A Future Without Personal History

Let me just tell you from experience that all of that "history" ends up in moldy boxes that head straight for the dump, sometimes via a stop at a self-storage auction, other times the junk wagon during the "big clean" when people are no longer able to live on their own.

My own family's history is digital because I was fortunate enough (and patient enough) to scan important letters, docs and photos just before they took that last long trip(1). I also have most emails, digital pictures, and IM's (thanks so much for storing a history ICQ) all the way back to my digital "birth".

Thanks to the magic of asterisk, I'm even catching all of my phone calls and SMS's these days through my personal PBX system.

The storage space required to do this is trivial. Our whole history back to 1875 including marriage certificates, photos, letters, and more are now stored on 3 continents and in 2 safe-deposit boxes.

For all that the future has taken from us (and there are some good points made) it has granted vastly more. Its given amateur archivists like myself superpowers that didn't exist even 10 years ago.

(1) Fujitsu Scansnap. Beyond awesome.