There’s a lot of different views about the purpose of life or lack thereof, but for all except a few beliefs, having access to past writings is very important.
Humanity is only at the very beginning of its existence. The success or failure of projects like the Internet Archive will drastically change our future.
If you think the loss of the Internet Archive won’t significantly current day activities, you’re wrong. Besides the fact that the IA holds the only easily accessible copies of many websites from the 90s and early 2000s, there is the “my legacy” factor.
Do you think people would have commissioned statues of themselves if they knew they were going to be vandalized and torn down in a protest 100 years later?
Even though we may try to stop our egos affecting our decisions, they still play a huge role. Mathematicians don’t just write papers to further the field, they also do it to gain notoriety and leave a legacy.
I know that if I write a blog post, it will be unavailable from its original source within 20 years. But that’s OK! The Internet Archive will store a copy and someone many generations from now will be able to read my humble writings. Oh... but the IA was shut down because its leadership decided to be philanthropic during a period of human history that lacked freedom of information. I’m going for a walk instead.
Perhaps the “my legacy” effect has only a marginal influence on how many authors decide to put pen to paper, but it’s still something. It’s hard to measure, so if it’s plausible that it could be significant, we should act appropriately.