book-scanning vs book-burning... you decide

the ny times just ran a nice article on google's book scanning project, couching it in the age-old dream of assembling all knowledge in one space: "Since [the library at Alexandria in 300 BC], the constant expansion of information has overwhelmed our capacity to contain it [...] until now."

the amount of info to scan is staggering: "From the days of Sumerian clay tablets till now, humans have 'published' at least 32 million books, 750 million articles and essays, 25 million songs, 500 million images, 500,000 movies, 3 million videos, TV shows and short films and 100 billion public Web pages." this would fit on 50 petabytes (the value of peta--which i previously thought to be ~zero
...just kidding, don't hatemail me--is 10^15).

google's goal for the project: "make it easier for people to find relevant books – specifically books they wouldn't find any other way such as those that are out of print – while carefully respecting authors' and publishers' copyrights." (obviously, they've had to deal with some po'd publishers already)

of course, i think most of us derive some simple, irreplaceable pleasure from reclining with a tangible book whose pages come from chopped-down trees. i doubt we have anything to fear. but even if we do face a future of exclusively digital print, at least it'll protect against the crazies at landover baptist. {note added later: to those concerned, the landover site is a parody on fundamentalist religion, specifically fundamentalist christianity. i don't share the views or the sentiment of its message. to the extent that its designers think it legitimately undermines thoughtful christianity or offers any serious response to spiritual conviction, i'd recommend they grow up. it's just a funny, stupid website.}