Pero Hear Me Out: I’m Building a Media Bunker
This week I heard about how 404 Media put a tracking device in a shipment of rare books to see which AI company was buying these books in bulk. They discovered an Amazon facility where Amazon scans and destroys these books (que locura). This news gave me deja vu because in July I read about Anthropic’s Project Panama and Sony’s decision to discontinue disc production in 2028 for future PlayStation games.
Tech companies started destroying physical media to train their LLMs specifically because they noticed these models were limited to internet content that is increasingly becoming AI influenced aka an ouroboros of AI slop. And now entertainment companies like Sony are deciding to control your ability to enjoy and share your favorite video games. This all sounds pretty dystopian to me but that may be because I grew up obsessively reading YA dystopian novels.
Since reading about all this I’ve decided to slowly start curating my own physical media library. I already have a lot of books because I prefer the physical option over digital formats or audiobooks. But now I’ve started to think about movies and TV shows that continue to bring me so much joy and appreciation for storytelling – media that I would be devastated to lose access to. Right now I am looking for a digital copy of my favorite Guillermo del Toro movie El Laberinto del Fauno. A movie that gave 11-year-old me horrific nightmares but is now a reminder of how fantasy helps me cope with emotionally dark times.
What about the media that holds a special place in your heart? What was the album that got you through a rough breakup, the anime that helped write your college essay, or the video game whose soundtrack transports you to magical worlds waiting to be unlocked? How would you feel if it was permanently behind a paywall?
Companies will always try to squeeze as much money out of us because they know we hold a profound connection to the deeply human art behind the product. These games, books, albums, movies, etc. may legally be a company’s intellectual property but their impact goes way beyond the scope of appeasing a bottom line. And personally this Florida orange is running out of juice sooo ¡basta y suficiente!
But tell me have you been building out your own physical media library? Any tips for starting one?
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