Anti-Renaissance
The Rise of Memes and Fall of Attention Spans
The Renaissance was a prolific time period in human history, characterized as a rebirth and resurgence of art, literature, philosophy, education, intellectualism, and humanism; which ushered in the Age of Enlightenment, both the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, and served as the springboard from which mankind propelled itself from the Middle Ages into the Modern Era.
The sharing of ideas is what ultimately drove the momentum of the Renaissance; and nothing else attributed more to the ability to “share ideas and information” than the invention of the printing-press; this vastly expanded the reach and influence of the cultural movement, and the spread of knowledge, all across the continent of Europe.
Sometimes it’s fair to wonder what some of the most famous thinkers of that time would think about the internet. Considering what the visionaries of that era were able to accomplish with the sharing of ideas using the printing-press, just imagine what they might have been able to accomplish in the digital age. No need to worry about coordinating logistics, hauling and delivering loads of paper over miles-upon-miles of land by horse and carriage; given the power to access and share information from one side of the world to the other in a matter of seconds with the push of a button, which is the power (unimaginable only 20-years ago) that just about every average citizen carries around in their pockets today; could you imagine reading William Shakespeare’s Blog, or scrolling through Galileo’s Twitter account, or being inspired while perusing Michelangelo’s Instagram?
The invention of the internet is comparable to the invention of the printing-press in regard to the sharing of information and ideas. It’s almost as if history is trying to repeat itself in a way, and we should be on the brink of another cultural evolution, another era of progression and enlightenment.
But if you spend any amount of time on social media these days you could argue that we are witnessing another cultural shift of sorts, rather, somewhat of an Anti-Renaissance, one that seems to be ushering forth an all new kind of Dark Ages, rife with dangerous and damaging Anti-Intellectualism and Science Denialism. And as easily as one could argue how beneficial the emergence of Technology has been to humanity, no one can deny that there are also undesirable side-effects.
Allegory of the Cave
The Flynn Effect is a human-phenomenon that has been naturally occurring since at least the 1930s. And it shows that average Intelligence Quotient (IQ), from generation to generation, has risen by at least 3-points each decade; attributing this steady, gradual rise not to some biological or reproductive factor, but due to changing environmental factors. However, recent research suggests that the Flynn Effect peaked in people born in the 1970s, and in a Reversal, has gradually declined ever since (conveniently, right around the time of the first home computer’s release to the public in 1977).
Reading Rates since the 1970s have also fallen dramatically, survey-statistics show that the share of adults reading at least one book in an entire year fell from 57 percent in 1982 to 43 percent in 2015. And, the share of adults who had not read a single book in any given year nearly tripled between 1978 and 2014. Most experts site Television as being a major culprit in influencing the significant drop in reading rates among the public, but recent figures show that traditional Television viewership peaked in 2010, and over the last decade has started to decline significantly, younger generations are watching less TV, and the main reason for this is the availability of streaming services and social media. The preferred leisure-activity medium is continually shifting, from books to radio, to television, to the internet.
But while this symbolic re-entering of Plato’s cave via a digital medium certainly plays a role in the dumming-down of society, or a lapse in collective-intelligence-gain; it alone, cannot fully explain the prevalence of the conspiratorial thinking, distrust of Expertise, Science Denialism, and utter disregard and rejection of Epistemic Knowledge in general, that we are witnessing among the public today.
New Age Anti-Intellectualism
Around the same time that technology was really about to take off, another idea was flourishing among political and intellectual circles in the late 1960s: Relativism; which asserts that there are no universal or objective truths, only personal truths- that all truths are a function of one’s perspective, and therefore, there are many ways to understand and/or represent any particular subject or event; giving way to the rise of the utterly invalid idea of separate truths (such as “my truth”, or “your truth”).
This idea has led to new forms of anti-intellectualism, a dilution of the meaning of ‘truth’ and a diminished sense for the very value of truth; which has reduced the role of facts and analysis, and emboldened an outright denial of epistemic knowledge among the public; encouraging the erroneous idea, that “my personal truth” (beliefs or opinions) should be held equally valid alongside “science based” theories. As Kurt Anderson puts it in his masterful book, Fantasyland, this created a divide in America, between “people who think with their mind, and people who know with their heart”.
This makes subjects and topics — to more likely — become “personal”. Creating an unhealthy level of anecdotal conviction, as it applies aspects of one’s identity to their opinions; where when faced with conflicting information, instead of one’s intellectual opinions simply being challenged, their feelings are hurt — as if a literal part of their body (or being) was disturbed by a physical attack. Causing, if not a resistance to new information, then at least an aversion or avoidance of conflicting information — promoting a rise in Tribalism, advanced by the ability to so easily seek out the comforts of information-bubbles and echo-chambers of confirmation-bias on the Internet.
The Flat Earth Society
The Flat Earth Society is something that has alarmingly gained steam and attention on the internet lately, and illustrates perfectly how easily the spread of false beliefs can occur through the bias-filtering channels of the internet, as it has amassed over fifty-thousand followers on Twitter, and another one-hundred-fifty-thousand on Facebook.
A belief that not only challenges the conventional wisdom of today, but assumes that a large scientific institution, such as NASA, has convinced the entirety of the world-wide scientific community, which includes every other major national space agency, government, and every man or woman who ever dedicated their lives to the discipline of Science (which is a discipline based on the principle of revealing the truth at its core by the way), to engage in the tremendous risk of perpetuating a lie to the general public, with conceivably, absolutely nothing to gain from it.
Despite an insurmountable body of observation, evidence, and scientific fact, developed and proven over hundreds of years, from Magellan’s successful circumnavigation of the Earth by sea vessel in 1522, all the way back to the life of ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras, in 500 BC (a little reference of just how far back we’re actually regressing with this one).
The Flat Earth theory is the perfect example of Relativism rearing its ugly head; because the entire thing is based on individual’s personal observation and experience of the natural world, challenging the conventional (or collective) wisdom of humanity, that the Earth is round- which is established on centuries of research, discovery and empirical evidence.
The Dunning “Truther” Effect
Having the equivalent of an infinite-volume-encyclopedia within our pockets at all times, the average citizen fitted with a handheld device that houses more advanced technological power than all the Apollo 11 astronauts commanded when they landed on the moon (and we did land on the moon!), has done nothing to deter this this sort of conspiratorial thinking. On the contrary, recent findings/studies imply that having access to this “infinite-volume-encyclopedia” (Google University) might be partially to blame instead, as it gives people an inflated sense of their own individual intelligence and knowledge base.
And so, while people on average might no longer be getting smarter, they are increasingly thinking they are a lot smarter than they actually are.
A recent study, polled 2,000 American and European adults about their opinions on Genetically Modified Foods, an area or subject where public opinion glaringly contradicts that of scientific consensus; the study found that not only did the less knowledge and understanding respondents had on the subject of GM foods the more they opposed them, but the strength of a respondent’s opposition to GM foods increased in direct proportion to their lack of knowledge about GM foods.
This is known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect; which is a common occurrence where people mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is, where people compensate for a feeling of a lack of competence, with confidence. This leads to the dilemma of “the less someone knows, the smarter they think they are”.
And even worse, as is demonstrated by the survey-study mentioned above, people with an inflated sense of what they actually know are also the ones least likely to be open to new information.
The Real Problem with Fake News
The rise of the term “Fake News”has made us increasingly aware of the perils of Misinformation, especially pertaining to its prevalence and reach on the Internet — making it much more of a danger or threat than the tabloid papers near the cash register at the super market of yesteryear.
A recent Pew Research Study polled 6,172 Americans in regards to Fake News and their personal response to it; the study while showing some positive reactions individuals have taken, also shows that roughly four-in-ten Americans (43%) have simply lessened their overall news intake. Suggesting that not only is the rise of Fake News making people misinformed, but it’s making people less informed. And so, it’s not only about leading people to believe false things, but it’s about making it more difficult to see the truth.
So while this new heightened awareness and attention paid to Fake News plays a significant role in stemming the problem of misinformation, it perhaps even worse, also works to compound the problem of anti- intellectualism, science denialism and conspiratorial thinking, by stoking fears and sowing distrust among the public. Making it entirely too easy to shrug off any contradictory or undesirable information an individual may come across, no matter how thorough and convincing, as simply “Fake News”.
Fighting The Invisible Hand
The Invisible Hand is an idea pioneered by Adam Smith’s iconic work, The Wealth of Nations. It describes an individual’s personal interest in economic prosperity as having a positive, even if unintended, impact on society. One analogy to easily illustrate this point is a Black Smith in a Village. The Black Smith sells his service of fashioning useful items from metals as a means for him to make money — but this also means that all the villagers now have access or a means to obtain quality metal-works — that which they would not have had without him, and his ambition.
This idea of the Invisible Hand is commonly contorted and perverted by conspiracy theorists, as it is fashioned in quite the opposite way, in accordance with the growing cynicism and distrust among the public; where the Black Smith’s ambition or personal interest has a negative impact on his craft and therefore society.
This is a hallmark of conspiracy theories, especially mainstream ones, that the majority of the population wouldn’t even classify as conspiracy theories (which is scary in its own right). They all have this one thing in common: they represent an opposition to something different by pointing the finger at the same ominous proverbial “they”, the invisible hand of the Capitalist puppet-master; who is fooling, exploiting (and even harming) the ignorant masses all for economic gain. And the only so-called evidence they need to ignore decades of documented research and scientific consensus: is as undefined and vague as merely the existence of Greed; which isn’t even “evidence” at all in a Scientific sense, but the mere inference that it might be ‘relative’ is convincing enough… after all, “evidence” doesn’t matter, in matters of the heart.
And the certain level of self-righteousness attached to these conspiracy theorist beliefs, which become more like causes (than beliefs), makes the conspiracy theorist operate or feel more like a freedom-fighter, or as part of the “woke”, and not a part of (or even above) the ignorant masses and flocks of “sheep” being fooled; and in a way this makes them feel good about themselves, which is exceedingly dangerous in a world where it is all-too-common for people to mistake the strength of their “feelings” for the strength of their “argument”.
