That's kind of horrifying in itself, considering I don't think there's a viable alternative for (WORM) mid-to-long term data storage most people have access to.

Of course, in practice with optic media you may stumble upon varying forms of bit rot, scratches or recording errors so it's definitively not the be-all and end-all, but still, I've got CDs recorded 30 years ago I can still read in modern systems and that I won't wipe by accident.