“As digital technology consolidates its conquest of the known universe, emptying our living spaces and assimilating our lives, all that will be left in our future is space. Lots and lots of empty space.” So says Michael Antman, in a commentary at Popmatters.com.

Inspired by the rise of Kindle/Google/et al, he considers this moment, when “the printed book is beginning to feel a cold chill running down its spine,” and “digital media is able to adopt the stance of the rebel, employing creative guerilla tactics against the monolithic and arrogant “mainstream media.” (The fact that the mainstream media has indeed been arrogant doesn’t help a bit, and it’s also true that the majority of online publications have to scramble to collect enough ad revenue to pay the bills.) It’s a neat trick: Digital media entrepreneurs somehow have become the fat and happy capitalists and the rebels with the weird sideburns all at once.”

In the end, he writes: “We take for granted that we live in an environment that is rich and varied and endlessly stimulating. But that richness is beginning to fade to white. And it isn’t happening only inside the walls of our homes: What, for example, will be the purpose of a library when, not too many years from now, every book ever written will be instantly accessible on one of the screens that we will hold before our eyes at every turn?”