The printing press and education ecosystem it sparked was way more important for modernity than people give it credit for. Sure, people were motivated to read b

The printing press and education ecosystem it sparked was way more important for modernity than people give it credit for. Sure, people were motivated to read because they wanted to read the bible, but the skills were most useful for general education and bettering the quality of life. Imo, one reason Europe is behind digitally nowadays is related to taking the advantage that the printing infrastructure sparked for granted. Information technology and the democratisation of knowledge didn't start with computers, the're several IT milestones that improved the quality of life substantially, from fighting nature for survival and having no distributable time to asking yourself each morning what you're going to learn today. You can do anything you want, every niche you can find has inward paths that you can follow, and becoming good at something only depends on the time you're willing to invest. Having distributable time and developing skills in areas that interest you is pure luxury.