On Languages

   One of the issues with looking at the preservation of information is what language to store it in.  While the immediate and obvious answer is "the language that the people saving the information speak," consider the following case -- a plague wipes out most human life and the only remaining pocket of humanity is on a remote Pacific island populated by people who don't speak any of the more common languages the "Codex Universalis" is preserved in. 

Oops.

   Apocalyptic corner-cases really aren't the focus of the Leibowitz Society, but it does raise an interesting mental question -- how are people going to be able to use the information available if it's not in a form they can understand?  It was probably a fortunate accident of history that Latin was also the language of the Catholic Church in addition to being the language of the Roman Empire before it, meaning that all the works of the Roman scholars were accessible.  Of couse, it's possible that the Latin works would have found translation by other means, but consider that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs were only able to be understood by the chance creation and discovery of the Rosetta Stone. 

   People will probably point out that the language that the information is stored in will likely still exist, in one form or another, so people should still be able to go back and read it.  This may be true to a point, but anyone who has tried to go read Beowulf, Chaucer or even Shakespeare in the original form will have nothing but trouble without an interpretation guide to go with it.  Even within the last hundred or so years, it's possible to witness the mutation of the English language.  How quickly would it begin to split into different dialects, then forms, at the onset of a new Dark Age when people's travel would be limited to perhaps a day's hike and commerce would grind to a halt?

   Using a known dead language, such as Latin is an example, is an option.  Latin is still used in the Catholic church for the simple reason that it doesn't change over time.  The only problem here is that it is not much used any more outside of religious (and some scientific circles).  The benefit is that is at least somewhat known to English speakers through a constant exposure of English to Latin words and uses.  It might also be feasible to create a new language, possibly one designed with information storage in mind.

   Regardless of whether or not the Society materials are in English, Latin, or something else, the problem of interpretation remains.  Imagine a large trove of materials recorded in Latin, with English, Spanish and French dictionaries included.  Those dictionaries stored will be a snapshot of those languages at that time.  So, in order for the stored materials to be used, there would have to be an effort to update the accompanying dictionaries and provide translations for the translations.

   One option might be to include a visual dictionary of some sort, a symbolic "key" for written words, perhaps enough to include large scale translation of obsolete writings.  The problem here is the accuracy of visual images and subsequent translation to written words, as well as even getting a future viewer to understand what their purpose is (and not mediocre, stylized art). 

   Going further, another option might be to create a mathematical process for converting knowledge to something using mathematical symbols, numbers, etc.  Experimentation or study along this path (or even input from a learned reader) may uncover an efficient means of storing information. 

   At the root of all this is still a justification and need for having a body of membership that can interpret the recorded knowledge, in addition to storing it, maintaining it and adding to it.  Regardless of how much effort and thought goes into making sure that the knowledge can be used at a future time, the most foolproof way to maintain access to it is through successive generations of people who are taught, and in turn teach, how to unlock it.  When I speak of the Leibowitz Society as being a generational effort, or of generational survival, this is what I mean.  Secrets written in lost languages may have a mystic appeal, but they are useless to people who need to know what they mean.