Once invented, it cannot be improved

This is Not the End of the Book by Philip Marchand.

A discussion on the nature and future of the book with Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carriere. Eco on the future of the book in an electronic age:

“One of two things will happen,” Eco continues in his march of logic. “Either the book will continue to be the medium for reading, or its replacement will resemble what the book has always been, even before the invention of the printing press. Alterations to the book-as-object have modified neither its function nor its grammar for more than 500 years. The book is like the spoon, scissors, the hammer, the wheel. Once invented, it cannot be improved.”