One of the greatest achievements of human civilisation is what we pass on to future generations, perhaps most important of all being accumulated knowledge. How has the digital age changed how such information is retained and given permanence?

Consider the following scenario. Tomorrow, some manner of unprecedented electromagnetic event scrambles every electronic chip on Earth. Every device, every item utilising electronics is now useless. All out technology taken from us. It would be utter chaos, with all the services we take for granted suddenly disappearing overnight. And yet, we would still be in an immeasurably better position than that of our ancestors two thousand years ago.

The reason for this is that we still retain our knowledge, a knowledge that has been built upon generation by generation. The process of rebuilding the first transistors and silicon chips would be a far easier prospect this time around, as those bricks have already been laid. Of course, the development of electronics has been comparatively rapid and recent, so this is also advantageous. But the concept remains sound.

We never start from scratch, as we keep records of our knowledge and achievements to accelerate the process for the next person who wants to follow in such footsteps. The expression “standing on the shoulders of giants” is particularly apt here; in physics, the long-accepted axioms of Einstein and Newton have provided the foundations for all kinds of other discoveries.

For the longest time, such information was preserved in the form of books and papers. However, not only did these take up space and take time to produce, but throughout history, disastrous incidents have occurred that resulted in the destruction of said knowledge. Consider the Library of Alexandria, burned down by Julius Caesar in 48 BC, at the time the largest library in the world. How much priceless knowledge was lost here?

The Information Age has revolutionised this. Not only can information proliferate, be backed up, passed on, copied, spread, but also, thanks to it taking up next to no space, we can store all kinds of information. Not only books, or reference – we can store masses and masses of minor information, non-specialised data; there is no longer ay distinction as to what is kept and what is not. And it is not limited to being the responsibility of a central body – it can just as easily be the province of the individual. It is one of the main reasons the Internet is such a boon for those studying home learning courses.

This will result in even more information being passed on to our descendants as our methods become ever more sophisticated. Not only how much information is left, but the decentralisation of such information storage will help preserve it, ensuring a more powerful leg-up for the next generation of learners.

Of course, this whole article will end up looking fairly foolish if the opening doomsday premise actually happens. In fact, no-one will be able to read it…