Another interesting and informative post @donkeypong! I taught History for years and learned some new facts myself here today...so thank you for that as well ;)
You're right; there really is so much information out there today that's it's impossible to know it all. The real problem is that there's so much false information as well, and the general population doesn't seem to know how to distinguish between the two.
I realise the necessity of 'dividing' groups of information, so that today you may be an expert in Literature, but not Math; Biology, but not Medicine. What seems sad about it all though, is that in the process, we seem to have forgotten that it all is intricately connected, and not separate entities.
Humboldt regarded Earth as one great living organism in which everything was connected.
I've never really thought about it in these terms but have instead attributed it to things like industrialisation, commercialism, materialism etc. So I guess your post has got me wondering about something entirely new...for me anyway.
As an aside, I love the last photo of Humboldt in his library. When I was growing up, I dreamed of having a library like that. Now I have my phone, laptop and e-reader haha (I have to laugh or I might just cry ;)
Cheers!
I'd still love a library like that, even with my devices. :)
Fair enough, me too...we would just need one shelf for that 'stuff' I guess anyway ;)