By my quick math, we have already reached that point. Because, 6 billion people, remembering mostly copies of the same information (recipies for making omelets, how to tie shoelaces, etc.) don't actually hold a lot of unique information. Much like DNA, only a small fraction of your genes are totally unique. Meanwhile, the sum of human knowledge has been estimated at 12 Exabytes. Each of us would be responsible for: 10 GigaBytes of facts. Considering the bible is about 1 MegaByte of information, each of us would be remembering 10,000 bibles and dispensing that information to all the other people. Not very likely.
- question short estimate
- complete estimate
But, it's not enough to store the information, it must be integrated into existing systems. Examples: how to connect a union agreement to a payroll system or human resources management system or all the medical knowledge stored in a diagnostic database.
The current problem centers around these areas:
- The vocabulary of the person formulating the query. A medical practitioner might easily use the correct words to describe a condition, and instantly locate relevant articles. An untrained person could not read the results, let alone formulate the question.
Here I can imagine a "technicalizing" button, generating technical terms for the keywords used. This button would display Technical terms and their basic English substitutes from which the user can choose. - The knowledge must be stored outside human brains, but be instantly available and comprehensible to the person formulating the request.
I can imagine a response such as: "Google has located 30,000 pages regarding your request. None would be comprehensible to you, based on the history of your keywords. Would you like to activate the translation engine?" After each page, a translation (or adaptation) button would appear describing the degree of adaptation required.
Example : "translation available 2 levels of adaptation required".
Of course these translation engines would produce longer versions of texts than the originals. Because they would have substituted Basic English paragraphs for the technical words.
Commentary
- example: Guidelines to writing in Basic English (from Wikipedia)
Use easy words and shorter sentences. This lets people who know little English read them.
Write good pages. The best encyclopedia pages have useful, well written information.
Use the pages to learn and teach. These pages can help people learn English. You can also use them to make a new Wikipedia to help other people.
Simple doesn't mean little. Writing in Simple English doesn't mean that the readers want the information simple, the words are simple. Articles don't have to be short to be simple, expand the articles, include a lot of information, but use basic vocabulary.
Be bold! Your article does not have to be perfect, because other editors will fix it and make it better. And most importantly, don't be afraid to start and make articles better yourself.
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