In my early twenties, the internet on mobile devices and phones was gaining steam.  As someone who was blessed with an ability to remember pop-culture facts (and little else) at the time, I thought it was a talent that would soon be useless, since anyone would be able to look up anything at any given time. Knowing the real names of all four actresses on the "Golden Girls" would not be special, as anyone could simply pull it up on their phone.

This thought process led me to the idea that everyone would soon have access to "Perfect Knowledge." Basically, there would be no more media bias, political spin, false advertising claims... and so on. The human race would have uncapped ability to know the truth about anything in mere seconds.  It was going to be great, we could vote based on who was the best candidate and quickly eliminate misinformation from political parties. We would all pay the correct price for car maintenance, because it would now be impossible to overcharge customers, because we would all know exactly what work was worth.  

Go read the title again. I forgot about one little thing, human nature.  We don't really want to know the truth. We want our values, beliefs, world views and how we understand things to be confirmed, not challenged.  We don't want truth, we want confirmation.  And guess what? The internet offers everyone that. No matter your belief, you will find people saying you are spot on and anyone who disagrees is an obtuse moron.  (Facebook even confirmed this for us, to get you stay on their platform, they made sure you saw other people that thought like you, no matter what you thought. See: Flat Earthers.)

So, yes, we can all quickly look up whether it was Bill Paxton on Bill Pullman in the movie Twister* from 1996, but we won't vote for the best person in the next election, unless they confirm our already set in stone beliefs. And who ever you vote for, there will be plenty of people telling you that you got it right.

(Bill Paxton)