"Of the billions of pages on the vaunted Internet, how many are accurate and how many contain false information? Is library usage up or down?"
How many pages of books are accurate and how many contain false information? The ratio is probably quite similar, but on the Internet it is easy to find other sources to confirm or deny - and there's more information available on the sources than a paragraph of exaggerations on the back of the dust jacket.
Libraries are revamping themselves to encompass this wider world where books don't need to be on the shelf, and can even be printed to order.
" . . nor suffer the catastrophe of serendipitously discovering something whilst researching something else."
Absolute Bullshit! Bullshit piled to a hundred orders of magnitude.
Have you ever even used the Internet (except to read Communist propaganda)?
When researching a particular food topic, I'm often distracted into a dozen distantly related or even unrelated subjects - and I can get to them in seconds. Things like the Crimean War, a lady pirate who once ruled the China Seas and defeated the Portuguese and the British, makeshift artillery used by the Boers in South Africa, Colossal Squid, tunnels under the Mexican pyramids . . the list goes on forever. The Internet is the CAPITOL of serendipity.
"$DEITY forbid, actually have to interact with another human being."
Have you ever heard of email? Probably not because it involves interaction with other human beings. It is fabulous for scheduling visits, organizing parties, introducing yourself to people you might not otherwise have an opportunity to contact. It even works if the other person isn't there to answer the phone right now. I use email to interact with other human beings every day (I'm not a Social Media person - I want direct private contact). Physical contacts are arranged much more easily this way.
"We'll never learn anything we don't specifically want to learn."
Well, apparently that does apply to you - your world does seem a bit narrow. Do not extrapolate that to other people.
How many pages of books are accurate and how many contain false information? The ratio is probably quite similar, but on the Internet it is easy to find other sources to confirm or deny - and there's more information available on the sources than a paragraph of exaggerations on the back of the dust jacket.
Libraries are revamping themselves to encompass this wider world where books don't need to be on the shelf, and can even be printed to order.
" . . nor suffer the catastrophe of serendipitously discovering something whilst researching something else."
Absolute Bullshit! Bullshit piled to a hundred orders of magnitude.
Have you ever even used the Internet (except to read Communist propaganda)?
When researching a particular food topic, I'm often distracted into a dozen distantly related or even unrelated subjects - and I can get to them in seconds. Things like the Crimean War, a lady pirate who once ruled the China Seas and defeated the Portuguese and the British, makeshift artillery used by the Boers in South Africa, Colossal Squid, tunnels under the Mexican pyramids . . the list goes on forever. The Internet is the CAPITOL of serendipity.
"$DEITY forbid, actually have to interact with another human being."
Have you ever heard of email? Probably not because it involves interaction with other human beings. It is fabulous for scheduling visits, organizing parties, introducing yourself to people you might not otherwise have an opportunity to contact. It even works if the other person isn't there to answer the phone right now. I use email to interact with other human beings every day (I'm not a Social Media person - I want direct private contact). Physical contacts are arranged much more easily this way.
"We'll never learn anything we don't specifically want to learn."
Well, apparently that does apply to you - your world does seem a bit narrow. Do not extrapolate that to other people.