British Library Blogs

This is only partially true: with online storage, it's relatively easy to make bit-for-bit identical copies even if the physical storage medium changes over the years because there's always an overlap period when a technology falls out of favor.

Where it gets expensive is when you neglect to do that and then 50 years from now someone is pulling a Zip disk or LTO tape out of a box and wondering how to read it.

In contrast, analog formats will always lose quality as you copy it so you have a strong incentive to make copies which will last as long as possible. If you get the right material it might be transferable in the future with no work – e.g. high-quality photographic prints on archival-quality stock – or you might end up needing to build exotic equipment which can do things like optically scan records to reconstruct an audio waveform (http://irene.lbl.gov) or deal with media which has disintegrated (https://www.nedcc.org/audio-preservation/irene-blog/2014/08/12/delaminating/). One look through e.g. http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/collectioncare/index.html should be enough to see limited a time period “no extra work” is valid for.

The common theme for both formats is that it's critical to maintain the ability to read and make copies. Once something falls out of common usage the cost to rebuild that capacity go up dramatically because you're no longer enjoying mainstream economies of scale and the work will increasingly require skilled technicians using bespoke…

Cows and other animals have been intentionally bred to become bigger.

If you look at medieval illustrations of shepherds and farmers [0], one thing that strikes you is just how small all the animals are. Even in relation to the medieval humans who were significantly shorter than us.

It had its advantages - for example, a leaner, smaller animal can walk long distances and won't get stuck in swampy ground. But it doesn't give you a lot of anything - hide, meat, milk... Nowadays, we have huge animals, which nevertheless have to be transported by trucks. No longer capable of walking 50 miles from the lowland to the mountains to graze.

[0] https://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/.a/6a00d8341c464853ef01b8d186fbc6970c-500wi

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3d/Medieval_pig_slaughter.jpg/358px-Medieval_pig_slaughter.jpg

https://imgcdn.stablediffusionweb.com/2024/11/21/ce988f0d-9e6a-4a5c-84ea-05dd04c9f1ee.jpg - note how the cow barely reaches Villon's waist!