Carl Sagan in 1995 on the "The dumbing down of American"

[Pluvious]

My friend Carl sent me this:

Carl Sagan predicted this future in his 1995 book The Demon Haunted World.

Was he wrong?

"I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."

--

Never forget this:

The forces rigging our economy, undermining our democracy, polluting our planet,
and stoking hatred are counting on you to give up.

Cynicism is how they win.

Stay clear-eyed and ready for the fight ahead.

[Blue Owl]

1. "A celebration of ignorance" fits MAGA and the garbage clown to a tee

[Jeebo]

2. I've always admired him.

I've got his Cosmos series on DVD, the full set.

— Ron

[Henry203]

3. Ameica is full of dumb people

75% of Americans did not attend college. They stopped reading in the 11th grade and cheated to get out of high school. Is there any wonder why we have this problem.

[Pluvious]

4. Another friend's response...

I find it interesting that Sagan wrote that in the early days of NAFTA, at a time when we couldn't fully appreciate the economic ruin that would bring to small towns in the rust belt. People who feel left behind are susceptible to populist rhetoric (consider Germany post WWI). The disappearance of well-paying jobs that don't require a college degree has engendered resentment in these communities and have driven them rightward. That along with the relentless defunding of public education helped create the environment we're in now (among various other factors, of course). Sagan's analysis was prophetic. My two cents, FWIW.

My reply

And it's painfully ironic how driving the lower class in middle-class rightward, has the opposite effect of what they wish to have restored and improved.

Their response

That's where killing public education comes in.

I've also wondered how the rise of reality TV in the late 90s has influenced a whole generation by rewarding betrayal and deception. People observed that contestants that advocated community and kindness were often the first voted off the island. "I'm not here to make friends."

Me

We've been played

[moondust]

5. 25 years before that

Alvin Toffler wrote Future Shock in 1970 suggesting "information overload" in which "input exceeds the processing capacity...which is likely to reduce the quality of the decisions."

It's gotten so bad that today, 54 years later, I think I'd call it "superficial nonsense overload."

I think Alvin and Carl were prescient as evidenced by the apparent recent election of a fascist felon.