Furthermore, as with all technology, formats for data storage are subject to frustratingly short periods of relevance. And every time a new format is developed data needs to be rewritten onto the newest devices at a huge cost.

So, in a beautiful piece of irony, the solution to overcome the obsolescence of technology is to store our data on nature’s hard drive – the double helix Jesus-piece. Predictably the specifics of how this works are beyond the comprehension of most readers but essentially the process involves arranging the four acids which comprise DNA into a simplistic code similar to binary.

This technique is so efficient that it would be possible to fit all the world’s data in the back of a transit van.

Rather than just arriving at this wonderful solution and returning to the bar the two scientists have gone one step further in their plan; and this is where things get really far out.

In this hypothetical post-apocalyptic scenario whoever repopulates the planet will presumably have no knowledge of any pre-existing human languages and so would have to be led by the hand to the revelation of our once great intellect.

To do this the storage facility for our DNA database would need a few simple instructions. First we would need to symbolically indicate that what was is in front of these creatures is DNA and depict an idiot-proof guide as to how to extract the information stored within the DNA.

Once our cockroach/dolphin/alien successors have wrapped their horrifying heads around the significance of the DNA database the next step is to relate this to the data stored within the vials. To do this a Rosetta Stone 2.0 would be designed. Just as the first one allowed us to understand hieroglyphics through our understanding of Greek this one would illustrate the link between the data coded in the DNA and our contemporary modes of communication.

For example a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey would be present next to the same written in the DNA code (after all we wouldn’t want to delude these guys into thinking we were that venerable).

Finally the inheritors of the Earth would step through a beaded curtain or some other such awe inspiring vestibule into a chamber housing the entirety of human knowledge. Voilà all of our achievements safe for eternity and accessible for evermore.

Below is a detailed diagram of what this temple of intelligence could look like: