Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2016 May 9

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May 9

Preservation of precious Science and Mathematics knowledge

To whom it may concern,

This question has been really bothering me for quite some time, and has really made me pessimistic, maybe you can answer it.

With all this mathematics and Scientific research being done every day, how could we be sure that all this research and discoveries will be preserved for future generations? How could we know that research findings and discoveries in Mathematics and the Sciences today, will be available to humanity, in, say, 1,000 years? I asked this question to many Mathematicians, and they unanimously said there is no good system that preserves our discoveries today.

What could we learn from the contributions of Euclid, Thales, and Archimedes, in which their discoveries are still available until today even though most of the discoveries from ancient Greece and the Library of Alexandria have been lost and/or destroyed? Is it true that many mathematical and scientific discoveries are being lost today because there is no good way of preserving and archiving new and old Scientific and Mathematical discoveries? I heard the science is being lost today at an unprecedented level due to poor archiving and/or not properly preserving data and discoveries throughout the world.

Links:

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001055/105557e.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/bpi/eng/unescopress/2002/02-fea10e.shtml

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=3902#.Vvhn4PsrLIX

What can we do to retrieve all of the research that we have lost already? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.113.174.114 (talk) 21:55, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

Don't you worry. Google will digitize everything :-). Actually there is no need to preserve anything. Studies of scientific citations have shown that science grows on its skin, in short only the most recent papers are referenced. Old discoveries if useful are incorporated in contemporary knowledge and will be passed to the next generation, if there is a next generation - it is another question. --AboutFace 22 (talk) 22:06, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

All is transitory, nothing is permanent. Sławomir Biały (talk) 23:10, 9 May 2016 (UTC)