The strength of nature is its decentralization, even our genetics is decentralized to some degree to protect us and allow us to cope in a a wide array of conditions.
Side note: We had a set of World Book Encyclopedias from the 60s when I was a kid. Can you imagine reading a printed encyclopedia for knowledge now?
I sometimes remember copying the content of the encyclopedia to do my homework from school. It is amazing how things have changed. I also remember how my kid who will start college in a few weeks, was at third or fourth grade a few years ago, we bought him a dictionary he had in his room. One day, helping him with his homework I asked him to look for a word in the dictionary, and he took the iPad and checked the dictionary there. I was shocked as I had never thought of looking for a word on the computer just because I had never looked for words anymore since I was a kid. I then realized how everything has changed.
The encyclopedia was "the source of truth" when I was a kid.
I like the online disctionaries - even better is the thesaurus and better again, etymologyonline.com :)