Wow. I did not notice that! I see a yin-yang situation going along here...
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Wow. I did not notice that! I see a yin-yang situation going along here...
I don't see using DNA to store info having any practical uses in the near future, but if it can stay perfectly preserved for as long as the article suggests, I can see a one time application to encode the entirety of known human history onto it and preserving it... Who knows, maybe we can send it into space (we already do that with radio waves if I'm not mistaken) or just bury it in the event some cataclysmic event destroys all civilization so that the survivors can use the information on it to rebuild society without having to redevelop modern technology from scratch.
... Okay, so that's not very likely, but if we can do it, why not? Still more useful than 70 billions copies of a book... Probably.
It's an interesting idea...the pinnacle of time capsules. Imagine how long the encoding process would take though! Not to mention formatting all the data before the encoding process can begin. I predict great debate over differing views regarding content ultimately ending with all nations creating their own 'ark' with their own unique version of history. There are an infinite number of imaginary walls dividing the people on this planet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swilken
It's still an awesome idea though. Books burn, HDDs crash, the internet is censored, but solid titanium capsules of DNA are possibly forever!..or at least until a nearby supernova.
Just a thought in a completely different direction: if they can write and read to DNA they must understand all the processes in its creation, no? Has the origin of RNA and DNA been fully discovered? I'm off to Google.