software. No war, no ambition, no need to strive. All evolutionary imperatives erased. Nature does not keep what it does not need and our minds will degenerate. We'll be free from want, from adversity, from wonder, from principles. We'll become the Eloy, but without a hope of redemption or resurrection. Indeed the concepts will be beyond our understanding. The question is whether at some point the machines become the Morelocks. At that point I don't see a reason they shouldn't just discard us.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

That's probably true. I expect the general ability to think and reason will as well. We do so now because it was a survival skill in the past, but even today those who have the most children are the least able to afford it. Society makes up the difference. The result is more general ignorance because the need to think is less important, the ability to accomplish is irrelevant to breeding, which in the Darwinian sense "WIN!"

One day I expect we will have AI's or at least highly advanced expert systems and the need to understand will be completely obsolete. Certainly there will be those who wish to learn, but the means of human interaction to make it so will deteriorate and no machine will replace human interaction, the University of Phoenix notwithstanding.

All needs will be provided for. There will be no motivation, the population can be controlled by software. No war, no ambition, no need to strive. All evolutionary imperatives erased. Nature does not keep what it does not need and our minds will degenerate. We'll be free from want, from adversity, from wonder, from principles. We'll become the Eloy, but without a hope of redemption or resurrection. Indeed the concepts will be beyond our understanding. The question is whether at some point the machines become the Morelocks. At that point I don't see a reason they shouldn't just discard us.

Though I understand where you are coming from and the base concepts shifting to a more symbolic language through the use of technology, I doubt you are correct in your bleak sentiment, as the base purpose of life is to seek, so learning will always be held in high regard if not the only regard by then.

As to whether or not someone will be able to read this in 500 hundred years... no one could read Egyptian for about 2000 years, but their entire culture was wiped out. Never the less we still figured it out with the scantest evidence. Even if our civilization is wiped out, we will leave behind an astounding amount of written records, including the study of how all languages work, logic, math, and science. It would be hard to imagine people/machines of the future that wouldn't be able to translate.

 

[Mxylplyx]

So you say that all the cool stuff will happen in the future after you are dead?

I'm 32, but it someone would have handed me an iPhone5 25 years ago, I would have thought it was left here by space aliens. If you stand back and take a wide view of how the digital revolution and accompanying technology has changed the way we do things, the last 25 years have been every bit as transformative as past leaps forward such as the industrial revolution and the automobile.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Though I understand where you are coming from and the base concepts shifting to a more symbolic language through the use of technology, I doubt you are correct in your bleak sentiment, as the base purpose of life is to seek, so learning will always be held in high regard if not the only regard by then.

As to whether or not someone will be able to read this in 500 hundred years... no one could read Egyptian for about 2000 years, but their entire culture was wiped out. Never the less we still figured it out with the scantest evidence. Even if our civilization is wiped out, we will leave behind an astounding amount of written records, including the study of how all languages work, logic, math, and science. It would be hard to imagine people/machines of the future that wouldn't be able to translate.

This is something I predict but hope I'm wrong. We're not entirely without precedent however. During dark ages monastic societies sprung up which preserved knowledge and shunned external influence. It is possible an analogous situation may occur, no doubt seen as quaint to the dominant society. The difference is that once AI becomes real and has the ability to reproduce it may decide that we're superfluous. The only escape then would be to abandon the planet entirely and move on and hope we're left alone. This has been a theme of Sci Fi, but once fiction becomes reality then so will the actions and reactions.

It's anyone's guess.