Printing has influenced our language, our science, the way we see the earth, and every other aspect of what makes us the way we are. We have traded once-valued experience for facts in print. Knowledge is not gained from experience, but rather from books. This is both good and bad. While books allow us to pass on knowledge that we do not have the time to figure out for ourselves, and thus make scientific progress, we have also lost the intimate contact with the earth that we once had.
People seem to either know about the information contained in books or how things work in the world.
There seem to be very few people who have mastered both types of knowledge. We are now in the middle of another information explosion. The development of the computer has allowed us to transfer information between opposite ends of the earth in seconds. Satellites tell us of events in Russia as they happen. I can get weather information about any part of the country at any time I want.