RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: buckaroo on Wednesday 26 September 07 14:31 BST (UK)
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Well what do you think? I guess there will always be people interested in the people that came before them, so chances are, people will still enjoy looking for their ancestors!
But have you ever though what records will our decendants will be trawling through by then? Will there still be 10yrly census returns, or will they more likely be hunting through mobile phone records, credit card statements, & mortgage agreements? or even the odd forum or two...
Any more to add to the list?
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Civil Partnerships, children not taking Father's name ....
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People not attending church which might eliminate baptisms, church marriages & burials, communicant rolls, pew lists, etc. Oh dear!
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But instead we (sorry... they) , could use DVLA records & utility bills! :o
endless reams of bills to look through! (horror) all with different spellings if my utility bills are anything to go by, and we thought we have it hard! :o
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Wont be a problem when we all get ID Cards - altho mine will be hard to scan after a few seconds in the Microwave :P
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hi all
in 2050 a certain utility supplier will probably be lazer gunning my
decendants for a gas bill
WE DONT HAVE GAS PLEASE BELIEVE ME!!!!!
ev
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They'll have about 4 times as much to research as we do now. They'll be awaiting the release of the 1951 census and I suppose would be on the up once that's released because there's a huge gap without the '31 and '41 censuses. They'll have to consult BMD indexes for that, which is not going to be easy, especially with a common name.
Andrew
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Not to mention the thousands of nameless photos (since the dawn of the digital camera) that every family will have 'cos we never got around to putting the names on. ;D
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hi all
i will be in my 80's by then(i wish) so i will be able to name all the photo's
due to my razor sharp memory
yours
kevin
sorry
ev
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The Data Protection Act means that much of the information that we currently generate will be destroyed as a matter of legal imperative.
Non maintained websites will go offline and the archive lost forever
We will leave incredibly little behind us compared to previous generations.
Nowadays, if a person dies a lonely death, the council will only take an interest in their stuff so far as it relates to locating someone to pay the bills. They are not allowed to sell effects, so most unclaimed personal effects end up in a skip
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:-\ should that make us sad or glad ???
confused :'(
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:-\ should that make us sad or glad ???
confused :'(
It makes me sad :(
I hate the idea that any records get destroyed.
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Imagine how hard it will be to track marriage records with so many marrying abroad!!
Think how many passenger lists there will be by 2050 for planes as well as ships!! (I personally have been on 6 planes this year!)
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Imagine how hard it will be to track marriage records with so many marrying abroad!!
Think how many passenger lists there will be by 2050 for planes as well as ships!! (I personally have been on 6 planes this year!)
But will such lists be retained? Or will they just be yet another casualty of this disposably digital age?
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Imagine how hard it will be to track marriage records with so many marrying abroad!!
Think how many passenger lists there will be by 2050 for planes as well as ships!! (I personally have been on 6 planes this year!)
But will such lists be retained? Or will they just be yet another casualty of this disposably digital age?
Most probably they won't be kept but imagine if they were!
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hi Buckaroo.
By that time the world will be overpopulated, every body will be on IVF and having 6 babies ( not just 2 as now)
The male will be an unwanted troublesome inconvenience, gone will be the days that love means anything. Just think you may well be even an asexually produced descendant identical to the original utterly foolish person that started to violate the law of nature in the first place! Great for the Genealogist?
Reg.
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Yes, IVF will be a real problem for people tracing ancestors. There may also be cloning by then. How will the family tree software cope with that?
MarieC
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We were married in Cyprus, so they won't find my marriage.
I will appear on the census with new surname, but no proof of marriage.
That will confuse them ;D
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Can i suggest that we "scan" or "photocopy" all our census returns from the next one ?? and maybe pass them onto our siblings.
then some people might have a step up.
ive scanned lots of utility bills and saved them to disc for future use.
2050, ill be 80 on 25th January 2050
possibly driving a iHovercar or still pushing a Tesco hovertrolley
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ancestry.supercom will just release the eagerly awaited rootschat archive from 2007 - fully indexed.
They will be able to feed our discussions into personality software which will tell them exactly what our characters are like from our internet rumblings.
Only trouble is few of us put our real names in so they will have to make an educated guess to our identity from the 1800's ancestors we are researching.
The 2051 census is the first to have voluntary disclosure - 18% have elected to have their info locked away forever but 10% have taken up the offer to store up to 500Gb of personal information - a perpetual 'time capsule' for future generations.
Several people are using this to store a 'downloaded' version of themselves - software object which would answer questions exactly as you would - future generations will be able to ask you questions about your life which the downloaded you can answer almost exactly as you would.
Dale Rodgers (b. Hartley May 1959 Holmfirth England)
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This why I keep a diary no matter how rambling it may be as its what we are thinking at one given time.
dotted around are weblinks, including facebook and the like, and as far as photographs i have collected them all, scanned them, transferred them to CD and passed them on in this form to numerous members of family and included a complete family tree, so this info should never go astray.
Failing that i'll also leave a sealed copy with my will at my solicitors.
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But will CD's still be readable in 2050 ?
When I started into computer use, we started with a Sinclair ZX. Programmes came off and were recorded onto tape. (Remember that awful screeching ?) Then we progressed to a BBC Master ... those big 5" floppy discs were next. Then there were the 3" stiff floppies and a big tower of computer workings, a large keyboard, and a thing like a TV for a monitor, and now its a little laptop with stuff saved on integral or plug in hard drives, or sticks, or perhaps CD or DVD ...
That lot is in the last 25 years ... so what will we be saving info on in 25 years times, let alone 42 years !
Give me paper any time !!
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Did I read somewhere that the Gov is doing away with censii after the next but one as being of no further use or was I dreaming?
Anyway, in 2050 I won't be 98 coz I don't intend living that long!!!!
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Thinking about further technological changes makes my head ache - technology and I are not good friends!!
Yes, Lydart, I'm going to get my lot on paper as fast as I can!
MarieC
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One day I am going to get around to indexed and adding keywords to my thousands of photos so that they mean something to somebody ::) ::)
Kerry
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Wont be a problem when we all get ID Cards - altho mine will be hard to scan after a few seconds in the Microwave :P
If the New Labour nannies are still in charge when they come out, the ID card will control all your household appliances, and your car, so you can only use them when the government says so ::)
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Did I read somewhere that the Gov is doing away with censii after the next but one as being of no further use or was I dreaming?
Well, bearing in mind that there's already up to a million people in this country who are here illegally, so won't appear on any census, the whole thing is already a joke. Even the government doesn't have a firm idea of the actual numbers.
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Then we progressed to a BBC Master ... those big 5" floppy discs were next.
The first computer I used was in 1989. It was an IBM 5254 and used 8" disks.
Perhaps in 2050 technology may be so advanced that future generations can pop back in time to find out about their ancestors.
Who knows they may already be here but we cannot see them ;D ;D
Jean
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Civil Partnerships ....
At least they'll be easy to trace - they're public documents. And anyone tracing them will at least know there are no descendents to look for! :)
Does anyone know if the latest FTM allow one to record them? I can't record my own on my FTM2005. ::)
meles
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Quote Lydart
Give me paper any time !!
Me to i wouldn't have it any other way everything i have is on paper,orbits,photo's, census, you name it it's on paper.I don't trust anything on the computer or the net :) If my family are not interested in my hobby or years of work.One day i will get round to making a will so i will leave all my papers for two trees, to the Chester & Cheshire Archives in chester.Because thats where my Jones originated from,and the other spread to,not sure where the London one will go :-\ I feel sorry for todays young children with so many women having illegitimate children.Some with different fathers to boot, fathers name not given on the birth cert.Not a care in the world that one day their children will want to know who their real dad was.This is one thing the law should change,all birth certificates should have the child's father entered on it. Not only for the first reason but also for future health reasons like the father of the child needs to traced to help his child.
Celia
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Civil Partnerships ....
At least they'll be easy to trace - they're public documents. And anyone tracing them will at least know there are no descendents to look for! :)
Does anyone know if the latest FTM allow one to record them? I can't record my own on my FTM2005. ::)
meles
Unless, for e.g. one of the partners already had children before entering into a civil partnership ? Like Bishop Gene Robinson in the USA ??
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But then the children would be linked to that marriage/partnership!
meles
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There won't be any research required! It'll all be available instantly from a wristwatch sized doohickey implanted somewhere. :)
Perhaps some of these won't happen until 2108 but they could still be theoretically be possible.
Everyone's DNA will be in one huge global-tree database with all of our brick walls knocked down.
They could get DNA samples from:
The PKA blood samples that have been taken from newborn children for decades (that's the prick on the heel they do to newborns).
Any letter you or your ancestors have ever sent might have DNA on the back of the stamp or the envelope flap. Letters from any identifiable historical figures will also be sampled.
We can already obtain DNA from woolly mammoths. Graveyards will become valuable sources of historical information.
My descendants will know who my second gt gran Diana had two illegitimate children with. :)
Every visit you made to every shop and what you bought throughout your entire life may be available, especially if you paid with plastic.
Instead of 'where was gt grandma in 1861?', they will be asking 'why did he buy a pregnancy test kit from Boots in dd/mm/2008?'. :) :)
Medical records may be available.
I recently discovered (from his army pension records) that my grandad was only 5'4''. They might be able to gain access to my X-rays!! :)
Online traces.
Every e-mail you've ever sent. Every phone call you've ever made. Every website you've ever visited.
Well, perhaps not, but that would be a pretty scary prospect wouldn't it?
This post might be discovered by my 7th gt grandchild. He/She/It will probably have a huge laugh at my naivety.
I certainly don't want to be around then. ::)
Paul
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They could get DNA samples from:
The PKA blood samples that have been taken from newborn children for decades (that's the prick on the heel they do to newborns).
Think you mean PKU- and don't think actual samples would be kept once test results come through.
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They could get DNA samples from:
The PKA blood samples that have been taken from newborn children for decades (that's the prick on the heel they do to newborns).
Think you mean PKU- and don't think actual samples would be kept once test results come through.
O.H. apologises humbly ... PKAU is correct. :)
'She who must be obeyed' believes they are archived on cards somewhere but my confidence in her has now taken a beating. :( She blames senility but I think it may be just her age. ;D
Paul
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Ah, the brave new world of DNA!! ::) ::)
It isn't going to solve all mysteries, Paul, no. My "disappeared" ones - goodness knows where their mortal remains lie! And even if you know where they were buried, but the cemetery has been cleared and the remains moved goodness knows where. There are also those who lie at the bottom of the sea. We might know what ship they were on, even where the wreck is - but the remains lie undisturbed!
MarieC
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The modern age is likely to generate so much data, it would be hard to search for what is relevent
Bob
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Hmmmm.... I suspect that DNA will not be the panacea that some are expecting it to be. Recently I have been doing some research on my father's first wife, and have found that she was a distant cousin of his second wife (my mother !). So, my half-brother is not only my half-brother, but he's also a very distant cousin. I should add that neither woman knew each other, and they were born in totally different counties, but one family line originated in Norfolk, and the other in Suffolk. DNA is really only useful for proving whether a man is the father of a child, or for locating an area in the world where a family came from, but it's not really going to help you trace your roots back to the middle ages or beyond.
If you do simple maths, and realise that every time you go back a generation you double the number of g.g.g...... grandparents responsible for you being here, it soon becomes apparent that you only have to go back about 10 generations for the number of people needed to produce you becomes very large. Go back about 15 to 20 generations, and the number of people exceeds the population of the UK at that time, so if your ancestors were "pure British", then you are DNA-related to everyone else in the UK with a "pure British" blood line (whatever that is ;) ).
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Give me paper any time !!
Couldnt agree more!
(Excellent point you make. Whatever 'new' system we save stuff on it will soon be obselete. Paper goes on and on - even in this so called paper less age we use more and more! Our very old computer only has a floppy disc drive, no USB or CD - was the latest thing at the time. Now the floppy disc drive has broken. Fortunately I have moved most important info off it, but just goes to show how IF I hadnt, that would now all be lost or else I would have to pay to get an obselete machine mended just to access info. but my pieces of paper that are far older that even that computer are still here, can look at them on a jiffy, can take them to show people, can take relevent bit to a record office... need I go on - cant beat it.)
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Give me paper any time !!
Couldnt agree more!
(Excellent point you make. Whatever 'new' system we save stuff on it will soon be obselete. Paper goes on and on - even in this so called paper less age we use more and more! Our very old computer only has a floppy disc drive, no USB or CD - was the latest thing at the time. Now the floppy disc drive has broken. Fortunately I have moved most important info off it, but just goes to show how IF I hadnt, that would now all be lost or else I would have to pay to get an obselete machine mended just to access info. but my pieces of paper that are far older that even that computer are still here, can look at them on a jiffy, can take them to show people, can take relevent bit to a record office... need I go on - cant beat it.)
One of my friends works in computers (he now runs his own consultancy), and in the early days when we first met, I was amazed to see his wife doing the household accounts using a pocket book and a pencil, and not on the shiny new BBC Model B computer which adorned their study in the early 1980's. When I asked him why his wife was using pencil and paper to do the accounts, and not the computer, his reply came back in 3 simple words.......
....... paper doesn't crash ! ;D