A Cowardly New World

In this new world of readily available news and easily accessible topics, it seems like people are less informed than ever before. A hundred years ago, everyone was acutely aware of, if not how governmental policies affected everyone one, how governmental policies affected them. Now people vote for issues that harm both themselves and the world around them. How could this happen? Huxley postulates that the very proliferation of news is what causes the seeming "dumbed down" state of society, I agree. With the mass appeal of reality television, and the "clickbait" that is so prevalent online, there seems to be no getting away from "learning" something new each day. This can stimulate a sense of knowledge in individuals who are sorely lacking in this area. With the sense of wanting for knowledge fulfilled for most people, there is no need to search for more information. First impressions matter, and this is proven when we consider how easily swayed a person can be by their first introduction to "science," and how some cursory evidence used as examples can outweigh far heavier and more tested science. It is more likely, as well, that someone meets bad science first, which shows how the increased amount of information harms the critical thinking ability of society. The amount of truthful information stays the same, as truths in the universe stay constant, and can't increase. The number of lies however, are as infinite as the human imagination, which can only grow. Soon, unless the human trajectory is changed, the irrelevant lies will far outnumber the relevant truths.