At 07:56 PM 10/5/2010, STeve Andre' wrote:


>Even more wretched, paper is the longest term storage solution that
>humanity has yet come up with.

Cuneiforms on baked clay tablets have greater bandwidth than 
engraving on granite.  But they are not quite as permanent a backup 
medium.   As for privacy, forget it.   Most encryption schemes have 
been broken.    That's a problem with encoding your ideas into a 
system of fixed symbols, whether alphabetic or some other system of 
glyphs.   If you want privacy as well as long-term storage, you might 
want to consider cave painting.   People are still trying to figure 
out what those mean after 30,000 years, even though the public key is 
in plain sight.   Pictures have that advantage over words.   Think of 
some of the GUI interfaces that try to get by without using words on 
menu items, or some of the universal signs you might see marking the 
parts on the dashboard of your car.    They make for a great 
encryption system -- tough to crack.   Cave paintings are like back 
to the future, so for present storage needs you might consider going 
forward to the past.

John Gorentz