We mistake the world we inherit for a world that must be this way. History, habit and collective belief conceal a more uncomfortable truth: our civilisation is simply what did happen, not what had to happen.
Tag: social conformity
Popularity is not a measure of significance. The economics of attention systematically rewards familiar ideas while disadvantaging those capable of changing how we think.
When ignorance becomes politically powerful, socially respectable and commercially profitable, independent thought becomes a liability.
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On Being Smart in Stupid Times
Intelligence is becoming a liability. Not socially ornamental intelligence, not credentialed cleverness, but actual understanding. The kind that sees structure, delay, recursion, consequence. The kind that notices when a system is lying to itself. That form of intelligence generates friction. It interrupts performance. It destabilises belonging. It exposes the hidden costs that simple stories are […]
