She had written reams on the Renaissance and the scientific breakthrough, the new view of nature and Francis Bacon, who had said that knowledge was power.
But the main reason for the Great Library's importance is that knowledge equals power, a saying meaning that the more someone knows, the more they will be able to control events.
People may forgo their real lives in favor of a simulated existence… Knowledge is power, but your senses are ultimately fallible… They can be fooled, and they do make mistakes.