Is the principal of the printing press still active in today's modern, high-tech society? Also, would our democratic institutions have been impossible to develop without the mass circulation of knowledge that the printing press enabled?

Answer 1

Yes. The principle of the printing press is still active -- with millions of books, magazines and newspapers published each year. And I still print out information I want to study and/or keep from the internet. Our printers are variations of the printing press.

I doubt if we could have developed our democratic institutions without the printing press and a literate population.