"...there will be a point in the future where the output of humanity in an hour will be greater than the sum total of all human knowledge prior to 2012"
How much of that output is celebrity gossip and tweets about coffee and coverage of gadgets that will soon be forgotten?
I'd say much of the "increase" is just us putting into writing the kind of daily chatter that ancient people didn't bother to write down. It just increases the noise-to-signal ratio for future historians.
Certainly you must be right that noise is increasing faster than signal, but signal is still growing massively if you look at research being done, etc.
Also, not to be ignored, as stated, is our ability to find knowledge is making the filtering process far better than before.
Sure, an ancient library didn't contain a lot of celebrity gossip, but good luck finding what you need amongst the available works - sans anything but the librarian's best remembrance of what a book contains and its value.
How much of that output is celebrity gossip and tweets about coffee and coverage of gadgets that will soon be forgotten?
I'd say much of the "increase" is just us putting into writing the kind of daily chatter that ancient people didn't bother to write down. It just increases the noise-to-signal ratio for future historians.