Back in the 14th century, when petrol was cheap and you could smoke a cigarette without people looking at you as if you were killing a puppy, you didn't have much of an excuse to be ignorant. A relatively bright person could learn all of the human knowledge and still have room in their brains to remember how to put their socks on.
Okay, maybe I made it sound too easy, but my point is that there wasn't a lot that people had, or even could, learn in their lifetime. Can you say the same thing about today? Seriously, could you ever hope to learn everything about any given subject?
Let's say computers. You may know a lot about it, but really, do you know understand the flow of electrons through circuitry, the effects of air pressure on hard drive plates or even the conductive properties of certain elements and how it affects the storage of charges? Hell, I don't. And you know what? I don't think the human brain has the capacity to store the vast amounts of data that any single subject has to be completely understood.

The total sum of human knowledge has increased exponentially over the last century and we have discovered, invented and learned so much that the best we can hope is to learn but a small part of a subject.
So what are we left with? We are becoming a society of specialists and it saddens me.
I do feel a strange sense of desperation when I think that no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I read, watch or listen, I will only ever scratch the surface. Vast quantities of information and knowledge will be left untouched. My brain simply cannot fit it all in. Yet, I feel extremely lucky to be alive today. I am living in the information era. Despite being filled with junk, hate, depravity, stupidity, ignorance, superstition and maliciousness, the internet has brought knowledge to the masses.

All this may sound pretentious or even hypocritical coming from a guy who does a comic about a nerdy demon who's highest goal in life is to play video games and write pornographic fan fiction, but I feel that knowledge at one's fingertips is the biggest human achievement since the mastery of fire. This is why I strongly believe that no group or individual should ever control the internet, nor government or, God forbids, the private business sector.
Knowledge is such a powerful tool. It can cure disease, take man into space and even topple a government. Don't ever let any one restrict your access to it.