Our old idea of knowledge shaped itself around the strengths and limitations of its old medium, paper (Image: Fahid Chowdhury/Flickr/Getty Images)
IN RECENT years, controversies over issues ranging from the possibility of faster-than-light neutrinos to the wisdom of routine screening for prostate cancer have increasingly raged outside the boundaries of peer-reviewed journals, and involved experts, know-nothings and everyone in between. The resulting messiness is not the opposite of knowledge. In the internet age it is what knowledge looks like, and it is something to regret for a moment, but then embrace and celebrate. Knowledge is fast reshaping itself around its…
