Loss of information

Loss of data

Nature

As information gets greater, it is even more difficult to keep a track of it. There is less regard for information storage than creation. Data and information are being lost all the time, at great cost to societal development.

Incidence

A 2019 survey by Western Digital found that 41% of global consumers had lost personal data, with accidental deletion and hardware failure as leading causes. The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme warns that up to 90% of audiovisual archives are at risk of being lost due to obsolete formats and inadequate preservation, particularly in developing countries. The scale of information loss is exacerbated by rapid technological change and insufficient digital archiving practices.
In 2009, the BBC admitted to losing over 100,000 radio recordings from its archives, including historically significant broadcasts from the mid-20th century. This loss occurred in London due to inadequate cataloguing and storage practices.

Claim

The loss of information is a critical issue that threatens the very foundation of knowledge and progress. In an age where data drives innovation, the erosion of information—whether through digital decay, censorship, or neglect—undermines our ability to learn from the past and make informed decisions for the future. This crisis not only stifles creativity and critical thinking but also jeopardizes democracy and societal advancement. We must prioritize the preservation and accessibility of information to safeguard our collective future.

Counter-claim

Knowledge is always gained by the orderly loss of information, that is by condensing and abstracting and indexing the proliferating information in society into a form which can be appreciated and comprehended.