It's not just the commoditization, but our efficiency. Searching for information is oodles easier (to use a technical term ;) than it has been (say pre-google/

It's not just the commoditization, but our efficiency. Searching for information is oodles easier (to use a technical term ;) than it has been (say pre-google/wikipedia). Furthermore, on-line communities like HN filter up all of the more interesting new pieces of information resulting in much quicker dissemination of good ideas.