[lug] Interesting talk by Vint Cerf

[Davide Del Vento]

> Davide, you can watch the interview here:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBuvFCJSJ-Q
> I think what he says is interesting so that makes two of us. :)

Thanks for the link to the video. Now that I watched it, I think DRM
will stand on this idea's way.

> Why does Vint think he's any better about predicting the future now than in
> 1973? I don't think we'll need digital vellum, because all data will be
> available everywhere. Consider this list:
> http://archive.vg/blog/12-feature/114-a-big-list-of-browser-based-emulators-and-ports-of-classic-games
> Who would have thought there would be an emulator written in Javascript for
> the Apple ][ or this:

I think that misses the point. In other quotes from "my" link, he
shows his concern about the data being considered useless and deleted
(or maybe simply "not preserved"). We've learned a lot about the
Romans and especially about the Middle Age people, by having
archeologist rummage in their landfills. The "digital landfill" is
simply not rummageable, so to speak.
Even without going to the hundreds or thousands of years that he
mentions, when I was in middle school, I wrote some programs for the
C=64 that I'd love to look at now. Unfortunately they are lost. All my
paper essays, notes and the likes are instead in a shoe box in my
parents' garage, and I can read them, if I wanted to. I think that's
the point. And no, I don't think his "digital vellum" solution is a
particularly good either. What would be a good solution? I don't know,
but I recognize when I'll see it, as the judge said. Easy to use and
hard to destroy as paper, maybe.

> I don't feel internet dependent. Rather, I feel internet-empowered.

Sure, internet and computers are great tools that enable things not
even thinkable before. I use them and I am happy they exist (even
though they can be extremely frustrating at times). My point was
simply that I don't want to use them for things that I can do equally
well (or even better) in other ways. Of course others will have
different opinions...

Cheers,
Davide