Memes

It is problematic though. Having access to information is not the same as using it. We have kinda "outsourced" most of what was considered common knowledge back then. We think we don't have to remember a lot of "common knowledge" because we can just look it up. But how often do we actually look up that fact instead of just assuming something, even though that information can be accessed immediately?

If you think about it, it is most likely less often than you would have assumed, because it becomes a bother contintually having to look up facts in the middle of something. By having memorised a lot of common knowledge you can immediately incorporate that knowledge into your decisions, as they did back then, instead of having to pause your decisionmaking in order to look something up.