Again, the pattern was similar. Scholars came to the information storage and produced collaboratively still more information there, and students came to the scholars. This system of higher education remained remarkably stable for over 2,500 years. But it is now in the process of breaking down. The reason is not primarily technological.
Technology simply enables change.
The fundamental reason is that today's production and distribution of information are undermining the traditional flow of information and with it the university structure, making it ready to collapse in slow motion once alternatives to its function become possible. The second million took 18 years. The most recent million took only 1.75 years. Thus, more articles on chemistry have been published in the past two years than in humankind's entire history before 1900. The responses of organizations to handle the increased volume of information is to improve processing capabilities by various means such as better education, larger staffs, internal reorganization, and investment in technology.