So I am going to relate this post to my history class so try and stay with me. During the European witch hunts many people were receiving their information from the church. The church and state were working together to end witchcraft, and the priest would gather the people in the church and read them the current publishings on witches. I feel like if more people had sextodecimos and were able to read the information on their own then the witch hunts would have been drastically different. The lack of access to the material at the time caused the people to listen to the leaders of the town so the information was incredibly biased. I think people would have either read the books on their own and decided that witchcraft didn’t exist and it would not have been such a big deal or it would have made the situation much worse.
This is one example of a trend that has occurred throughout history. The common people, not having all of the answers, often listen completely to what those in power have to say. This often results in deception and lying. This is why in the modern age, where information is readily available, people have a responsibility to stay well informed. It can help prevent black marks in history, such as the one described above, from happening.
The only issue I can see with this scenario is the lack of literacy. Not only was information unavailable, even if they had it, few could read it. However, easy access and widespread information could definitely promote literacy and eventually lead to the desired result.