Scenarios for Long-Term Interstellar Distributed Data Networks
£5.00
M. Halbert (2015), JBIS, 68, pp.94-97
Refcode: 2015.68.94
Abstract:
Assuming that mankind transitions into a period of long-term exploration via starships encompassing centuries, it is possible that a network of distributed interstellar nodes for information aggregation will gradually begin to form. What scenario planning can we conduct today in anticipation of such network formation? What do historical patterns suggest for such network development? There are identifiable patterns to draw upon for such analysis, ranging from the recent developments of digital repositories as nodes on the Internet to studies of monasteries as chirographic nodes in medieval information networks. This broadly construed literature will be reviewed and then applied to conceptual scenarios for long-term development of interstellar information networks. Strategies will be described for establishing persistent, long-term, organizational structures, motivations, and incentives for preserving data in a context in which respective individual projects and institutions are unlikely to survive over the duration of interstellar missions.
