https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wgqn_CPhiwVqp39gaf2m7HnemNTbtslLtWKBCzbeCxI/edit?usp=drivesdk



ARCH Information Deep Archive Project

Deep Archival of Human Knowledge

4th December, 02016

OVERVIEW

Information archive system design and implementation, beginning with knowledge to rebuild a civilization from sticks and stones to our information age. Incorporate a modernized rosetta stone, translational matrix for human and machine languages.

GOALS

Preservation of human knowledge

Gathering and storing critical information to assist ourselves or our descendants in the event of catastrophe.

Create a simplified means or method of constructing modules of this archive and methods for interment, a geographically distributed effort of implementation, and to spread awareness

SPECIFICATIONS

Common texts in multiple languages on, the sciences.. mathematics, ethics, language, biology, astronomy, ecology, electricity, education, engineering, etcetera

global patent archive (public domain), bill of human and animal rights, blueprints, textbooks, modern works released by publisher for deep archival

Record of known history from multiple sources

As room allows for multimedia, to be expanded as storage capabilities increase

Electronic distribution model, bittorrent, mesh network, satellite broadcasting, radio, hard drive clonings

MILESTONES

Phase I Using existing technology off the shelf, collate an adequate number of documents relevant and clone, the more the merrier.

Discuss format/medium benefits and disadvantages, degradation resistances. All existing technologies or methods for data storage must be considered, and effort into theoretical options. Stone, crystal, plastic, metal, metamaterial, gene encoding, magnetism, photonics etc

Determine hardware requirements, design and implement redundancy mechanisms and format methods, hardcopy interface and construction manuals for all data access devices

Phase II

data integrity verification periodically

Assess possibilities of sending core archives into orbit around earth, archives storage on alternate planet or moon, if off world, consider a read only broadcast system on various bandwidths

SCRATCH PAGE

Items required for media safety

Motion stabilization-

static free foam, shock resistant case #add specs

Electromagnetic stabilization-

Faraday cage, other shielding or protective fields

Environmental stabilization-

by item vacuum sealed static free or mylar bag, air and waterproof

storage area should be earthquake resistant minimum, storage cases should be stored in places where a severe unexpected earthquake would inflict damage above resistance levels of the storage device.

Medium, laser etching on metal, stone, crystal

Ideas on what constitutes the basic principles and requirements for a civilization to peacefully prosper could be included

New Rosetta Stone document and inscription, hyperlanguage tablet, encoded or inscribed object, if software is operational a coded translator may be possible and should be included for this chance.

Rosettaproject.org has a great option but should consider alternative methods that can be done by a coalition of interested individuals without access to major institution or factory, but if the project gains any backs there may be government/corporate level entities willing to undertake the level of effort this truly requires.

7+ millenia of languages and undeciphered languages should be included as well, all human languages including machine, programming languages, APIs, all documentation, code examples, common texts in major languages and all available

Requires cooperative curation efforts, browse current public domain and aggregate applicable materials, shared cloud directory access to be categorized and consolidated, and mirrored

a master file storage area, directory structures to accept further additions, file formats to accept multiple architectures, auditable access log to be shared, explore file integrity checking options md5 pgp etc, more rigourous file signing may have negative impacts on accessability at first, tiered release xxx.xxx “Core” modules, “Languages” addons etc, a linux’ synaptic update system for example, many options to organize information using existing techniques

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oup4zlmlIvFIAMibgK6p_k-GWdhYOjJbG6PqPBQyBxA/edit?usp=drivesdk

Stand with millions of humans under the Arch Project: We welcome you!

The Arch Project, short for “Deep Archival of Human Knowledge,” is a permanent archival effort to congregate knowledge required to build and sustain human civilizations. We will record transethnic research and discoveries from all ages in a multidisciplinary manner, reaching back to 10,000 years of the earliest human recordings. Anything which would help a civilization peacefully prosper would be included under the Arch.

The goal of this archive essay is create a template or format for people to create and add to an offline archive that is it more impervious to the elements and something to fill it with regarding this regarding the storage medium.

Heading up a list of sorts of parts and functionality that can be off-the-shelf applied anywhere in the world, and a common informational resource to fill it with.

For example; what equipment can I access or scavenge to create and copy, and what information can I store on this medium of choice, and a list of what parts one needs with economical feasibility of accessing said parts.

We would love any help to make this project the most comprehensive archive project for rebuilding permanent civilization. This is an open call to makers, hobbyists, archivists, librarians, homesteaders, transitioners, file hoarders, open patent and creative commons advocates, any founts of data, developers: If you can’t donate funds, donate your valuable files or ideas!

Included in a module of our project, is a modern equivalent of the famed Rosetta Stone- the Rosetta Disk (https://rosettaproject.org/). The original was an ancient Egyptian rock engraved with a decree in three languages and equivalent texts, which allowed humans to finally understand hieroglyphs 2000 years in the future. The Rosetta Disk project includes 13,000 pages in 1,500 languages! The goals for our archive are greater than the Rosetta Stone or Disk alone: our ultimate goal is to record data in an actual stone, or other suitable physical material, for human use in the near to far futures, for translation of any language they may encounter. To have this translation key for the purpose of rebuilding civilization, or archaeological purposes in the future, with every known language. Modern computational languages will also be included in some form. Like a Noah’s Ark of information, our Archive must be made of the most durable materials and stored in a way to withstand extreme environmental disasters, or exoplanetary conditions. As technology and material sciences advance they will be analyzed and implemented to accomplish this goal. Currently, technology exists “off the shelf” that is compatible with deep archival purposes, for example, M-Disc, a proprietary but low cost, readymade optical disc read by common DVD or Blu-Ray players, a ubiquitous data transfer device available around the world.

How does the Arch shelter YOU?

Empowerment of the Individual

Keeping modules of the archive yourself increases the chances of rebuilding your own future and the education of your family or community. You are investing in all present day humans and future beings. Access to the archive is free, you will have the ability to download our growing database!

Knowledge is power

While cloud data memories are trends of the present, clouds dissipate and are turbulent, and impermanent, both as physical phenomena and as archival sources. Should the Internet fail, our electric networks fail, or government and its education systems fail; the data you need to learn how to build critical devices to maintain a semblance of modern lifestyles. Such as an electrical generator, or constructing a forge, or how to irrigate a field, or teach your local students algebra. This information may be be hundreds or thousands of miles away. This helps only the few that have access, and enables a gatekeeper model of information when you personally need it most. We believe greater access to permanent hard copies of critical data is crucial to survive and thrive.

Magnitude of Information.

It is impossible for human individuals or groups to memorize all information required for civilized sustainability, let alone to reconstruct an industrial or technological age.

There are serious drawbacks to highly technical storage mediums, namely the requirement of electricity, and knowledge of how they operate on a basic level. Optical disc readers are produced with highly specialized equipment and the discs are fragile in their lightweight material, delicate reflective and data layers, preferring stable environmental conditions.

The large benefits, namely, extremely high storage capacity, the existing number of devices globally is in the hundreds of millions, and for modern humans there is a certain familiarity with operation. However, for reasons you may imagine, we seek a more durable archive as an end goal. Optical storage mediums are still the current preferred choice for initial archive seeding, however, if you don’t have electricity to run a sensitive reader, a computer with an operating system to copy the data you require, and knowledge of what is occluded inside the medium. We have a few ideas for addressing these issues listed below in our Who, Where, When, What section.

Geographical distribution of the Archive is necessary because although we live in a relatively free and stable era, disaster of multitudinous natures can occur at any time. As we see throughout the daily world news; wars, nuclear explosions, tsunamis, wildfires, volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, flooding, solar flares, and asteroid impacts. Governmental regime changes, economic failure, ideological crises, or any sociopolitical inspired destruction; book burnings, crusades, inquisitions which nobody can expect. These things are not theoretical, they fill recorded history, passed down in myth, and they are happening now, with increasing frequency and magnitude.

The ideal distribution of this dataset is worldwide and beyond, including a satellite copy in the exosphere, and an interplanetary module set on the moon and Mars. Certainly the challenges of launching an archive into space involve massive engineering, networking, cooperation and funding, but it is becoming more accessible by the day. Somewhat less expensive however is an electronic distribution model, or a courier service for planetary surface hard-copy delivery. It is possible the postal service in a country will become unreliable, to nonexistent, following a major disaster. In this way we cannot presently guarantee courier delivery service of a physical Arch to many countries strife with war, corruption, or strict authoritarian regimes. It is in the best interest of the archive’s caretaker that their Arches are received and stored, prior to any major disaster in either our country or their own.

As we conceptualize the final product, there are several steps along the timeline preceding the Arch full version 1 module:

Gathering data including all known human languages, applicable sciences, all fields of engineering, environmental and ethical research, patent archives, significant works of fiction with cross-cultural semantic permeation, musical scores and visual arts.

Arrangement of data with clear file names and folder organization as an .iso for disc burning with presently abundant optical writing materials (CD, DVD, M-Disc).

Engineering of a stone, metal, plastic, or crystal material where all above collected data can be burned and read similar to a record player and a 45 longplay record. Other options include OCR scan readable format on metal or stone. Durability in the long term, for a thousand years, is the primary factor. We intend to use 3D printing and milling technology to manufacture these discs, or plates after materials are considered and a selection finalized.

Why do we need Patreons?

The labour behind the Arch Project is that of a librarian cleaning the rooms of humans for 10,000 years. There are significant hours researching quality sources, collating streamlined data, arranging the knowledge in a user-friendly manner with ease to search, and additional updates. The Arch Project requires continual maintenance due to the large scope of human data to sift and recent discoveries warranting inclusion. As we shift phases from the first stage of data collection to second stage of inscription in the project, it will require a team of volunteers well beyond our present two projectors.

Beyond the data aggregation, the Arch Project requires funding for its crucial goal: A permanent hard copy of this data which can withstand catastrophic event, including nuclear fallout or natural disaster outlined above.

The materials we are considering for hard copies are, initially optical disc format with environmental controls, magnetic hard disc, tape drive, or solid state drive with electrical shielding. 3D printed or engraved metal, stone, or crystal, modeled after the ancient stone work of our ancestors. With the technological augmentation at our disposal, we have the wind at our back with the advent of affordable automated milling machines, 3D printing and laser etching. Engraving functions in 2 dimensions, on corrosion resistant metal alloys can be stacked and sealed inside more damage resistant and stackable containers. 3D printing uses plastic filaments on the XYZ dimensions, suitable for creating models and molds for inexpensive research and development, using information from inside the archive. With a tool attachment, many 3D printers, or milling machines can function as an engraver. Durable casings for computational hardware, data cords, and disc readers to keep the archive accessible, at least until replacement parts can be scavenged or rebuilt would also be necessary for the future user to access this data.

Who, What, Where, When

(first hardware and first info to be printed in metal or stone on electrical generation, navigation and communication methods to other caches)

What: Core files and updates

The Arch will surround a Core file group of the most necessary knowledge, prioritized, to survive and rebuild. The topics included range from agriculture and animal husbandry, astronomy, chemistry, engineering and construction, mathematics, physics, religion and spirituality plus common texts of global history.

Updates to the Arch are always developing, with scheduled timed releases. Languages and translations will be released as updates. The updates will be available to download as a separate file to merge into your database, which will be in GIT format, as well as added to the master copy. GIT format lets the archive maintain cohesion and integrity while offering ease of revision as an add-only database system.

Where: Technology to disseminate files

Several avenues are available to release the Arch to the network at any stage in the project, with ease of implementation so that the Arch can be released in as many methods possible.

Sneakernet, or physically transporting file storage units from person to person: via thumb drives, e-ink devices and display, low power use computing units like Raspberry Pi.

Bittorrent, which is reliable as long as enough seeds exist to distribute to others, providing there is still an Internet network seeds and others can access..

Cloud servers, which are low in cost and resources, but high in latency and inflexibility.

Personal servers, which offer increased control but reliance on server owner, with risk of corruption.

Wireless/wired technology to distribute to multiple devices

Blockchain, factom FCT, maidsafecoin, blockchain distributed computing, distributed networking and storage

GIT repository format

When:

Currently creating archives in m-disc mediums, other high density optical storage, and electrically shielded magnetic and solid state drives. Stone and metal work to begin immediately upon procurement of production devices, within one year.

Sister Libraries

Fortunately for humanity, several concurrent long term data projects exist, should any single archive fail or become corrupted. The Internet Archive is 21 years old, a non-profit company with over 200 employees, including both repositories of books and Internet webpage content as well as other public domain media in arts and music. Sacred-texts.com includes many known spiritual writings and translations as well as older primary documents by explorers and multilingual cultural ambassadors recording their traditions. Survivor Library stores information from 1800s available to purchase on Blu-Ray, M-Disc, or Flash Drive. A now defunct project, CD3WD, developed pdf ebooks on CD for third world development. This project draws attention to a flaw in archives with a single librarian: death. Seeders for the CD torrents disappeared after less than a year and there is nobody willing or able to re-upload the contents of his CDs, which included original content from nongovernmental organizations and DIY projects.

Memory of Man is a project with an end goal much like ours, seeking durable engraved tablets of information. The MOM Disc will be stored in an Austrian salt mine for a future generation to receive based on similar ceramic tablets with the approximate coordinates engraved graphically. It is not a goal of MOM to distribute this information or manufacture tablets for the present generation. There are already over 500 tablets in the salt mine! Wonderful news for our future footprint, but what of the people today attempting to survive tomorrow?

Gold won’t feed your body or soul

Precious metals are only as valuable as they have function. Gold is a wonderful conductor with malleability, but if no one in the newfound community has experience with electricity or chemistry, it is no more valuable than tin without accessing a source of knowledge. You may not be able to upsell it without knowing its intrinsically valuable properties, unable to find a barterer. A stomach will still growl and the body will require heat even with a pocketful of gold.

Collecting material objects has never been humanity’s talent as much as it’s proven to be an enjoyable pastime. Our true talent is creativity and the pursuit of knowledge. It’s clearly a difficult desire to manage and balance the two as we see in present day civilization, with its planned obsolescence to make sales goals, a complete waste management failure, and a cultural expectations to conform and “just buy a new one, they’re cheaper than ever.”

Where humans actually excel throughout ages is in developing meaning through collection of information and adapting to new information. A hoard of metals, firearms, or tools, will only satisfy part of a family’s needs and two of those are consumptive collections. Whereas an archive of information would allow an individual and groups to build all three of those, along with potable water, shelter, food, energy and community needs. There are fewer reasons to have a hoard of firearms when a percentage of the population has an archive, a reader, and printer stored. Access to information after a disaster reduces conflict, suspicion, corrupt leadership, and supports community, since most projects cannot be accomplished alone. Humans are ultimately on the same team: either the death or survival of one human teaches the rest of us as a tribe.

Patreon Rewards Tier

The donations section will have more options available as our hardware and R&D continues, hoping to make available any requested document available inscribed into stone or metal for certain tiers, however the hardware required has not been able to be purchased yet. However we are still in the alpha build stage with only a few hundred gigabytes of not fully curated and sorted materials, there is still quite a bit of useful information!

No donation:

We are grateful for your interest the Arch! All data we have available is completely open in the spirit of the sharing of knowledge. Access to several community forums, IRC channel, and invitations to discussion panels on electronic conferencing mediums

Mid:
Document or image of your choice inscribed on stone, and your name if desired and message included in the archive as permanent record!

High:
We will send a storage medium of your choice optical, magnetic or solid state drive of the Arch as it stands at your time of choosing, currently in alpha build, and of course the lower tier options as well.

In reply to @BobaMa:matrix.org
brianpoe: Hey and welcome, I just happened to notice your messages. Maybe @dawnspire:matrix.org would like to talk with you? If you both are still checking this.