Thanks to the recent developments in long-term storage, it is now possible to create ultra-high-density digital media technologies that can store data for millions of years without a power supply. In fact, referred to as “immortal blockchains,” these naturally error-resistant distributed networks can bring about an entirely new concept of data storage and the main feature of the future – which is information – will be well-preserved for the unborn generations.
Blockchain Technology Functionality Synopsis
Fundamentally, blockchain technology works such that decentralized ledger technology gives higher security to data than centralized systems. Decentralized blockchains remain unaffected when the power is down at their location or there is a server failure as long as nodes are operational at other locations. Unlike distributed servers, their functionality will be active only when they have access to electricity.
Data Storage Security Hazards
Though the modern computer systems’ use of power reserves is the typical method for guaranteeing data retention during short grid power outages, both the distributed and centralized data storage systems are under potential long-term attacks that are yet to come. One such destructive scenario we can think of is the global blackout – natural disasters or electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) could disable electronics on a worldwide scale. The vision of such a situation may appear to be no more than a Hollywood-scenario, yet governments lack any polices that would cover non-vital distributed systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains in the face of such devastating events. This phenomenon, therefore, leads to the further challenging question of the consequences of losing power distributedly across all nodes on blockchains.
Immortal Blockchains: The Future of Data Storage
Explain that the idea of immortal blockchains is based on. In case of the disappearance of humans or the breakdown of small data banks such as books and magnetic tapes over hundreds of years, a good number of files created and saved by us would be lost. Thousands of years later, the vast majority of our digital storage would not return again.
Advanced Long-Term Storage Solutions
It is worth mentioning long-term storage solutions that offer a ray of hope for the possibility of keeping data for millions of years. Two of the most popular ones are DNA storage and “Ceramic Nano Memory.” Coding the data through DNA to artificial fossils is the work of DNA storage, and Ceramic Nano Memory allows the data to be loaded in the glass, thereby forever keeping it alive with no decay. Despite the fact that these technologies were not the initial intention of blockchain networks of their time, and yet, they have well succeeded in being the storing devices of the essentials data of the existence in the future.
Preserving Blockchains for the Future
The prospect of zero energy storage enabling the replication of an operational blockchain becomes legitimate. Although the realization of such efforts would be determined by the capacity of the storage medium, theoretically the instructions for creating a copy of blockchain from a specified period can be integrated into various mediums. In the face of the breakthrough advances, it is reasonable to locate the Bitcoin white paper and similar documents to either artificial fossils or ceramic nano-memory shards. This not only will serve as a means enabling the future civilizations to understand our technology but also will be a platform of developing eternal blockchains.
The achievement of the zero energy storage breakthrough represents our getting to somewhere in the future where digital records will be able to last for millions of years, which in turn provides a special way of preserving knowledge and safeguarding valuable data.
