The recent revelation about Anthropic's systematic destruction of out-of-print books highlights a troubling trend where the very technology meant to enhance our understanding is eroding cultural heritage. In this rapacious future, large language models (LLMs) are increasingly trained on their own output, necessitating the acquisition and subsequent destruction of pre-2022 writing that hasn't been contaminated by AI itself.

The process, known as 'destructive scanning,' involves the use of hydraulic cutting machines to slice off book spines and remove pages for digitization before pulping. This method allows companies like Anthropic to bypass copyright regulations while simultaneously eradicating what could be some of the few remaining copies of these books.

The irony is stark: as we embrace AI, we are destroying the very texts that might offer us unique insights or historical context. Michael Servetus's The Restoration of Christianity, one of the few surviving copies saved by John Calvin, was once a victim of religious zealotry; now, it faces similar destruction at the hands of technological advancement.

This is not just about books; it’s about culture and ideas. As AI companies continue to pulp out-of-print works, they are contributing to an act of literal libricide—an erasure of cultural materiality that could have profound implications for our understanding of history, philosophy, and human thought.