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I was just thinking, which is a dangerous thing I know, If Facebook is still around and running strong in 50 years or so it would really be a game changer for sociologists, economists, researchers of all fields. If you think about it there has been no other time in human history where seemingly every thought, meal, mood, etc has been recorded by the bulk of the population. People will even be able to go back in time and see what their grandparents, great grandparents ect felt or how they reacted to major issues. Essentially it is a giant diary for the planets population. Can you imagine being able to go back to the 1860's and reading everyone's reactions to the Civil War?
If Facebook is still around and running strong in 50 years or so...
That's a huge "if". Many anthropologists fear that we are currently living in what will someday become another "dark ages" for the simple reason that so much of our information is stored in a way that is not permanent and/or will not be accessible for future generations.
Anything stored digitally requires access to the coding method used to convert the data from analog to digital, and digital storage methods are constantly changing and becoming obsolete. Countless design files I created as a young engineer aren't accessible becasue I no longer have the software used to create them.
How many people still have floppy-disk readers? And physical CD/DVD/BluRay media is rapidly succumbing to direct digital downloads.
Anything on magnetic media can be destroyed with an EMP, either natural or man-generated. I'd say 99% of mass data storage is on currently magnetic hard drives, although we are slowly switching to Flash.
Anything on Facebook is owned by Facebook (read the TOS). It is a store of information of almost incalculable value, but still it could theoretically be lost if Facebook goes bankrupt in the future. Think about all the information stored on MySpace that was lost forever when Facebook took over. The same thing could happen to Facebook in the future. Yes, MySpace is still around... mostly
Same for any other cloud-based storage system. Someone owns that storage space, and it could go away with a simple bankruptcy filing.
Billions of books printed on acidic paper in the early 20th century are sitting on library shelves slowly digesting themselves. Photos aren't created on permanent paper using permanent chemicals these days; printed ink will eventually fade.
The last "permanent" storage media was microfiche/microfilm. Permanent, and all it takes to read is analog visual magnification. I work with clients who have lost massive amounts of computer and paper data during natural disasters (mostly floods, like Katrina or Sandy), but fiche/film is forever as long as you keep it from catching fire. Unfortunately, no one uses that technology anymore.
All that said, yes, if future anthropologists/historians can access the data then it will revolutionize how history is seen and interpreted. Specifically, it will help figure out how huge masses of people, with access to unbelievably vast amounts of wisdom and knowledge, still choose to believe lies spread by charlatans and snake-oil salesmen.
Look at Myspace and Bebo (this one wasn't much known though), which were prominent in the 2000s - Every user profile page that existed in those two social media websites is now nonexistent. Myspace turned into sort of a music website and Bebo became a chatting app.
If they make a social website that will "dethrone" Facebook, I'm pretty sure FB would ditch its usual social networking visage and become a "different" website, perhaps a blog, music or maybe a meme site. And if that happens, peoples' profile pages will be wiped out.
I think Facebook as a diary for the future generations is a neat idea.
Of course would anyone care what Aunt Judy had for lunch 20 years ago? I don't care the day she posts it.
Facebook is a sort of time capsule. Every once and a while a post will pop up on my feed from a year or two ago and it is neat to see what I had posted and how people responded to it. I also think "That was a year ago??" Time sure flies.
I can only imagine how people feel when a memory pops up and they see how a now deceased friend had commented.
I think that facebook could be a treasure trove of info for a future sociologist to have an insight on a average persons day to day living but most of what is posted on there is nonsense. There would be better ways to get information.
Youtube could be a better source to see what people were actually doing for fun and sport. Imagine kids in a class room 100 years from now watching videos of people actually driving cars and crashing them often. The kids would also think that cats were worshipped especially when they try to jump and fail.
It would be interesting to see what people in 100 years will think about facebook etc..
Also, the word out is Facebook and similar were pitched by special services as yet another way to spy on people.
I don't know about special services pitching the idea of facebook to spy on us but I do know that hiring employers will often have a look at the facebook and other things of a prospective new employee.
I wonder on what grounds they can choose not to hire based on facebook posts??
If the would be employee say dresses up like the opposite sex on the weekends?
Goes sky diving or enjoys another dangerous hobby?
Robs banks for fun? Gets wasted or gets high?
Sounds like a possible lawsuit waiting to happen.
I do think it is not smart for people to post their lives on facebook and the like.
I wonder on what grounds they can choose not to hire based on facebook posts??
...
Sounds like a possible lawsuit waiting to happen.
The USA is an "at will" employment law country. No grounds are needed for not hiring someone. The only way someone could win a discrimination suit would be to prove that the employer's decision was based on a violation of the employee's civil rights. Unless the potential employee recorded the interviewer stating the decision was based on something that can be tied directly to a protected class a lawsuit is a non-starter.
Real reasons why people don't get hired based on Facebook posts:
- Badmouthing former employers;
- Bragging about lying in order to skip work;
- Evidence of excessive alcohol use or any illegal drug use;
- Excessive foul language or other rude behavior;
- Overly exuberant support of the wrong political party (not a protected class);
- Being gay in states where this is not a protected class;
- Overly exuberant identity with a protected class (not legal to not hire someone because they are black; totally legal to not hire someone whose Facebook posts are filled with support for the Black Panther terrorist organization along with constant complaints about how the black man is being oppressed and that he should be compensated for past wrongs);
- The decision can even be based purely on protected class information (religion, sexuality in some states, married to a spouse of the wrong color, etc.) as long as the interviewer isn't dumb enough to disclose this information.
There is no need to provide any reason whatsoever for not hiring anyone. Just don't hire them. If they call and demand a reason, say you just decided to go with someone else and end the conversation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd
I do think it is not smart for people to post their lives on facebook and the like.
Completely agreed. And this is also why I'm not Facebook friends with anyone I work with.
Last edited by An Einnseanair; 03-03-2016 at 09:15 AM..
Facebook might be a source if the accounts somehow came into public domain above whatever privacy settings a user sets up. Researchers would have to take into account Facebook's censorship. What happens now when an account is vacated with no activity or a user dies?
That's a huge "if". Many anthropologists fear that we are currently living in what will someday become another "dark ages" for the simple reason that so much of our information is stored in a way that is not permanent and/or will not be accessible for future generations.
Anything stored digitally requires access to the coding method used to convert the data from analog to digital, and digital storage methods are constantly changing and becoming obsolete. Countless design files I created as a young engineer aren't accessible becasue I no longer have the software used to create them.
How many people still have floppy-disk readers? And physical CD/DVD/BluRay media is rapidly succumbing to direct digital downloads.
Anything on magnetic media can be destroyed with an EMP, either natural or man-generated. I'd say 99% of mass data storage is on currently magnetic hard drives, although we are slowly switching to Flash.
Anything on Facebook is owned by Facebook (read the TOS). It is a store of information of almost incalculable value, but still it could theoretically be lost if Facebook goes bankrupt in the future. Think about all the information stored on MySpace that was lost forever when Facebook took over. The same thing could happen to Facebook in the future. Yes, MySpace is still around... mostly
Same for any other cloud-based storage system. Someone owns that storage space, and it could go away with a simple bankruptcy filing.
Billions of books printed on acidic paper in the early 20th century are sitting on library shelves slowly digesting themselves. Photos aren't created on permanent paper using permanent chemicals these days; printed ink will eventually fade.
The last "permanent" storage media was microfiche/microfilm. Permanent, and all it takes to read is analog visual magnification. I work with clients who have lost massive amounts of computer and paper data during natural disasters (mostly floods, like Katrina or Sandy), but fiche/film is forever as long as you keep it from catching fire. Unfortunately, no one uses that technology anymore.
All that said, yes, if future anthropologists/historians can access the data then it will revolutionize how history is seen and interpreted. Specifically, it will help figure out how huge masses of people, with access to unbelievably vast amounts of wisdom and knowledge, still choose to believe lies spread by charlatans and snake-oil salesmen.
Word
Remember DOS? I loved DOS - it was so straightforward and I could write my very own little programs with it and store my data on floppy-disks. I still have some old floppies that I never got around to converting the data off from. There's all sorts of cool stuff on those old floppies, but I might as well have just thrown all that stuff in the garbage for all the good it does me now. I am also skeptical of the cloud. Anything that's really important to me I back up on a USB drive, since if the cloud giveth, it can also take away. But USB's will be at best museum artifacts in 50 years.
At this point in time that revolutionary item - the book - is still the best bet for data retrieval 50 or 100 years from now. Many if not most academic and special libraries make a major effort to buy books printed on acid free paper. Especially valuable books are stored in environments with carefully controlled humidity and temperatures. For example, it is still possible to visit the Library of Congress and request a volume from Thomas Jefferson's journals and be given that material written by Jefferson himself with pen and ink. I had the great fortune to avail myself of this service from our National Library, and I recall tracing Jefferson's penmanship with my own (specially gloved) fingers. Somehow tracing someone's words on my computer screen is just not the same. I was a professional librarian back in the day, and at that time, I was not overly fond of microfiche. It too could get old and brittle and had the nasty habit of snapping half way through the spool, but maybe it's been improved since then.
That said, I agree that if it would be possible to access the Internet in the same fashion as we do now, it could indeed be an amazing resource for research of almost every kind. As a librarian, I got in on the Internet from ground zero, and the changes from around 1980 until now - a mere 36 years - have been incredible. I remember begging for grant money to install PC's and automation for my college library and trying to explain the wonders that awaited on the world wide web to elderly library directors who thought I was nuts. We've come a long way, baby!
Facebook is a mechanism that an advanced (and hostile) alien race has been using as a means to study human beings: Our psychology, spirituality, emotional foundation, cultures, languages, etc. etc.
They tapped into it a few years ago, and are studying, watching and waiting for the right time to strike.
We have given them everything. . . .
The ultimate window into our minds and souls. Everything exposed from our strengths to our weaknesses, and all on display.
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