Digging to Knowledge

Imagine living in the dark under a pile of dirt. You are trying to dig your way out, but people keep tossing more dirt on top. Of course you can’t see them, but you can hear the shovelfuls landing. Years go by. Eventually you start to see some light. You widen the hole. You poke your head out. After a bit more struggle, your whole body is out. You brush yourself off and walk down the side of the hill. You take a minute to stand there and admire the sheer size of the pile. Then, you grab a shovel and join everyone else throwing more dirt on top.

With the passing of time it becomes more difficult to learn what others have learned before us. A few hundred years ago it was possible to read every book that was ever written. Today, a person is lucky if he can read just a fraction of the books published annually in his particular field. With so much information and no less urgency to contribute, it only seems reasonable to ask for a better system of digging our way out.