A renowned astronomer as well as a novelist, Carl Sagan, predicted the future of the US in his 1995 book "The Demon-Haunted World", warning of a time when critical thinking declines, misinformation spreads, and technological power is concentrated in the hands of a few. It is amazing how accurately he has foreseen what occurred in the US in 3 decades interval.
Quote~~~
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.
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If I am allowed to add a few words to his excellent prediction. I would emphasize the class in the society who supports Trump and his administration. They have lost critical thinking about politics and society as Sagan predicted. I believe it is due to neoliberalism which lets them think only for themselves and for their profit at the moment. Thinking for themselves, they don't care for it it is a misinformation or not. They would disperse sayings whether they may be fake or not. Fakes and lies are so common. So far as it gives them any profit from their conducts, it is accepted. In that behaviour, whether it is true or not won't matter. They often deny even scientific truth. They are akin to conspiracy theories.
Oligarchies established from neoliberalism may acquire political power and try to dictate those enthusiastically following the oligarchies. It looks like a cult. The cultists are often exploited by the oligarchy guru. The oligarchies would look for their target in overseas and soon they would start exploiting domestically. The target would be their cultists who have been already exploited by the greedy capitalists.
History tells us politics always is often driven by religion or religious motivation. In this case, it is combined with greedy capitalism. The more poverty people are put into, the more enthusiastic they are for the guru. What an irony it is! Has Sagan imagined such a psychosocial dynamics would work in the present world when he wrote his predictory book? Needless to say, such cultist movement is easily propagated through the internet, which Sagan has never seen in his life.
Hi Dr. Shin,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about these sad developments. I live in a conservative area and it has been interesting to see the unquestioning acceptance of misinformation. Personally, I am surrounded by educated, compassionate people. But among my colleagues are religious people who chose this poor leadership because of social issues like abortion and equality for gay people. I’m sorry to say that racism and sexism are very close to the surface though people don’t want to admit it.
Most dismaying to me have been the educated people (doctors, lawyers, even university professors) who should know better. They have stayed with the “low taxes” party despite its deviance from democratic principles. Manipulated by anxiety, they have enabled these greedy oligarchs.
It’s heartbreaking to see my country fail our allies at such an important time. I don’t want to say our voters were stupid, but they were heedless and unserious. It’s disturbing to see how vulnerable humans are to disinformation warfare. We are a social species; we are not as rational as we think we are.
What is happening is deeply unpopular, but it’s unclear whether voting can fix things. As for where I live, we have more than the usual number of poorly educated people. It’s like a cult. We will suffer more poverty and loss of hospitals and other services. But I don’t expect voters to reject the truly idiotic Senator Tuberville. Sad times for America and the world.
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DeleteThe Trump administration seems quite unstable as well as unreliable. The secretary of HHS told they could do with measles with Vitamine A and antibiotics. He also seemed to order CDC to investigate the relationshi between MMR and autism. The latter has already been denied by dozens of research papers. What a meaningless atudy!
DeleteWhat I worry most about is that Trump seems to shake hands with Putin and Xi. Then the world will be ruled by dictators. What a nightmare! Only hope the midterm elections in the US would turn the situation back to the norm, even though I am still afraid Trump would ignore it and could impose further authoritarean dictatorship to the people. And some cultists would follow him. It is a coup detat without military power going on there, I am afraid.
I hope young people who are always more sensitive good and evil than older would protest them and change the society there as well as the other areas in the world. Even though still pessimistic.