How Precious is Your Data?

Quick thought today - is data (information, knowledge, insert synonym here) less or more precious in the digital age? I mean, we've always asserted that "Knowledge is Power," but now we have the possibility of having so much knowledge at our fingertips that we might take it for granted. I remember when I was a kid in school, going to the library to research was sancrosanct. You'd go in, consult the card catalogs, pull down tomes of encylopedias, and take notes inn a silent room. I mean, could it be more like a church? For goodness sakes, when you graduated you put on priestly robes!

But now, I can find the same information ten times over with a quick jaunt to Google. This happens while my iTunes are blaring Public Enemy, my email is getting my correspondence, and a game of Sims is in the background. Very pedistrian. And I must have as much data sitting on my hard drive as that encylopedia once encompassed (of course, who can say how much of it is "worthwhile" data). All it would take is one good lightning blast and years of notes, projects, art, etc. are gone like ashes. Transient (unless I do better on my back-ups, but who does that consistently?). So when you add this all up, does it mean that we value knowledge less because it is too easy, too transient, and/or too much?

P.S. - in-joke for Rob: Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everybody...