If postapocalyptic roaches ever learn to read, they'll know the story of Adam and Eve by heart, thanks to artist Jim Mason. Mason is leading a team of linguists, engineers, and designers in the creation of the Rosetta Disk, part of the Long Now Foundation's 10,000 Year Library effort (www.longnow.org/10klibrary/library.htm). The nickel disc, 2 inches in diameter, holds 1,000 translations of the first three chapters of Genesis, as well as several indigenous myths, and an array of tools for deciphering lost languages.
Despite their many advantages, digital archives aren't built for the long haul, and this project, funded by the Denver-based Lazy Eight Foundation, aims to highlight the need for better archiving systems. Mason's disc, a Los Alamos National Laboratories innovation being marketed by Norsam Technologies, is "nano-analog" - text is saved in microscopic engravings. "It's like microfiche," Mason says, "but with a 2,000-year life span."
ELECTRIC WORD
New Blue Chip
Design Eenterprise
Long-Term Memory
Inner Light
The Cyberspace Agency
Pac-Rat
