> Just a recent tidbit: I think it is Anthropic that is buying old (some antique, vintage) books, scanning them, then pulping them.

I wouldn't be surprised if all the companies are doing that, and Anthropic was just the featured company that had someone talk about it.

>The other day I was sitting around doing nothing and suddenly out of the blue dreamed up an app that could help build community regarding an activity I care a lot about.

Wish you the best of luck. But from my honest experience: the hardest part of building community was never the technology.