Last week I found myself contemplating the age worn question: How high can a nine-banded armadillo jump in the air? Luckily, at the time I was sitting in the vicinity of a computer and a quick search on Wikipedia revealed that the answer is in fact: 3 – 4 feet. After letting this newly acquired piece of knowledge sink in, my thoughts turned to the speed at which I managed to find the answer and the way in which knowledge can now be instantly accessed by anyone who chooses.

We now live in an age where new lands can be discovered, not by sailing great ships into un-chartered waters or endlessly trekking across the most inhospitable corners of the globe, but instead at the click of a button in the safety of your own home by using Google Earth (see this). An age where to become an expert in something you no longer have to spend time and money studying in a learning establishment, instead you can kick back in a comfy chair and turn on your computer. An age where you can find out exactly what happened to Dave last Friday night after he had one too many tequilas, not by actually having a conversation with him but just by quickly glancing at Facebook.

Knowledge is no longer locked up in dusty books in unpopulated libraries. Instead it can be accessed by anyone in the blink of an eye and without the slightest bit of difficulty. The dissemination of knowledge is no longer elitist. Knowledge is power and in this new age of instant knowledge, power can be potentially gained by anyone who wants it. I wonder what implications this will have for society in the future. Surely having all of this knowledge at our finger tips can only create a more informed and consequently a more intelligent society and this can only be seen as a positive thing? Maybe I’m being too much of an idealist here.

This brings me on to talk about the providers of the knowledge such as Google. Google’s mission statement claims that its main objective is to organize all of the world’s information and to make it accessible for all. In a recent post I read entitled ‘The Brave New World of Knowledge’, Steven Stralser (the author) refers to Google as being in the business of “knowledge mining”. I thought this was an interesting concept. If knowledge is power then Google must surely be one of the most powerful organizations in the world. In effect you could say (in grand terms) that Google has the potential to control the world’s knowledge. Is this too much power for one private organization to have? So far it seems that Google hasn’t taken advantage of its position and have generally acted responsibly (read this) but I guess only time will tell…….