Over time, this role as the memory of the universe became the most important purpose of intelligent life.
Civilizations no longer measured their success by how many planets they controlled or how far they had traveled. Instead, they measured it by how much knowledge they had preserved and how accurately they had recorded the truth of the cosmos. Their greatest achievements were not new empires, but archives that could survive for millions of years.
In many habitats, large halls were built where the most important discoveries were displayed in simple and clear forms. These were not museums meant only for celebration. They were quiet places of learning where people could walk through the history of their species and the history of the universe at the same time.
