Ten secretaries had to follow each robber baron around, write down his commands, and distribute them to the undersecretaries who would copy them for everyone else. Yes, this was the copying revolution. In the years since, the copy has moved from physical reality to virtual reality. Oh sure, we print our vast design documents and send them to managers, coworkers, clients, and legal departments. A copy is just the ghost of a reminder of a word's actuality.
Actual words mean less every day.
Students download term papers from the Internet and wonder why teachers get upset when they find out. The old monks did, of course, but that was a long time ago. If you have a copy, you don't need to read it, at least not right now. It's always there if you need it. If you have a copy, you're legally protected.