&gt; it becomes much quicker to simply query the information instantaneously yourself rather than having to go through a third party.<p>But we are still going through a third party to make that query.  We are not doing it ourselves.  Information is more centralized than ever.  Google itself organizes it into a hierarchy.   It may be more fluid than a bunch of people shuffling papers in an office or government building but the basic structure is still there.  Besides, raw information is only one small part of the story.  The other half of information is generation which is still boxed by responsibility (a long term information store in human form) that is most often, even today, most easily navigated to through a hierarchical organization.  It might not look like the old hierarchies but that doesn&#x27;t mean they are not there.