5 ms·
> information that isn't curated by a single source is a pretty fundamental discontinuity. Even in Ben Franklin’s time his paper was only one of at least four
by acqq 7y ago
> information that isn't curated by a single source is a pretty fundamental discontinuity.
Even in Ben Franklin’s time his paper was only one of at least four in Philadelphia.
- ghaff 7y agoI was mostly thinking of the science fictional trope of all mankind's knowledge being in a centralized thing-- e.g. Encyclopedia Galactica. For both societal and technical reasons (especially golden age) SF was often oriented towards benevolent centralized governments.
- msabalau 7y agoSure, they might not have predicted the extent to which knowledge could be "small pieces, loosely joined", but I'm not sure that in every case they are were creating centralized structures from first principles--generally there is one new concept they are exploring/pushing, and everything else is just rebranded things from their everyday life. The Encyclopedia Galactica is nothing more or less than "The Britanica.... IN SPACE!!!!" with no more or less authority implied. That being said, the general concept of knowledge in earlier sci-fi does seem curiously impoverished--everything worth knowing often can be held within the brain single computer/robot/polymath, or quickly established by proceeding axiomatically from a few observations.