I would agree that the Internet has delivered spectacularly well in a few kinds of instruction. But if you're looking for raw, across-all-disciplines knowledge,

I would agree that the Internet has delivered spectacularly well in a few kinds of instruction. But if you're looking for raw, across-all-disciplines knowledge, books still win and it's not even particularly close. They shouldn't, but somehow they do. Library Genesis is probably the best free part of the Web by a country mile, as far as raw disseminating-human-knowledge goes, and it's supposed to be illegal. And its utility is based on... giving you free access to books, periodicals, and papers.