The term gets thrown around a lot, almost in an ironic, joking way today.
People used to scale mountains to listen to the wise man speak. They used to wander through countryside to have their questions answered by the swami or the scientist. People used to sail across seas to access libraries that held only a few thousand scrolls.
Even ten years ago, if you wanted answers to a question, or wanted to learn some skill, the knowledge was harder to find. You might have reached for an encyclopedia or reference book, or called or emailed a knowledgeable friend, or physically gone somewhere in search of someone or something who possessed that knowledge. Information that was online was often spotty, or viewed with suspicion. If it wasn’t in a book, if it didn’t come from the expert’s mouth, how did we know it was right?
Now, most research starts and stops online. Wikipedia can settle nearly any dispute that arises over drinks. Khan Academy and MIT and Stanford online courses can teach you just about anything you want to know. There’s a youtube video that explains and demonstrates just about any physical skill you could ever hope to acquire. Even obscure, niche topics can be engaged in at the deepest level. Experts of every field you can imagine routinely publish articles and blog posts and tweets on their subjects. They post in forums and answer questions by email. All of this knowledge is just a few keystrokes away.
It’s amazing to think that all of this knowledge either didn’t exist or was shielded from the world just a decade ago. We really are in the age of information. Now that it’s out there, freely accessible for all, it’s even more amazing to think what’s coming in the next decade.
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