Topic: Philosophy

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5s4-Kak49o

Question of the video

Where do deleted files go?

Introduction
“Delete”, a very common vocabulary that almost everyone has
been said at least once in the modern era. Simple as ever, just
erasing something out of existence. However, have anyone
actually thought about where do deleted files go, and is it
just being buried into the deeper realm in the hard drive?
Results on the Google Ngram Viewer shows that in the year
of 1979, is a significant year that people began to use the
vocabulary “delete”. But, biological delete - “forget”, still
stays high in popularity. And now you might be wondering,
how does a computer forget?
Computer? Forget?
Moving a file into the trash folder is just the beginning. To
protect against accidental deletion, even if thrown into the
trash, the files remains on the device in a temporary director.
It awaits a more ultimate and complete deletion or remove.
However, it can be resurrected. When emptying the trash to
perform a further deletion, a message will be sent to warn
about that the respective action can not be reverted. But
after emptying the trash, the physical space inhabited by the
file is not actually emptied. It only allows new data to write
in but the original file isn’t really moved out. Only the
“pointers” moved away. “Pointers” are actually another type
of data in the drive that point to places in memory where the
actual file they are referencing can be found. It is quite
similar to a content list in a book. Basically, deleting a file in
a operating system is like erasing the chapter of a book from
its content page, but not the actual chapter. Complete
deletion can be performed by overwriting over and over,
until its original data is fully corrupted in the physical space.
Or even more ultimate and thorough way, physically polarize,
or simply, shred the drive completely like how the United
States Department of Defense does.

Problems?
Yes, there are problems. Even shredding them are not a way
that 100% ensures that the data will be gone. US, Europe and
Japan often send such electronics waste to dumps in Ghana, a
place in Africa. This specific place is the ideal place for them,
as its cheap enough to send unrecoverable digital products,
marked as donations. However, organized criminals operating
in Ghana have managed to successfully recover data from
unregulated e-dumps. They have been able to find
confidential muti-million dollar agreements, involving the
Defense Intelligence Agency, Homeland Security and the TSA.
And this is happens not only in the digital world, shredding
paper to get rid of memory isn’t even safe. Although its not
easy and does not work every time, computer software have
been managed to recover shredded documents by scanning
them.

A way that actually destroys completely?

Yes. However, its about 5.4 billion years later. At that time,
the sun will become the biggest shredder of all time, a
gigantic red sphere that can swallow the earth whole. The
process is called the “Heat-death”. The end of all objects
that exists in physical form, which is inevitable.

Is deletion really a bad thing?

No. Try changing a way to face deletion. The bleached USA
flag on the moon is mentioned. “Although they are bleached,
but are they bleak? Or a fresh page of paper ready for new
stories?”, “A white flag doesn’t mean the surrender to
deletion…”. It brings out that deletion is not only a process a
destruction, but also creates a capable developing space with
millions of possibilities.

Reflection
I originally thought that its just a simple informative video of
where do deleted files actually go, I honesty didn’t ready for
such philosophic ideas which calls up by such simple question.
Since the message it brings out is just very unexpected, I am
very sure this is “SDL-worthy” material. However it took
quite sometime for me to understand and actually present it
here.
Vocabulary / Phrases
1. Attendee N. 參加者
a person who attends a conference or other gathering.

2. Transistor N. 晶體管
a semiconductor device with three connections, capable of amplification
in addition to rectification.

3. Polarize V. 偏振
divide or cause to divide into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of
opinions or beliefs.

4. Unsalvageable adj. 無可救藥

-

5. Meld V. 融合
blend; combine.

6. Homogenous adj. 同質的

old-fashioned biological term for homologous.

7. Bleak adj. 蒼涼
(of an area of land) lacking vegetation and exposed to the elements