People in the 70’s were, I think, more concerned with what it would be like after the end of world (despite the semantic issues involved in end) than we are today. Today we seem more concerned about how the world will end and less about what happens next (granted the idea that we even get a “next”).

We’ve talked about the seed banks here before, but now you can have your seeds and… read about them, too.

I could swear that I remember any number of 70’s science fiction stories or films involving information archives, time capsules, places where things were stored for future generations to find and use after the collapse of civilization. I can’t put my finger on any of them (“A Canticle for Liebowitz” comes to mind but that’s not really what it’s about), but the impression is still strong.

Part of the problem today with this kind of project is the level of technology required to read the materials. Books are fine, if they survive, but for the biggest oomph you’d want to store the library of congress on computer media and the problem with that of course is the computer part. It takes a lot to make a computer, and it takes a lot to make a computer work. Sure, you could throw a few PCs and Macintoshes in to help out, but do you expect your PC to work in five years? Ten years? Not being connected to the Internet will help, and not having any more Windows upgrades installed will definitely help, but the odds are that after the fall of humanity, the computer’s not going to be much use for anything other than soiling whatever’s left of the environment.

So, books it is. And seeds. Because bio-diversity is important, food crops are obviously vital, and too many apocalypses involve destroying an awful lot of crops.

So check out The Book & Seed Vault if you’re interested in putting a bit by for after the end of the world.

Via: Open the Future: Long-Term Deposits
[tags]vault, seeds, books, information, preservation, storage, end of the world, apocalypse[/tags]

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