> the intern can burn down the entire library of Alexandria with the wrong SQL statement

It's a little ironic to come down negatively on digital data because it can be accidentally deleted easily, when you're comparing it to a library that literally burned down.

> Digital record preservation is hard and gets a lot harder the longer term you try to do it.

Physical record preservation is not walk in the park, either. It's not like paper can just be stored in any old fashion and be expected to not degrade over time.

And with digital records, you can back them up in several different physical locations. With physical records, you're one fire, one burst pipe, one mistake in storage or handling from losing it.