(note: this post is cross-posted on the Pop!Tech blog) 

At first glance, the Rosetta Disk might be mistaken for a small CD - except for the fact that it’s made of titanium and nickel, of course.  Well, that and the fact that it contains no digital data, but instead has 13,500 pages of text etched onto its 3-inch surface.   

Recently released by the Long Now Foundation, the Rosetta Disk, in all its miniature glory, is aremarkable artifact of human knowledge.  Conceived as a “modern Rosetta stone” the disk contains 1500 different language translations of the book of Genesis: 1 - 3 (just in case you’re wondering, you need a 750-power optical microscope to read it).  Made of non-corroding metals, it has an estimated shelf life of 2,000 years.

Eight years in the making, the Rosetta Disk project was envisioned as a solution to the question of how a society could transmit and store its knowledge over the centuries ( see Kevin Kelly’s post for a full write up on the project).

Just in time for the holidays, there are two remaining First Edition Rosetta Disks, each available for a donation of $25,000.

(Image courtesy of Worth1000.com; thanks David for the heads up!)

More thoughts on the Swiss Army Knife of the Future:

Lee Shupp sez:

“For me, it’s not so much a Swiss Army knife as a next generation iPhone, with new features like:

• Air quality monitor that lets me know if I’ve come across major toxins, viruses, or biowar;
• Auto translator so I can communicate easily across cultures;
• Built in survival beacon if my plane/boat/4 wheel drive goes down;
• All my contacts with location of those who choose to give me access;
• Voice recog so that I don’t need keyboard or dial buttons;
• Built in digital assistant who tells me details I need as I need them;
• Crime database that alerts me if I’m entering someplace sketchy;
• Electronic ID that I can use for any legit purchase I don’t mind being tracked;
• Barometer or other weather devices to know when weather will be changing;
• Auto Myers/Briggs eval or some similar way of determining optimal communication strategy for different learning/com styles;
• Everything securely and privately backed up in the cloud, so that this device can actually be many devices in myriad forms as context changes.”

Steven Devine wrote in via Bruce Sterling’s post, with this suggestion:

“In 20-50 years, my Swiss Army Knife will include:

• It will run Linux.  Ubuntu version:  Zooming Zooplankton.  (Your first warning.)
• Ten meters of one ton test buckyfiber.  I will not be able to afford the auto-spooling grapple-hook, but it will slice an engine block in half if I pull really hard, only not on new cars.  Lord only knows what those are gonna be made out of by then.
• It will connect to my bluetooth earpiece, my tv glasses, and whatever wi-fi-like stuff is available.  I will try to download an illegal applet that can spoof spime chips.  It will inform on me and get me arrested, processed, fined, and sentenced in ten seconds flat.  Dadgum Swiss….
• A very sensitive removable microphone+camera capable of broadcasting back to the main unit (500m range).
• 10 m fiber optic probe with patented Gecko-Grip ™ Dandelion Tip.
• A scanner that can determine the dimensions and structure of an object and order a duplicate from an online fabricator.  IP surcharge added automatically if object is still under patent, copyright, trademark, or whatever the heck else they think up by then.  Dadgum Swiss….
• It will accept snap-on attachments for additional functions — upgradable on-the-fly.
• It will be able to tell if I am dead, alive, asleep, incapacitated, or by interrogating gait analyzing surveillance cameras, if I am too wasted to drive.  Dadgum Swiss….
• It will be able to remind me to take my meds, whatever the heck those are gonna be by then.
• The Medic-Alert applet will inform emergency responders that I have an account with Alcor, so get my carcass on ice, pronto, I already paid!
• It will contain a credit card-like device, a UPC code scanner, and a database of my belongings, along with what insurance policies (like theft, breakage, loss, or obsolescence) I have on each one.  Hurray for the Dadgum Swiss!”