Dumb and dumber.

Time is the only hindrance, time is holding me back, time is the only curtailment in my quest for knowledge. If I could spend the rest of my life on Google, would I become the smartest person on the planet, the most up to date individual in the world or would I still meet someone at lunch who knows more about the finer intricacies of Chinese fiscal policies? I'm not talking about total omniscience, actually knowing everything that can be known but inherent omniscience, the ability to know anything that one chooses to know and can be known. Seth Godin recently wrote about knowledge becoming ubiquitous and that no excuse could be given for not knowing something, which still amazes me when I meet people who are clueless on all levels about the people and industries they work in.

With the web available on every device known to man, available 24/365 and constantly being updated, the excuse for not knowing something is astonishing on the surface and almost criminal on every other level. The ability to look someone up, look at their industry and even their company, minutes before you talk with them has become so easy that excuses can no longer be tolerated in the business world. Business ignorance today, can only mean severe isolation from technology or choosing to live on a desert island.

It's no longer okay to not know something for any extended length of time, it's no longer okay to not know what people do for a job and ignorance is no longer bliss, it's ignorance.
Every effort is being made, to make the world's information available to every level of society, Google, Bing, Yahoo et al are taking it upon themselves in a race to compile and collate everything of value to everyone and some things of no value to anyone. The accomplishment for individuals is all about a continued search for knowledge and the ease with which that can be attained.

The days of acceptance are over, no matter if you are talking to a doctor, a lawyer or your family know it all. Having the recourse of instant information at your finger tips, behoves you to at least make the effort and once having made the effort, to then digest the information for your own good. Don't be the last one to know, nothing takes longer than a few minutes with the investigative power of the meta search engines. The ubiquity of "just Google it" gives everyone the chance to stay ahead by drilling straight to the core of any information needed.

This ability to find everything out about everything, doesn't negate the need for the education process, it just gives people dexterity to refine the broader education base and bring forth matter expertise when required. You no longer have to find that mountain top and gaze at your navel for extended periods of time, to figure out what it all means, it's all there, right in front of you on Google.