The Forgotten Library -- Why Did Humanity Keep Copying Books? --
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between writing, memory, and the survival of knowledge across generations. Although writing enabled humanity to externalize memory, written records remained vulnerable to decay, destruction, and loss. Manuscript copying offered a way to reproduce information, but the time and effort required meant that not every work could be preserved. The paper suggests that civilization is shaped not only by what it remembers, but also by what it forgets, and that our understanding of the ancient world rests on a limited collection of surviving fragments.
Author: Sugawara, Akihito
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7222899072
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