Because it's one thing not to be able to read and write in the 20th century, but if you are computer illiterate in the 21st century, you're in trouble. Big trouble, because it's going to run the world. In eight years, there will be one billion people connected. That's one billion people communicating with each other without any regulations or anything else. That's never happened before in the history of the world.
Nobody really understands the dynamics of that.
But, we had better understand it. We saw what happened when England took advantage of the industrial revolution and Chinese gunpowder. Imperialism wasn't about beating anybody up.