3 ms·
“Rare books” usually refers to rare editions of books. Any books out there where there are only a few extent copies of the text itself, are probably not of very
by emtel 1mo ago
“Rare books” usually refers to rare editions of books. Any books out there where there are only a few extent copies of the text itself, are probably not of very much interest or social value, since almost no one is able to read them, by definition.
If you think there is priceless knowledge locked up in books so rare that it is on the verge of being lost forever, then AI labs are not really the problem!
- zahlman 1mo agoThe object itself is the valuable thing, not necessarily the text. Why are so many in the discussion overlooking something so obvious?
- jambalaya8 1mo agoSome people take used books and bleach out the text. Like that? I am pretty sure both have value, depending on whom you ask, but it seems dangerous to enable a sort of thought process that suggests if someone decides "humankind" needs something of yours, they can just demand you hand it over or let other people use it or have it even if you want to toss it. Like far worse than eminent domain law. Like, what if someone decided your personal diary was one of those books? Shiver.