On 17 January I wrote that about 70 years ago H.G. Wells
in his book World Brain (1938)
"envisioned a 'World Encyclopedia' in which multidisciplinary research information of a global nature would be gathered together and made available for the immediate use of anyone in the world".
Currently we see searching the WWW as an obvious activity, but search engines seem not just like a fulfillment of futurist H.G. Wells but also as a fulfillment of prophet Isaiah's vision for the end of time:
They shall not hurt nor destroy in my entire holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea
(Isaiah 11:9).
Isaiah is talking here about the unification of the opposites in the end of time:
When the waters cover the sea – there is no division between outside and inside since the sea is made of water. Waters have a very democratic nature since they try to be at the same level where ever they flow.
When knowledge will prevails (through search engines) there will be no illiteracy – they will become one.
Search engines give us democratic and fast access to vast amounts of knowledge and from this aspect humanity seems to be at the end of time. More democratic or faster retrieval or more people who have access to broad band internet connection will be more of the same. Nevertheless since quality of search results is not good and since illiteracy is still ubiquitous -I think the end of time is still far ahead, maybe more far ahead than our times seemed to H.G. Wells…
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