"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?