Comment by noosphr
21 hours ago
I like paper documents for this very reason.
It's very hard to steal everyone's documents when they weight about the same as a train.
21 hours ago
I like paper documents for this very reason.
It's very hard to steal everyone's documents when they weight about the same as a train.
But it’s also very easy to lose all of them in a fire or flood. Different tradeoffs.
> it’s easy to lose all of them in a fire or flood
Wouldn't a fire or flood affect everything? Both data stored on paper and hard disks?
The good news is you can keep offline, offsite digital copies, which is much more convenient than offsite paper copies.
I think what the comment meant was that it's harder for an individual to lose their paper documents compared to losing the electronic ones. It just shifts who's responsible for keeping them safe
This is a feature not a bug.
That depends entirely on what the records hold and who is interpreting the event.
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Problems with well-known solutions 100 years ago:
"Fireproof file rooms and cabinets in the 1920s were crucial for protecting business and government records during the rapid expansion of the industrial era. The era saw a massive shift from flammable wooden office furniture to robust, steel-based storage designed to resist both fire and water damage."
That's a Google AI summary - but I've been in a fair number of buildings with such rooms. Thick concrete walls, heavy steel fire doors, no other openings, nothing but steel file cabinets in 'em, sealed electric light fixtures that look like they belong in a powder magazine (where one spark could kill everyone) - it's really simple tech.
And "high ground" was a reliable flood protection tech several centuries before that.
Then add “earthquake” to the list, or “domestic terrorists or foreign country bombing the building”. Steelman the argument. The point isn’t “just fire and water specifically”, we’re not playing Pokémon.
We have several historic examples of records being lost in disasters, and way more recent than 100 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Personnel_Records_Cen...
It makes no difference that we could’ve prevented that with better building construction. We didn’t, and hindsight does not bring the records back. We should plan for the world we want but cannot ignore the world we have.
I’m not defending digital as always better or criticising physical. Like I said, different tradeoffs, meaning there are advantages and disadvantages to both, there’s no solution which is better in all situations.
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No politician ever got elected by supporting simple, old-fashioned stuff that just worked.