Interesting subject and even more interesting opinions and ideas.
Just some thoughts:
- What was the original reason people wrote down and published their studies, research, philosophies, music, poetry, etc? To share their knowledge with their contemporary fellow men or to save it for prosperity, for us, to read and learn?
- What's the longevity of all our data in the various digital formats? From personal experience, this is an issue in the aerospace industry with a 30 year time span. So how accessible will all the digital data be in, let's say, a century?
- What will be the destiny of our personal libraries, collected with patience and love, once we no longer have a need for them? The circular archive?
Personally, I find the current day and age, with an almost limitless accessibility to data, a blessing, so yes, I often use digital data formats. But every so often I come across a book, or a piece of music, or a beautiful picture I just want to have a tangible copy of. Is that rational? Probably not. Satisfactory? Absolutely!
My assumption is that everyone has his own rationale behind using the digital formats or establishing his own library, music- or picture collection and the beauty behind this all is; you don't have to apologize nor do you have to explain your choices.
So I use whatever I'm comfortable with, both virtual and tangible.
Johan