Re:The GitHub Arctic Code Vault
by Wowfunhappy on Thursday July 16, 2020 @11:11PM
(#23866587)
Right, so it wouldn't be a 2020 computer. It would be whatever new computer they've built.
By then, why would they need code from GitHub? Given that they will won't even be able to run it in any shape or form.
Re:The GitHub Arctic Code Vault
by Wowfunhappy on Friday July 17, 2020 @10:11AM
(#23870632)
To study history and culture. And who knows, there may well be algorithms we came up with but which no one ever re-discovered.
-Thanks to flash memory cell charge leakage, I'd be surprised if the micro-SD card or USB drive kept its data for more than 3-5 years. They're designed for low cost, not longevity.
-The electrolytic caps will probably have dried out and failed by 50-100 years.
-The plasticizers used will have evaporated away by a century, leaving any plastic or rubber components brittle and crumbly.
-The lead free solders used in modern electronics are prone to the "tin whiskers" phenomenon. Not sure about the mitigations or timeframe for growth but a couple centuries is far, far longer than any reasonable design timeframe, making it a distinct possibility in my mind.
-At 1000 years, I'd wonder about diffusion effects in chips wrecking the circuits. It would be interesting to do a calculation to see how long that would take for an unpowered chip at room temperature.