Knowledge Glut

The headline shocked. BUSINESSES RAISE ALARM: WORLDWIDE OIL GLUT HITS RECORD HIGH. Ok, I made that one up. Such headlines don't appear in a world where news focuses on how we are running out of fuel, rain forest--indeed, all raw materials. Humanity is too quickly eating up too much of too many goods that are costly to produce. But there is one commodity in excess supply. It's knowledge--and in the long run, the overlooked knowledge glut could be more dangerous than the many more obvious shortages.

Though the raw supply of knowledge is booming, the fraction we use productively is plummeting to ever-lower depths. Since knowledge can't be added up the way that, say, oil barrels can, the only way we can tell if knowledge is in excess supply is by asking whether it is underused. As long as benefits exceed costs on the last unit ...