In the medieval times, a merchant spoke at least four languages, and a peasant at least two.

In 2013, computers speak to each other : Web servers with http connected clients, FTP servers with connected upload/download clients, BitTorrent servers with unpaying audiences, etc… Computers are indeed connected. People aren’t.

Why ? Because people still don’t learn languages : a bit of english is enough. They don’t read anymore : news reading on a RSS feed isn’t reading, it’s just spending time in the tube. They don’t memorize things, they just memorize passwords.
Yet people claim to be ultra-connected with the world, and feel ultra-informed. 
What’s the use of Wikipedia if no one is able to write its articles ?

That’s the Gutenberg Paradox : Google and Internet is considered as the « Gutenberg II Revolution », for the First Gutenberg Revolution is the landmark of the mass spreading of culture. What we are facing now probably is the exact opposite. It may be the first mass spreading of inculture.