An inkling, perhaps.
They knew that they were making a record for posterity. That became an important thing to many of them.
I now wonder about the transience of our own lives. Everything is recorded ... but nothing may be remembered.
I wonder who(or what) will one day eons from now be reading the ancient archives of the UT?
Of course I guess, with reincarnation, that I could be reading (re-reading) this very thread.