The paper vs. e-format longevity sub-thread is interesting. I'd add that most of us read not original 18th century copies but reprints. One of the most useful aspects of e-books ensuring their survival is the sheer number of copies that are out there. Sure, a paper copy of something from the 17th or 18th century might survive, but where is it? Anything rare ends up in a private collection or in a restricted library. (Anyone tried to borrow anything from UCLA's Clark lately?)
My point is that ebooks offer a chance to not only preserve a single copy of something, but to have nearly universal dissemination. And once machine translations get to the point of being accurate, that knowledge/information/story can be read by anyone who can access it and can read.
The other side is that we've lost so much that was on paper. Most of Western culture's basic texts we know only through Arabic translations, while many many of them are simply
gone.
