From what I understand, a lot of knowledge was lost following the collapse of the Roman Empire as manuscripts were no longer being copied at the established frequency and information that had lost relevance (for certain jobs etc.) wasn’t being passed down.
If a catastrophic event were to happen nowadays, how much information would we theoretically lose? Is the knowledge of the world, stored digitally or on printed books, safer than it was before?
All the information online for example - does that have a greater chance of surviving millennia than say a preserved manuscript?
Just a quick correction, but there are 5 generations to a century, a generation is 20 years.
Arguably, the time from when a girl is born until she becomes a mother herself is rising significantly.
That time might have been 20 years a century ago but is closer to 25-30 years in western countries now.