I think about used book stores, libraries, the library of congress, and just shelves in people's homes. All of that allows books to survive, when they're printe

I think about used book stores, libraries, the library of congress, and just shelves in people's homes. All of that allows books to survive, when they're printed enough, and people actually want them. Lots of books, magazines, newspapers do not survive because nobody wants to read them. We don't keep a super-archive of every piece of paper ever published, because we acknowledge that it's OK for things to die. Important things we keep, useless things we throw away. It's irrational to hoard garbage. So really, all we need is to proactively decide what we do want to save, and save it as soon as it's published. Maybe also provide a "digital shelf" for people to keep their own copies, and a standard way to search for and distribute that information, like NNTP + Gnutella for e-books (along with some features to avoid being sued a la DMCA). The rest should be allowed to rot like fallen logs in the woods.