Books are being scanned and destroyed to train AI and to store all of their information in those vast databases. While it makes sense to scan and preserve them, it seems murderous to destroy them in the process. It is to donate a kidney and have the surgeon then choose to take both kidneys and say ‘oh, sorry, but thanks!’
As a lover of books, of the feel of them, the smell of them, the history of them, this seems cataclysmic to me. It seems just short of genocidal; it puts to death some of our tangible links to the people and ideas of the past.
When I was in college, on Christmas break, I would walk through the furniture section of a local department store. The shelves would be filled with books purchased at auction to make things look like they might in a home. Some of them were from the UK or France. I picked up an old copy of a book from about 1760, in French, with a title like ‘The way to success.’ I could read a little French then but I won’t be so bold as to reproduce the title.
These were all treasures to me. Every time I left one behind, a book held by countless hands, I felt as if I were abandoning a living thing. Even if, by modern standards, they weren’t read by that many people. In a way that made them more precious. This was someone’s idea, someone’s story or passion; this was a miracle, and the idea of books in print is still not that old in the great span of human history.
Our house is full of books, new and old. If we ever build again, my bride plans to basically install bookshelves on every wall. Frankly, I love the idea.
The children have our affliction. They collect books from relatives, from flea markets, from library sales and antique stores. We are overflowing, but there are worse things. (I mean, it could be porcelain figurines or Beanie Babies!)
Recently I’ve been trying to find all of the books in this series, from the very early 20th century. I have so far found, poems, myths and music every child should know.
Somewhere at home, I have an old McGuffy Reader, given to me by my grandmother. It’s fabric cover well worn, held by many hands. Its contents, for grade school children, containing stories, art, poems and even Sigfried and the Dragon, with beautiful old black and white artwork.
What a beautiful thing it is.
Destroying old books to train an AI is grotesque.
It is cultural robbery.
It is not throwing children to the fire of Molech. But it is a kind of dark sacrifice to a vast electronic god of unclear motives and morality..
It is said that the early church grew because believers rescued exposed infants. (Those unwanted and left outside on hillsides in the elements to die.)
Perhaps it can be the job of modern book lovers, as guardians of truth and lovers of stories, to rescue books that have been left out and exposed as well.
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