There is this new fad in this day and age about going
“paperless.” That is, we save everything to electronic data sources; flash
drives, disk drives, and diskettes. But, even though there are so many benefits
of doing so, the possible disadvantages loom ahead.
Disadvantage
Theory One: Electromagnetic Pulses (EMPs)
Our nation has already used technologies such as EMPs
(pronounced Eee-Em-Pee, not emph). They are used to knock out electronics in a
certain radius. But, say another country developed an EMP powerful enough to wipe data clean off of a source? And
what if that same country dropped such an EMP on multiple server sites that
contain all of the data that lies within the now-internet-only-version of
Encyclopedia Britannica? Well, crap.
Disadvantage
Theory Two: Space Impact
What would happen if a giant space rock or meteor knocked
out a data center? Well, instead of getting those photos and documents back,
take a space rock. Go post a picture on Instagram, or whatever.
Disadvantage
Theory Three: Finite Resources
As far as I can remember, metal is a finite resource. It
does not grow. It does not magically appear under your pillow. It does not hide
in the closet. So, inevitably, if we are to continue to create more hard drives
and diskettes to hold all of this data, and create more and more computers to
access this data…won’t we run out of metal to create new computers at some
(very distant) time?
Huh. Maybe, since trees grow back, using paper is a better
idea.
Hmm interesting thought. Theory two doesn't really count though as the likelihood of a space rock or meteor making it through our atmosphere and still being a decent size is unlikely though it happens. The odds of said meteor just happening to land on a data center are well next to impossible. Not to mention its just as likely for a meteor to land on 'hard copy' information and destroy it.
ReplyDeleteTheory one is cool though...it only makes sense that the next big thing in war would be technological warfare. Especially against the US since we are so dependent on technology.
Three is a fantastic theory but I don't think it actually applies to real life. If somehow everyone decided not to save information digitally and go back to paper, the demand for paper would go way up. So, naturally, humans would cut down all the trees (and in such away that they wouldn't grow back because that's faster and makes more money). And this would all happen WAY before we even came close to running out of metal. So yeah it's probably better, in that sense, to use at least some digital. Besides humans will always need trees but by the time we run out of metal we probably won't even need it.
Still they're interesting theories...so yeah I'm avoiding math homework...
p.s. Epic job on your monologue.
-Sophie