The Great Digital Darkness of the 21st Century Danger of the Loss of Human Heritage and Technology

Empires fell, libraries burned down, people died, but the tangible heritage of humanity can be traced back to ancient archaeological objects left by predecessors around the world, historians and archaeological researchers have found ancient records in stones, parchments and papyrus, and humanity today does not leave many records that can be read with the naked eye without the need for technical media, technical equipment, software and technical knowledge.

Imagine a catastrophic global electromagnetic storm that has destroyed the planet's digital information infrastructure, and these terrible fantasies seem far removed from current reality and closer to dystopian science fiction films, but it seems important to present this idea as a strange thought experiment that our current records are so digitized that many wonder what documentary evidence is left for future historians who want to study our current civilization.

Writers, writers, publishers and even journalists currently use computers, websites and cloud storage services to store their information and data electronically, but many of our world cultural heritage sites are in danger of disappearing because much of the information, data and human knowledge we now produce is generated and stored electronically, without any form of physical backup.

With the continuous advancement of technology, as well as changes in computers and software, data at the beginning of the 21st century will one day become unreadable.

Technical pests

Terry Cooney, a Canadian researcher in the history of digital documentation, argues that a great deal of digital information has been lost forever, noting that due to technical considerations, it is not possible to replicate digital record heritage again unless it is properly archived from the start, making "rescue" missions difficult, complex and expensive.

Kony, who coined the term "Dark Digital Age" in the 90s of the 20th century, argued that electronic storage systems sometimes do not absorb the oldest digital heritage, and that the technologies used in each stage are different, which makes the continuity of electronic documents a difficult problem to look back at and incompatible with the companies that produced them – which may also disappear – the old technologies, in addition, the different software that plays the media can make it difficult to use.

As the financial resources available to libraries and archives continue to dwindle and the complexity of restrictive licensing and intellectual property systems increases, it is difficult for libraries, archives and documentation institutions to preserve the current electronic heritage, especially with the increasingly globalized privatization of this sector, where information and knowledge become a commercial competitive commodity.

The dark digital age

Some internet platforms offer services to archive lost web pages, even if they are deleted from the network, you can go back and view the contents of those websites, but what if the entire internet disappears or becomes inaccessible, such as in the event of emergencies and disasters? There is no guarantee that modern technology will work for thousands of years like ancient techniques such as stone carvings and clay writing tablets.

Researchers say modern humans have generated a lot of information and data, including cognitive heritage, but modern humans can only pass on a small part of their heritage to future generations compared to the legacy they inherited from their ancestors, who recorded their heritage in murals, material texts and even stone carvings, which have been preserved for thousands of years.

Louise Williams, a researcher at the Department of Museums and Heritage at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, said in a study on the "dark digital age" that governments, companies, research institutions, libraries and archives have become completely dependent on digital information, as well as individuals, and the problem of digitization in the field of research has come earlier and faster than many other fields, which poses a threat to the longevity and retrieval of scientific information.

Since science relies on knowledge acquired in the past to make further progress, it is curious that some people believe that the risk of losing scientific heritage in the digital world is low, claiming that "it is now easy to store it somewhere digitally", many believe that scientific heritage is "safe as long as it is digital", but anyone who tries to open an old file or play a video made a few years ago, no matter how well and securely it is stored, will find that things are not so simple, as researchers Said.

Converting or transferring files to newer formats is also often not available, in addition, there is the problem of technical obsolescence that corrupts many files, in short, anything digitized is fragile and easily lost due to the explosion of information and digital data on scale, in the digital age there is the problem of preservation itself, the second problem lies in the ability to understand data, deciphering ancient texts such as hieroglyphs and cuneiform script is feasible, but the information stored digitally may not be so easy to understand.

The social context of technology

The two authors, Sarah Mohr and Edward M. C. Williams, in a comparison to the Journal of the History of Thought (JHI), found that humans were the key to the survival of the information written in cuneiform on clay tablets, and in ancient Mesopotamia, biblical culture meant repeatedly copying the contents of cuneiform tablets for practice and preservation, some texts we only know one copy, but in order for that copy to survive, other copies must exist, and clay and pens do not guarantee the preservation of information written in cuneiform, But the people who practice writing are the ones who save it.

The author says that cuneiform is not just a written effect with a reed pen on a clay tablet, it is deeply rooted in the behavior of certain groups of people and their culture, and this idea certainly applies to technology as a whole, there is an interrelationship between all elements of society, and it is impossible to consider or evaluate each constituent element without a holistic context, and instead of focusing on clay and reeds, it is better to consider the entire "techno-social system" that governs the interaction between man and technology.

The two authors add that it is somewhat surprising that old technology does not touch too much on the social aspects of technology, especially at a time when acknowledging the influence of social context on modern technology, which should not only be effective, but should also match the social and economic conditions in which it is used.

Ultimately, the writing culture of ancient Mesopotamia has been about copying and reproducing for thousands of years, and the discussion of the "Digital Dark Age" may make the world think about the ways we can modify our cultural practices using technological tools.