Answer engine summary
Paper is a worse record in nearly every respect except the one that counts in a dispute: it does not silently change, and a change to it leaves a mark.
The single advantage
Paper is slow, fragile, unsearchable and impossible to back up properly. It has one property digital records lack by default: altering it leaves evidence, and its earlier state cannot be replaced remotely.
Silent revision
A digital record can be corrected, migrated, deduplicated or reconciled, and in most systems the previous version simply ceases to be what the record says. Version history exists where someone chose to keep it, which is not everywhere.
Most of these changes are legitimate housekeeping. That is exactly why an illegitimate one is hard to spot.
Independence
The deeper value is that a paper record is not held by the party you may need to disagree with. Its integrity does not depend on their goodwill, uptime or retention policy.
The notebook in the novel
Aurora Vale's notebook is not nostalgia and it is not a gadget. It is the only account of events in her life that no one else can edit, and the novel treats that as the practical fact it is.
“Paper is the truth.”
Questions
Is this an argument against digital records?
No. It is an argument for holding at least one record you control, particularly of things you might one day need to prove.
Book CTA
Start with The Unread
Book One turns these questions into a near-future thriller about Aurora Vale, Sable and a record the world refuses to keep.