In this excerpt from my new book, Too Big To Know, we'll look at a key property of the networking of knowledge: hugeness…In 1963, Bernard K. Forscher of the Mayo Clinic complained in a now famous letter printed in the prestigious journal Science that scientists were generating too many facts. Titled Chaos in the Brickyard, the letter warned that the new generation of scientists was too busy churning out bricks -- facts -- without regard to how they go together.

The Atlantic, 1/3/2012

Tags: History, Mayo Clinic Rochester