The Constant Question

A vibrant community
Of 600 monks possessed
By then of an excellent

Library of 200
Or so books or maybe more—
What a center of learning

That was! How much monks could know
Of a world no peasant knew
Thanks to those 200 books!

Now here lies our argument
Against ourselves—if those books
Were candles in the dark,

Why aren’t 200,000,000
Books’ worth of light, and counting,
A good million times brighter?

What’s the limiting factor,
The choke point, the governor
On wisdom? Human beings,

Actual animal brains?
Is the curve asymptotic
For all possible learning?

Or is it information
Knows no limits, while meaning
Remains level, a constant?