The Absolute Book

by Elizabeth Knox

‘An idea strong in our culture is that information should be available and transparent. So is the opposite idea—that the Secret Services, or whoever, are concealing vital things from us, yet at the same time poking their noses into all our business. But if you mean whether the availability of precious materials online will make us forget the back room, the vault—yes, I think it will. There is a school of thought that claims that, because of the internet, we are awash in uncurated information, and that has made us lose our appetite and judgement. I’m not sure that’s true. But I do think we forget what’s not there. Which is a tautology. I mean, we forget what isn’t on the internet. We even neglect the idea of what’s not there. Or we acknowledge what’s been destroyed, while not trying quite as hard as we might to find what’s lost or misfiled.’