IT Tips & Tricks

Published 4 January 2022

Data: Does It Have a Potentially Ominous Future?

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If you have experience with data migrations, they’ve probably primarily been concerned with shifting data to the Cloud or doing something like a system reorganization. But what if, in the not-too-distant future, you were asked to migrate data into a live human brain? Could you do it? Would you do it?

Data migration is always going to be with us, especially if we actually arrive in the sci-fi future that writers, designers, engineers and architects have predicted. Star Trek gives an interesting window on the landscape into which we may be travelling. In the show, data retention is regularly brought up in situations that include how information is stored in Lieutenant Commander Data’s positronic brain. Data transfer also arises when you are dealing with the Borg and their drive to add a race’s “biological and technological distinctiveness to their own.”

What if, in the not-too-distant future, you were asked to migrate data into a live human brain?

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We hope you’re never buried in migration troubles like Captain Kirk was buried in furry tribbles.

Sure, this might seem way out there and not even relevant to data management today, but don’t forget Elon Musk is already pushing the envelope with Neuralink, his brain chip company. People are already experimenting with chips implanted in their bodies that open doors and perform various other low-grade functions. They’re referred to as “grinders” and are known for “biohacking” and body modification. Cyberpunk author, William Gibson, said, “The future is already here — It's just not very evenly distributed.”

The first Russian series to be presented as a Netflix Original is the 16-episode sci-fi show, Better Than Us. Originally released in 2018, the futuristic story is set in 2029, with a heavy emphasis on AI and robotics. They were literally looking only 11 years into the future. Just three years later, there are already various aspects of this show that no longer seem quite so futuristic. Given how rapidly major advances in AI and robotics are occurring, much of the show’s content could, in fact, be reality by 2029. A quick YouTube search for “AI robot” produces a plethora of results, ranging from entertaining clips with various celebrities, to amusing verbal robot wars, to somewhat sinister human/robot interactions.

Elon Musk is already pushing the envelope with Neuralink, his brain chip company.

American inventor and futurist, Ray Kurzweil, coined the phrase “transhuman singularity” (the crucial moment when machines become smarter than humans) and it’s no longer as “fringe” as we once thought. Can you imagine being the data migration specialist having to plan for something as complex as the human to robot transference carried out in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis?

If you consider how essential memory is to a person, and how integral it would be to an android like the Star Trek character, Data, or to the identity of a collective like the Borg, it is easy to see the importance of data.

An organization isn’t really that dissimilar. Your database is the memory of your company. If it becomes faulty and people can’t consult it, then it’s like your database isn’t able to be itself. You can’t function properly. Your team can’t function properly. The end-users get upset. Bosses get cranky. And, if there’s downtime and loss of revenue, you can bet your last credit that management isn’t going to be happy.

Data migration problems are about as common as tribbles. It doesn’t much matter from which sector of the universe you hail. Nobody is immune. In fact, the vast majority of data migrations fail. You’re probably aware that lost or missing data is a frequent problem, but did you also know that one of the most common causes of that data loss is the file links that are broken during the migration itself?

If this is a problem you’ve recently encountered, or one you anticipate at your next data migration, we suggest you hop on the hyperchannel and contact a Service Consultant at 727-442-1822 or visit LinkTek.com for a live demonstration of LinkFixer Advanced™. This remarkably intelligent solution will make you look like an intergalactic hero. All that remains to be said is, “Live long and prosper.”

Can you imagine being the data migration specialist having to plan for something as complex as the human to robot transference carried out in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis?

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