The Information Age and the Printing Press: Looking Backward to See Ahead

Shaping the Next One Hundred Years: New Methods for Quantitative, Long-Term Policy Analysis

“…For instance, James A. Dewar (1998) attempted to understand the potential social consequences of the Internet by examining the social effects of the printing press. Among the most significant of those consequences was the printing press's dramatic reduction of the cost and scope of one-to-many communication.…”

“…G. W. F. Hegel developed his dialectical concept of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Nineteenth century thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels placed Hegel's philosophy in a more distinctly social ______________ 4 Dewar (1998) stated that the main social ramifications of the printing press were unintended, and he believed that the information revolution would be similarly dominated by unpredictable and unintended consequences. Therefore, he posited two general lessons for information-age policymakers.…”

Neue Kommunikationstechnologien und Wissenschaft – Veränderungspotentiale und Handlungsoptionen auf dem Weg zur Cyber-Wissenschaft

“…B. Dewar 1998). Vielmehr sollten Anreize geschaffen werden, diese Entwicklungen dort zu unterstützen, wo Verbesserungen des Status Quo zu erwarten sind.…”

Breakthrough Knowledge Synthesis in the Age of Google

“…Another historical barrier to the advancement of knowledge occurred throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, when recorded information was owned exclusively by elite sectors of society, usually the clergy and members of academia. As knowledge spread with the advent of the printing press, the power of the Catholic Church was reformed, and the printing press had an influential effect on the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution [8]. Since then, modern society has witnessed a relentless movement toward the democratization of the public's access to knowledge, especially in the age of digital technology.…”