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The Rosetta Disk: one small disk for man, one giant artifact for mankind

December 8th, 2008

(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.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Connect, Create, Future, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “The Rosetta Disk: one small disk for man, one giant artifact for mankind”

  1. inAm Says:
    March 22nd, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    Amazing post indeed !

  2. trwiz Says:
    March 24th, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    Интересно :)

  3. potozkiy1985 Says:
    March 27th, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    Хороший сайт

  4. Iverson Says:
    March 29th, 2009 at 10:10 am

    Интересная статья

  5. Inveviedo Says:
    May 25th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    Интересненько, а кто может объяснить девушке как добавить этот блог в избранное?

  6. строительство, ремонт, евроремонт, перепланировка Says:
    August 13th, 2009 at 8:03 am

    ООО Жилищно-строительная компания реализует услуги по Строительство коттеджей, качественно.

  7. annopum Says:
    October 14th, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    Видела что-то похожее в англоязычном интернете, в Русскоязычном интернете про такое как-то не особо часто посты увидишь.

  8. small electronic Says:
    June 9th, 2010 at 11:56 pm

    wow, this is how to preserve history evidence, but digital is more efficient, considering the video and picture you can store in a DVD. There is no paper can show those info. But human kind can use it as old system storage, without visual of the modern technology. The video tells million words. everyone knows.

  9. Barcelona Apartments Says:
    August 11th, 2010 at 11:28 am

    The project is very interesting, but even if it does not require external power to be read, the need to take a microscope to read it a bit uncertain effectiveness.

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