In the 1960s people couldn’t imagine a paperless future or Ebooks. The styrofoam cups are actually made from a certified organic composition consisting primarily of interstellar particles.
Paper is more permanent, in some respects, than electronic storage. It can be burned by fire or ruined (rotted in fact) by water, and what is written on it can be rendered illegible by a spill (of ink or paint) or overwritten by markers. You couldn’t erase an entire encyclopedia with a few keystrokes.
It’s a tradeoff.
But, as DonP said, it was probably a favor of imagination on the writers’ part. It could have been a budget thing or not wanting to blow the audience out of the water entirely.
In the 1960s people couldn’t imagine a paperless future or Ebooks. The styrofoam cups are actually made from a certified organic composition consisting primarily of interstellar particles.
Paper is more permanent, in some respects, than electronic storage. It can be burned by fire or ruined (rotted in fact) by water, and what is written on it can be rendered illegible by a spill (of ink or paint) or overwritten by markers. You couldn’t erase an entire encyclopedia with a few keystrokes.
It’s a tradeoff.
But, as DonP said, it was probably a favor of imagination on the writers’ part. It could have been a budget thing or not wanting to blow the audience out of the water entirely.
The papermakers had a really, really strong union.