I’m working on a project what requires around 1 to 2kb of data to be stored for ~80 years.
My thinking was a QR code (ECC H) etched into aluminium. Benefits being no bit rot & the assumption being cameras should still be commonplace in 80 years (And if QR isn’t a commonly used format anymore, surely an AI agent could easily write an app for the user).
Does anyone have any better suggestions or think I’ve missed anything.
You might be looking at the wrong thing. The problem isn’t likely to be the medium over that time period, it’s much more likely to be the perception of the value and use of the thing.
I have 100+ year old records, furniture, art, electronics, documents etc. a few were built to last but most are normal consumer grade stuff from times before.
They are still kicking around not because of their uniquely good quality or archival construction but because someone before me thought to keep ahold of them.
So you probably have three new problems to solve: how to get your message on something that people won’t just throw out, how to get it on as much stuff as possible to minimize the changes it’ll be thrown out and what format will actually be recognized as an indicator of something worth investigating as opposed to just another dead link to a Chinese user manual.