Sentimental Packratism and Computer Suckage

Post by **Yasmeen** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 12:56 am

So I returned from an awesome weekend of climbing at the Obed to find that my dad reinstalled Windows on my computer in an effort to "fix" it... since he didn't have my password he had to basically brute force the whole thing and I ended up losing every since piece of data I hadn't backed up previously. It's not really a HUGE deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's kind of a bummer, especially with all the emails and school work I'd archived over the past 2 years that hadn't been backed up recently, but it made me realize how much I'd been relying on my computer as a place to store memories. Not a good thing to do. I think I'm going to go back to pen and paper...

Post by **dipsi** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 1:54 am

Being the packrat that I am, I hate that for you. If you are serious about pen and paper, just print out the important stuff and file it somewhere. My son says that nothing is ever truly lost in a computer. Okay, knowing that I know nothing about computers, and probably misunderstood him, I'll just sit back and wait for the slams!

Post by **tsparks** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 3:55 am

Well, this isn't a slam, but yeah there is a point where stuff is lost. In most cases where you just "delete" a file it can be retreived, but in the case of reinstalling windows, in all likelihood (sp?) everything would be gone. Usually when you install an OS you format the hard drive so that you can get a "clean" start. Again, even with formatting things aren't immediately lost, but lets just say that it isn't worth the effort to try to get anything back at that point.

Now a similar note, I have heard (and tend to believe), that once something passes through the internet, whether it be posted on a board like this, a web page, or even sent in an email, that it can never really be deleted.

Post by **tomdarch** » Thu Mar 13, 2003 6:49 am

For all the wonders of pen and paper, don't forget the Library of Alexandria. When it burned the western hemisphere lost something like a century of knowledege. And this is even in a world where all texts were essentially "Napsterized", that is, copied repeatedly for re-distribution. There should have been other copies of almost everything in the Library, but even today there are writings of philosophers like Aristotle that are referenced in other texts, but are lost to us today.

It seems that wether stuff is in our heads, on paper or in the computer some information is going to be lost, forgotten or just misunderstood in the future. But, hey, at the same time supposedly old stuff is fabricated and misunderstood into newer meaning all the time. Maybe it all balances out.

Post by **dipsi** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 10:07 am

True, but if one is open to Chompsky's and other theories of shared memories, perhaps someday all things past may be mined from cortical caverns we aren't even aware of!

Post by **kato** » Fri Mar 14, 2003 1:59 pm

Not sure I'm open to anything Chomsky says. Glorified conspiracy theorist.

Post by **dipsi** » Sat Mar 15, 2003 12:47 pm

Agree. I don't concern myself with his political views, just his linguistic theories. Food for thought about some of the mysteries of language development for this speech path.

Post by **dipsi** » Sat Mar 15, 2003 12:49 pm

Oh my! I'm a poser!

Post by **kato** » Mon Mar 17, 2003 4:59 pm

Here's where the neat linguistics stuff is going on...
http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/loebner-prize.html