Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Kaufman
Does it strike anyone here as strange that the two authors, Alan Kaufman and Sherman Alexie, who stand up to oppose the hi-tech cestruction of books are each the sons of genocided people? Kaufman (me) is son of a Holocaust survivor; Alexie is Native American.
Perhaps we intuit something that you don't, about how trashing of sacred cultural
artifacts such as the book has genocidal implications that you all, in your haste to embrace all these toys, may be unaware of, through no fault of your own. We just happened to be born to genocided people. And we're trying to warn you, alert you, that despite all the reassurances that it won't happen, can't happen, etc., the fact remains: hi-tech is destroying books and book culture. The book world is in collapse. And this bodes terribly for our culture and civilixation. It is a step into barbarism of the worst kind, though one may not immedioately see this.
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As a counter, I cite myself. Of Polish descent, with many family members murdered during the Holocaust. And I disagree with both you and Alexie.
There is certainly a danger in moving to all-electronic in terms of government control. On a different note, the film
Rollerball had a world where all books were "digitized" but the AI in charge of all knowledge had grown senile and forgotten everything.
However, moving to e-Books does not equate to book burning. Books still exist, and are
easier to distribute than ever. That's something an oppressive government would not like. And libraries are still there. And taking precautions protects you from remote deletion. The far greater danger is that of owning certain books becoming criminal, which would lead to arrest and possibly death.
However, at this point, we are not replacing books, but adding a new format. Hardcover, paperback, ebook.
-Pie