"I decided to invent a job for myself. I knew a lot of things, unconnected things, but I wanted to be able to connect them after a few hours at a library... A sudden illumination: I had a trade after all. I would set up a cultural investigation agency, be a kind of private eye of learning."
I've always wanted a job like that! Hunting for tidbits in libraries and dusty archives, interviewing hoarders of obscure knowledge (for surely you cannot find these answers with search engines). What a romantic view! As always it's been thought about in various forms before, e.g. see this post which even references the same exact quote above (https://nevalalee.wordpress.com/2018/11/27/the-private-eyes-of-culture/)
It's the beginning of a new year, so, why not at least gauge interest in this concept and look for initial questions to do research on.
My question to the HN crowd is: What would be a question you'd like to the such an Agency?
* Sources of quotes that are hard to find Google and other quote sourcing sites, e.g. William Inge's “We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form.”
* Deep historical questions, e.g. what factors drove the wealth difference between North and South Europe in the Early Modern Era, what effect did religion play in this?
* Interesting scientific question, e.g. it's always said that light's speed in medium is slower than in vacuum? Is this a correct statement? If not, why did the misconception arose?
* Literally gossip, e.g. was Emily Dickinson bisexual, gay, or neither?
All explained in a (relatively) jargon-free language, with references, similar to what Quanta does for science and math.