
The Buffalo Public Library in 1983 (1883) - polm23
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Buffalo_Public_Library_in_1983
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CaliforniaKarl
>I found there an apparently full collection of the Buffalo press and the
journals of the neighboring towns, but no other American papers. I expressed
my surprise. My guide said that half a century before the preservation of
newspapers had become one of the most perplexing problems of library economy.

This was interesting to read! It turns out, per
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microform),
microforms didn't really get going until the early 1900s.

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interfixus
> _We have not yet escaped the preponderant use of fiction though we have
> diminished it since your day. It used to be 75 per cent. Thanks to our
> training the school children in good ways it has fallen to forty_

The dreams of yore...

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whaddawhat
Amazing. And what will people think of our targets for literacy, numeracy, etc
in a century or two?

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umanwizard
Interesting how much emphasis is put on ventilation. I guess the soporific
effects of stale air were well-known in 1883, though they didn’t have CO2
monitors of course :)

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jefurii
Also maybe they knew things about cooling buildings without AC that we have
forgotten.

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mighty_bander
An interesting quirk of old buildings is a structure called a "transom" \- a
space above a door which could be opened to allow for the free flow of air.
Regrettably, it also allowed for highly effective oxygenation of fire,
resulting in countless deaths, and so has been excised from the architectural
lexicon.

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mirimir
I came here expecting to correct a typo in the title ;) But this is amazing. I
love the late 1800s. TFA has electricity from Niagara Falls, HVAC and
mechanical automation.

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cobbzilla
According to Wikipedia, hydro power was in use for some time, but electricity
was relatively new. The generator opened in 1881, just two short years before
this was written.

Not enough time for its full usefulness to be seen directly, but plenty to
stoke the imagination.

Living during the advent of electric power must have been a fun time. So much
that was impossible was now possible, a big door just opened.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls#Hydroelectric_po...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls#Hydroelectric_power)

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Aardwolf
It was even more fun to live during the advent of the information superhighway
:)

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cobbzilla
Indeed — but what is the _next big one_? Maybe AGI?

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ivankolev
Assuming AGI is possible at all,which, the theory says, is undecided
conjecture.

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aidenn0
As someone with a physics background, I'm struggling to think of a theory
under which AGI is impossible. We have an existence proof for GI, and no
evidence from neurology of structures so unique that we could not build an
analog of them.

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mirimir
Yes, I don't see why AGI would be _impossible_. All you need is Turing
completeness, and a workable approach, right?

Still, coming up with a workable approach could be very difficult. We and
other animals are the only existence proof. And that's all based on a billion
years or more of ~random variation and selection. So it'll likely be way
overcomplicated and inelegant.

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beager
With respect to the insistence on low ceilings, the actual Buffalo Public
Library has a hidden floor between the main floor and upper floor which is
mostly for storage, which I recall had a disorientingly low ceiling and
spartan lighting.

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billsmithaustin
Sounds like a datacenter couched in 19th century terms.

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beager
Libraries are the original datacenters, I suppose.

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whaddawhat
That area in the late 1800s and early 1900s is in my top 3 destinations for
when I get my time machine.

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ericcholis
Me to, especially as a Buffalo native.

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thechao
“Spade husbandry” is such a wonderful term!

