There is a treasure trove, it's just mixed in with a lot of trash. Like panning for gold, you need to know where the good lodes are and recognise it when you see it.

I disagree. I have had no moments of profound discovery or insight from surfing the internet.

It has been a useful tool for finding specific knowledge and skills, but I would say that there is no "treasure" on the internet.

Any treasure you find will be found through experiences in the real world.

> Any treasure you find will be found through experiences in the real world.

That's romantic, but why would it be true, unless you just define treasure as something that you find in real life? Specific knowledge and skills are not treasure?

I'm curious if you lived before the days of having so much knowledge instantly accessible, practically for free.

I can say that I've got a much more open mind via conversions I've had with strangers on various platforms over the years. My feminism is much more informed and mature than it would be if I hadn't had access to the differing opinions I've read and discussed over the years for example. I also wouldn't be able to do my job without the internet. When I was just starting out, I learnt perl out of a big thick book (O'Reilly maybe?) and I can say that searching the internet is easier! I'm not saying it's perfect, but you must get some value out of it, or you wouldn't be here in the first place...

Wikipedia in itself is a miracle. People forgot how it was back then.