When Google Chat is "off the record" is it really not recorded, or is it *marked* off the record? Much like a database record that is marked deleted, it can be easily recovered. With the mission of Google to capture all knowable data and intelligently present the relevant points, how likely is it that our chats are feeding Google's emerging AI with the 'human record' of a world's worth of interpersonal communication?

If this data were preserved then cast upon the flotsam and jetsam of the public internet, would anyone ever read them? Will our ability to meaningfully consume ever catch up to the pace at which we produce?

No offense but sixty years isn't that long for a civilization. I don't think it likely for the next few decades, but nuclear weapons alone introduce enough uncertainty here to make a modest insurance against the collapse of civilization a good idea.

Karl,

I don't think Stross would disagree with you -- the idea being that if we avoid that calamity for a few more decades, we'll at least have a good backup record of civilization. I don't think he's suggesting that the fact that it hasn't happened is any kind of guarantee that it won't.

MikeD,

I'm reminded of a scene from the book Cheaper by the Dozen. Mr. Gilbreth has taught all 12 of his kids morse code. They all think it's pretty neat, and spend a good deal of time tapping out messages on table tops and walls around the house. The problem is, they are all way more interested in sending messages than they are receiving them, so nobody is actually listening to anyone else's signal. I think those chat records are probably a lot like that (although more interactive at the time they are created)-- interesting and fun to make, but of limited use for any receiver farther down the line.