Paper.

[revjor]

Ever read a real comic book and then read a digital version of it? There's no comparison. Real comic book wins every time. Even webcomics are better when they are printed.

Paper is important and will remain so for a long time.

HD comics on Ipad3's retina screen smash paper comics. They look significantly better and more vibrant. I haven't bought more than a handful of comics since I got my ipad and that's because they aren't available digitally.

That's not even mentioning the "Infinite" comics Marvel has been making recently for ipad. They are spectacular and the first interesting step comics have taken in years.

Also I can hold HUNDREDS in one tiny device and not have to dedicate shelves and closets to comics.

 

[zehydra]

I have been thinking lately that in the technology age, why are we still using paper?

I mean an Ipad (for example) can hold much more information than million pieces of paper for about the same dimensions as about 20 sheets of paper, which would save a shit load of space (no more rooms dedicated to filing cabinets or even the odd one stuck in a corner) and it would be easier/quicker to find any document.

Last I looked, an iPad was a lot more expensive than a sheet of paper.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Because rock is so fucking op!
Nope, that's it. That's all I have to add to your meaningless thread on the uselessness of paper, because I honestly don't care. Personally I type everything I write though.

 

[Rainboq]

Batteries aren't to the level where we can just abandon paper. Additionally, there are situations where having a computer with documents on it won't be as safe as paper (see secure documents). Additionally, its a personal preference for many. Hell, people still use typewriters.

 

[Hagi]

Way I see it:

Paper is cheap and renewable, all the technology needed to mimic it is much more expensive and uses components that are much less renewable (and even if you can overwrite previous documents your device will still fail in a matter of years).

Paper is more reliable, a digital document can be altered without anyone noticing unless spending a lot of money on security measures. This is much harder with paper.

Paper doesn't require batteries and doesn't cost any money once produced.

Paper is physical and physical things often just feel better to many to own.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Paper is cheaper and can't run out of power.
Also, paper still works. It didn't stop working when we invented the computer.

 

[deathninja]

The immediacy of paper is useful; brainstorming, back-of-an-envelope calculations and quick notes and ideas just work easier than farting about with tech. Yes the end results inevitably end up in digital form, but for rough work you can't beat a pad and paper.

 

[RADIALTHRONE1]

If you drop a bundle of papers in a puddle, you can replace the paper for a few bucks. Drop an Ipad in a puddle...

...and you put it in a tub of rice (that you bought for a few bucks) for a week and everything is fine.

OT: I would say because paper is more tangible than and electronic document and such. Although there are alot of indicators of the change occuring, such as schools handing out codes for online versions of the textbooks.

EDIT-

The immediacy of paper is useful; brainstorming, back-of-an-envelope calculations and quick notes and ideas just work easier than farting about with tech. Yes the end results inevitably end up in digital form, but for rough work you can't beat a pad and paper.

Wait, do you mean pen and paper?

 

[omega 616]

I have been thinking lately that in the technology age, why are we still using paper?

I mean an Ipad (for example) can hold much more information than million pieces of paper for about the same dimensions as about 20 sheets of paper, which would save a shit load of space (no more rooms dedicated to filing cabinets or even the odd one stuck in a corner) and it would be easier/quicker to find any document.

Last I looked, an iPad was a lot more expensive than a sheet of paper.

Yeah, a single piece of paper is worth almost nothing.

Is the cost of cutting the tree down, dragging it away, cutting it up, turning it into paper, shipping it to where ever, delivering it to where ever, then paying for the stuff to use on the paper (pencils/pens or ink from a printer) not included in the cost? Then think how many pieces of paper a single office uses, they are always paper so they are always buying paper.

Buy 100 ipads and sure the initial cost is huge but in the long run it would be cheaper. It's like PS3 and 360, 360 was launched cheaper but with having to pay for the internet for the past 7(?) years hasn't it meant the 360 is more expensive?

 

[Evil Smurf]

Paper does not require batteries

 

[Risingblade]

Maybe because not everyone can afford to buy an Ipad? Besides it's cheaper to just buy paper, I'll spend what 5 bucks? for a semester's worth of paper instead whatever an Ipad costs nowadays. There's also not having to worry about the battery running out or getting it wet/dropping it. Doodling on paper is always fun too, paper airplanes/footballs.

 

[Innegativeion]

Because I don't want to wipe my ass with an I-pod?

True, true, but

Damn, when are we getting our nanobot-powered ass cleaners and flying cars?

COME ON SCIENTISTS, FUCK PLAUSIBILITY!

 

[The Funslinger]

-Snip-

It was just an example of how something tangible can often times offer a better experience than something digital. The day all comics go digital is the day I

Plus if we all start using e-readers, how can I emit smug superiority while reading a big, thick, intellectual looking book on a train?

OT: I think just because something can be made universally electronic doesn't mean it should. I think paper, especially in the context of books just gives a more pleasant feel to the whole thing. We'll get rid of books, and then a gimmick step for e-readers will be 'looks just like a real page! Buy now, and we'll even give you a faux hardback book style case for your kindle!'

Also, it would stamp out book shops once and for all. Right now, I'm certainly dubious about anything that means there are less jobs in the world when the worth of the 'benefits' are so disputed.

 

[Gatx]

Why has no one made a steam comparison. I've seen plenty of people respond in other threads about how they prefer having a physical copy to having something that's "in the cloud," for various reasons like reliability or sense of ownership, and I think the same applies to keeping records on paper vs. digitally. There's really just too many ways things can go wrong when you depend solely on electronic data keeping.

Also I just enjoy having physical books. I think having fully stocked bookshelves makes me look learned. There's also a lot more to the experience of reading from a book than the words - holding the book in your hands, the feel of the paper, the smell (especially if it's a library book), but that might all just nostalgia really. It's the difference between listening to music off a record in a room with nice acoustics vs. an mp3 on an iPod while jogging I guess?

 

[Twilight_guy]

Yes, but my paper works even if electricity goes out. It survives EM pulses and data corruption. It bears my unique imprint in the form of a hard to copy format called handwriting. It is universal and can be used by any person and system regardless of location, No OS problems. I also is easier to utilized for non-standard activities, rather then writing a new program, I simply draw my markings in a a new way or use a new tool on it. It also is a longer term storage device then most modern methods since it will store data for centuries, which magnetic storage wont. It is however more flammable, unless you laminate it.

Paper may be an old concept but electronic devices are not a superset of it, so they can't fully replace it.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Even Billion dollar government security systems can be hacked. But you know what can't be hacked? My piece of paper with stick men on it.

 

[laggyteabag]

Think about school, its a lot cheaper to give everybody work sheets and books, than to buy everybody an iPad or laptob. My school has over 600 students in it, imagine if they had to buy everyone an iPad or laptop, the school would get very poor, very quickly.

You also wouldnt exactly trust the younger students with a piece of equipment that expensive anyway, so its just more cost efficient to stick it out with paper for a few more decades.

 

[Unit72]

If you dont want to read all this down here ill just say this one thing....
Punctuation and remembering to capitalize is done much easier on paper. Im sure we can all agree sometimes we are too lazy to hold shift, or remember where the '";:\}{/%($*#& keys are on a keyboard! For god sakes! We are so lazy we abreviate alot of things just to type less. OMG GTG C ya l8er.



In regaurds to books. Books are orginized much like dvd cases are, by thier spines. Ask yourself when your looking for a book to read is it easier to stare at a bookshelf looking at the various titles in different fonts and diffrent colored spines more or less appealing than going to an index of all the books you digitaly own staring at the book covers while scrolling down? Looking at the cover rather than spine (for me anyway) is a little too distracting. Sure it sounds like a weak stupid excuse but really think about it before you outright reject it.

I get that by paperless you mean more in the professional world more than books/toilet paper. So what does one do about recipts or emails that need to be read in courts? What about providing official documents from companies in regaurds to testimonies or estimates, the only way to know its legit is through the letterhead its printed/written on. Seems easy to fake a digital letterhead but a physical one? For emails do you just hand over your Ipad open to your email inbox? Let the judge see all the mails you recieve? You could cut and paste to a word pad but thats not good enough since it could just be you writng that out yourself.

This isnt a big business thing but casually when i play mmo's there are times where i need to create branching lists with numbers or symbols attatched to them. Where i say i need to craft a shirt so i need 1 cotton/6 thread but that needs 2 spider webs each and 3 clumps of raw cotten ect ect... Microsoft word and notepad are difficult for creating branching trees. So i gotta get the software adding to yet another program i will need to refer to before going about what i need done, and ensureing its updated or if it requires additional software such as how youtube needs flash. Where as with paper i put it down grab a pencil and get on it. Getting a document with both english and japanese and or russian alphebets is also a little more time consumeing when not on paper.

 

[geierkreisen]

Is the cost of cutting the tree down, dragging it away, cutting it up, turning it into paper, shipping it to where ever, delivering it to where ever, then paying for the stuff to use on the paper (pencils/pens or ink from a printer) not included in the cost? Then think how many pieces of paper a single office uses, they are always paper so they are always buying paper.

Buy 100 ipads and sure the initial cost is huge but in the long run it would be cheaper. It's like PS3 and 360, 360 was launched cheaper but with having to pay for the internet for the past 7(?) years hasn't it meant the 360 is more expensive?

- transport costs: Most of the paper I buy in Germany has never had to cross continents (Skandinavia --> Germany) to get to where I am, unlike electronic gadgetry that is almost exclusively made in Asia. Short route transport by truck or train beats long route transport by ship or plane any day. Let's not even talk about who you want to buy your stuff from. I buy European as often as I can.

- limited resources: The precious metals and other limited ressources needed for the production of electronic devices have become scarcer, more expensive and more environmentally problematic to acquire by the minute over the last five years. There has been a shortage in rare earth elements with China being the only large provider unfairly raising prices again and again. Sensible recycling is, as of now, not being done. Trees simply grow.

- cost effectiveness: Usually, when something is really cheap in a capitalist system, it is easy to come by and really cheap to produce. 2500 pages of printer paper cost about 16? on Amazon and are easily recyclable. For the 780? that an iPad 3 costs on Amazon, you initially get 121.875 pages of crisp white printer paper and in the long run way more recycled paper products. If the paper is not needed any more, it can be burnt for energy (CO2-neutral).

- disposal: an iPad is toxic waste and its elements much harder to recycle than paper. The life period of an iPad is, let's say, five to seven years. I still have documents from 20 years ago (I'm 33). My oldest book is from 1875.

As could be easily demonstrated, your economic argumentation doesn't hold water. And first you want all paper gone and suddenly you limit yourself to office application only when someone comes and says "what about drawing and painting on paper?". Paper has been and will be essential to humanity. Old tech coexists with new tech and is not and will never be completely replaced.

Think things through next time, will ya?