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The original copies of the magna carter, all written on sheepskin, are still intact and legible after eight centuries. In contrast, the hardbound, acid-free, b

by biofox 2y ago

The original copies of the magna carter, all written on sheepskin, are still intact and legible after eight centuries. In contrast, the hardbound, acid-free, books from my undergraduate days are falling apart.

TeMPOraL 2y ago
Biology doesn't optimize for shareholder revenue.
ben_w 2y ago
I think that says a lot about the books from your undergraduate days. My brother has some historical documents from our family history that I got a chance to look at last time I was in the UK, one of which is a will from 1872. Looks like it's hand-inked, with extra pencil marks. I have no reason to suspect it's been maintained under exceptionally carefully controlled conditions, normal domestic conditions are much more likely. And it seems fine. Similar for the family multi-volume book series on, IIRC, world history; the final volume in the series was hastily added, because it was about the Napoleonic Wars which had only just happened. (I don't know what happened to those books, mum didn't want to keep them when dad died). Also: 1) this is for all laws, not just special ones — I can understand that at some point the UK government will pass a law that people might like to coo over the physrep of in a museum in 2524 A.D., but it's not likely to be the text of "High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill": https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3094 https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3094 2) We used vellum for Magna Carta back in the day, because we didn't have anything better to write on. The actual information content today is recorded and transcribed, shared on the web. How long will the web last? For as long as people care to maintain the records. The future won't get to see 'interesting mistakes' because such would be destroyed as incorrect representations of the thing parliament debated. Even the physicality of the documents won't tell the future generations about the people who lived today, because vellum is now just a weird thing nobody else does. Printing these things on vellum is creating an artefact for no other purpose than to have an artefact — we may as well carve them into stone if the point is to have longevity.

by biofox 2y ago

TeMPOraL 2y ago

Biology doesn't optimize for shareholder revenue.

ben_w 2y ago

I think that says a lot about the books from your undergraduate days. My brother has some historical documents from our family history that I got a chance to look at last time I was in the UK, one of which is a will from 1872. Looks like it's hand-inked, with extra pencil marks. I have no reason to suspect it's been maintained under exceptionally carefully controlled conditions, normal domestic conditions are much more likely. And it seems fine. Similar for the family multi-volume book series on, IIRC, world history; the final volume in the series was hastily added, because it was about the Napoleonic Wars which had only just happened. (I don't know what happened to those books, mum didn't want to keep them when dad died). Also: 1) this is for all laws, not just special ones — I can understand that at some point the UK government will pass a law that people might like to coo over the physrep of in a museum in 2524 A.D., but it's not likely to be the text of "High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill": https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3094 https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3094 2) We used vellum for Magna Carta back in the day, because we didn't have anything better to write on. The actual information content today is recorded and transcribed, shared on the web. How long will the web last? For as long as people care to maintain the records. The future won't get to see 'interesting mistakes' because such would be destroyed as incorrect representations of the thing parliament debated. Even the physicality of the documents won't tell the future generations about the people who lived today, because vellum is now just a weird thing nobody else does. Printing these things on vellum is creating an artefact for no other purpose than to have an artefact — we may as well carve them into stone if the point is to have longevity.