Hold My Data

This post is about data snapshots, backups and archives, why we create and keep them, and how this entire exercise can be seen from top-down and bottom-up in a business setting. What will follow is not a practical guide. It will start as philosophical and psychological musings. Then, I will try to establish a glossary for reference. Finally, I will offer a conceptual framework to assess the value in a business setting. Personal Motivation I like to hoard and organize. Sometimes, I joke that my calling is to fight entropy. You will not find anyone around me who appreciates the profession of a librarian or an accountant more than I do. Librarians enumerate knowledge, and accountants sort numbers. Their methods are results of centuries of hard work and experience. In essence, they create and maintain information structures, which in return enable their users to navigate to create further knowledge and value. On the other hand, unlike what librarians and accountants have, our methods are in their infancy. Industrial revolution is a toddler compared to the history of human knowledge. Information revolution is just a newborn. Figuring the right methods and creating the right structures when programming or architecting a software system are still big challenges. Failing to do so leads to tears as our projects grow, if they survive at all. Psychological Aspect I keep lots of data. All kinds of data! When not enough, my programs generate even more data for me to keep, such as logs, metrics, ephemeral files, and so on. I worry about losing them. Deleting data is not in my vocabulary. It makes me very nervous. But I know that hoarding has limits and comes with a price tag. Organizing kept data is one challenge, forgetting it rightfully is another. I do not know if my obsession is due to a neuro-divergent condition, a trauma or purely cultural reasons which I am not aware of. I just need peace. Philosophical Aspect Occasionally, I amuse myself asking GPT seemingly incoherent questions. I asked it recently, along the lines of: Why would data backups matter from a philosophical perspective? Here are some aphorisms I got back:

May 4, 2025 - 17:45

This post is about data snapshots, backups and archives, why we create and keep them, and how this entire exercise can be seen from top-down and bottom-up in a business setting.

What will follow is not a practical guide. It will start as philosophical and psychological musings. Then, I will try to establish a glossary for reference. Finally, I will offer a conceptual framework to assess the value in a business setting.

Personal Motivation

I like to hoard and organize.

Sometimes, I joke that my calling is to fight entropy. You will not find anyone around me who appreciates the profession of a librarian or an accountant more than I do.

Librarians enumerate knowledge, and accountants sort numbers. Their methods are results of centuries of hard work and experience. In essence, they create and maintain information structures, which in return enable their users to navigate to create further knowledge and value.

On the other hand, unlike what librarians and accountants have, our methods are in their infancy. Industrial revolution is a toddler compared to the history of human knowledge. Information revolution is just a newborn. Figuring the right methods and creating the right structures when programming or architecting a software system are still big challenges. Failing to do so leads to tears as our projects grow, if they survive at all.

Psychological Aspect

I keep lots of data. All kinds of data! When not enough, my programs generate even more data for me to keep, such as logs, metrics, ephemeral files, and so on. I worry about losing them. Deleting data is not in my vocabulary. It makes me very nervous.

But I know that hoarding has limits and comes with a price tag. Organizing kept data is one challenge, forgetting it rightfully is another.

I do not know if my obsession is due to a neuro-divergent condition, a trauma or purely cultural reasons which I am not aware of. I just need peace.

Philosophical Aspect

Occasionally, I amuse myself asking GPT seemingly incoherent questions. I asked it recently, along the lines of:

Why would data backups matter from a philosophical perspective?

Here are some aphorisms I got back: