You know how all your photos and documents and videos and virtually every facet of your life seems to be online? Maybe it’s time to start making hard copies.
Vint Cerf, widely recognized as one of the founders of the modern Internet and now an executive at Google, said this week that due to constant updates and improvements to hardware and software, documents that are available today may be inaccessible in the future.
MORE: The Best Ways to Print Photos from Your Smartphone
MORE: 10 Google Maps Tricks You Need to Know
According to BBC News, Cerf warned of a “digital Dark Age” — a future in which there will be little record of the 21st century.
“Old formats of documents that we’ve created or presentations may not be readable by the latest version of the software because backwards compatibility is not always guaranteed,” he told BBC News.
MORE: These Are the 10 Best Apps for People Who Commute
Cerf suggested that humanity start putting digital versions of software and hardware in the cloud so that future generations will be able to access older files. But printouts might be a good idea too.
- Volodymyr Zelensky and the Spirit of Ukraine: TIME's 2022 Person of the Year
- Mickey Guyton Is TIME's 2022 Breakthrough Artist of the Year
- The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2022
- Column: What Elon Musk Gets Wrong About Free Speech
- The Forgotten Story of One of the First U.S. Soldiers Killed Overseas After Pearl Harbor
- Why You're More Likely to Get Sick in the Winter, According to New Research
- Column: What the Protests Tell Us About China's Future
- 18 Last-Minute Gifts for Everyone on Your List
