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SodaPopinski comments on Open thread, Feb. 9 - Feb. 15, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Are there things we should be doing now to take advantage of future technology. What I mean would be something like people who bank umbilical cord fluid for potential future stem cell usages. Another example would be if we had taken a lot of pictures of a historical building which is now gone, then we could use modern day photogrammetry to make a 3d model of it. A potential current example, suppose we recorded a ton of our day to day vocal communication. Then, some day in the future, a new machine learning algorithm could make use of the data. So what I am looking for is whether there are any potential 'missed opportunity' of this type we should be considering (posted similar question on futurology subreddit).
Also consider risks from future technology. For example, we might be able to "deanonymize" various public data records.
This is a major reason why I keep a private journal hosted online. Also why I won't lie on any part of my future security clearance application (because I'm sure most of the illicit things I've done are mentioned somewhere on facebook's/skype's servers, outside of my immediate account).
Somebody is going to mention cryonics here, so it might as well be me: Cryonic preservation! We don't have the brain scanning technology that would be needed to reproduce someone's mind based on physical access to their brain yet, but we can preserve the brain in good condition such that someone's mind could be reproduced/revived after their death in the future.
Also, about the getting lots of voice data for machine learning purposes: I'm sure the NSA has been doing something like that. If you just want to record yourself, a typical iPod Touch has good storage capacity for hours of audio and can record from inside a bag. The one thing is that some states require 2-party consent before a private conversation can be legally recorded, so even if you consent to record yourself, you might have to ask the other person for permission or stop recording. On the other hand, you probably wouldn't get in trouble for having an illicit audio recording unless you do something with it that leads to you getting caught, so just recording a conversation for personal use and not using it as evidence or posting it online would probably not get you in trouble.
In general collecting data is cheap and we're getting better at sorting and using it, so bias towards collecting data
Also focus on developing skills in areas unlikely to be automated anytime soon
That's a huge ethical issue is you likely don't have the permission from everyone with whom you are communicating. Storing the recordings safely is also an issue.
I've talked with someone who keeps a record of components of his blood. I'm not sure whether he saves blood samples or just numerical records.
His theory is that, since different healthy people can have very large differences in blood factors (sorry, i don't know which ones), he wants a record of his normal in case there's rejuvenation tech.
Use a bunch of resources, with the expectation that future technology will be enough more efficient to clean it all up.
And the complementary question: What should we not do because it will likely be superfluous in the future?
Examples:
Learning all kinds of facts (this is already mostly the case thanks to search engines)
Learning any languagse (except possibly a mainstream language like English if you speak only an endangered language)
Tagging images on your hard-drive
Entring data in a highly structured form for 'easy' retrieval (like person data as firs/last name, age, occupation...)
More can be inferred from http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/lor/discussion_of_concrete_neartomiddle_term_trends/