[lmm]

The difference is that text is, so to speak, digital. You can't copy a picture without information loss, but ten thousand people can copy a written sentence from each other and end up with exactly the same sentence at the end. If you're worried about "information", we can read political tracts from the second century and still understand what's meant - whereas the intended meaning of paintings or even plays from the same time period can completely pass us by.

[Tsukiko]

I think the person you are replying to meant symbols when he said "pictures". People aren't copying the text but the symbols. Even if the symbols were more picture-esque there wouldn't be information loss unless the symbols were too complex.