In this volume, leading scholars in the arts and sciences discuss how information has been transmitted throughout history. It addresses the multiple challenges of the digital age, particularly with regard to our personal data. Amid growing tension between a "cognitive elite" and those excluded from public discourse and decision-making, editors Kurt Almqvist and Mattias Hessérus ask: will our information society turn out to be an era of enlightenment or are we entering a new dark age for knowledge?

Contributors include: Erica Benner, Gill Bennett, Maria Borelius, Peter Burke, Nicholas Carr, Christopher Coker, Peter Frankopan, Jessica Frazier, David Goodhart, Michael Goodman, Janne Haaland Matláry, John Hemming, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Martin Ingvar, Andrew Keen, Elisabeth Kendall, Claire Lehmann, Iain Martin, Simon Mayall, Richard Miles, Fraser Nelson, Brendan O'Neill, Mark Pagel, Mark Plotkin, Nathan Shachar, Mariano Sigman, M. Antoni J. Ucerler and Adrian Wooldridge.