No, we just took our experience from the real world and applied it to this new-fangled communications thingy. Physical things can "stick around forever" if cared for properly. There's no law that says I have to destroy my things after some period of time.
Now that we have digital copies of things, those copies are made of intangible ephemeral bits that are copied repeatedly to get them from one place to another. I think the author's statement that you quote overlooks that digital things are analogies of physical things- physical things that we've expected to last for as long as we like.
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"...decided..."
No, we just took our experience from the real world and applied it to this new-fangled communications thingy. Physical things can "stick around forever" if cared for properly. There's no law that says I have to destroy my things after some period of time.
Now that we have digital copies of things, those copies are made of intangible ephemeral bits that are copied repeatedly to get them from one place to another. I think the author's statement that you quote overlooks that digital things are analogies of physical things- physical things that we've expected to last for as long as we like.