I work with databases. Old data sudden becomes corrupted, for no good reason. Or suddenly, old programs become inaccessible. They won't run on new machines, new networks. While most data (and most books) may not be worth preserving long term, you don't get to pick and choose what goes bad. It just goes -- good, bad, whatever. Paper is far more permanent than electronic media, even "bad" acidic wood pulp paper. I can still read old pulp paper books that are 100 years old, but some of my 1980-85 data at work is now garbage.
The move to electronic books will happen. A few diehards like me will still choose paper over ebooks, and small presses will still publish, but the masses are shifting to ebooks. I can see the convenience. But something is lost when you leave the physical artifact behind. It's a sort of evidence. Physical books and manuscripts can tell you things that are lost when it's an electronic text (while electronic text can reveal hidden changes by the author).
As for downloading books directly into your brain. I don't trust the world enough to give them access to my mind. And there's something that happens when you read that is more than just obtaining the information. It's a thought process. You lose that in a download. The "direct download" is not 10,000 year in the future. It's right around the corner.
ps... my wife, who works at a brick and mortar bookshop, found the Evergreen article (on-line, of course) and reminds me that thanks to email, collections of authors' letters are becoming a thing of the past. Email isn't saved like paper letters are. Archiving takes work, and people routinely delete emails to "save space." Sure, there will be collections of author emails, but with gapping holes thanks to changes in email provider and storage limits. And you won't see the scratch outs or doodles.
With ebooks, you get no signed & inscribed copies, no marginalia, no association copies, no handwritten corrections.
Ebooks really make sense for traveling. I'm not totally against them. I just think we lose more than we gain if they largely replace physical books.
