Hi, As a result of a completely non-crypto interest a discussion recently came up about how information worth/accuracy goes down with time. A proposal was made that I thought might be of some interest as a base for discussions of data havens and how to treat the relative worth of information. Forwarded message:
From: "Richard A. Flores" <cybernot@gte.net> Subject: Re: dates in UWPs? Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 10:33:49 -0600 Reply-To: traveller@mpgn.com
SD Mooney <dom@cybergoths.u-net.com> wrote:
Put it [the date notation] in the extended data set (as posted by Marc) as a single (hex) code eg M0 is 0, etc and expand as new milieus arise. This removes the problem of linking to the dating system and adding in a -tve for Milieus prior to M0. I mean, an Ancients set would otherwise be -200000!
Perhaps a simple logarithmic notation. Something like: code # Years since last survey 0 0 to 3 years 1 3 to 7 years 2 7 to 20 years 3 20 to 55 years 4 55 to 148 years 5 148 to 403 years 6 403 to 1,097 years 7 1,097 to 2,981 years 8 2,981 to 8,103 years 9 8,103 to 22,026 years A 22,026 to 59,874 years B 59,874 to 162,755 years C 162,755 to 442,413 years D 442,413 to 1,202,604 years E 1,202,604 to 3,269,017 years F 3,269,017 to 8,886,111 years
This single hexadecimal # would give us a time scale beyond anyone's estimates of possible dates on useful intelligence.
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