This article is a little frustrating; like a lot of Doctorow's writing it kinda comes from a place of superiority. How are we supposed to know the difference between healthy skepticism and "epistemological chaos" (literally the most ridiculous way of saying that)? It seems like the article's suggestion is "just trust the people who are right". Mmhmm. It also implies that anyone arguing against "what's correct" is doing it knowing they are wrong, or because they have been misled by someone who knew _they_ were wrong -- like the tobacco companies promoting smoking. I don't think that's the case? That's a pretty bleak perspective, but I mean I guess it could be true.
The piece that most resonated with me was "The pandemic revealed the high price [...] of *replacing informed debate with cynical doubt*". Informed debate feels like an absolute lost art thanks to the internet. You can't fit informed debate into a tweet. Or into a Facebook post. And when everyone speaks with absolute confidence on their opinion, how can people distinguish informed opinions from uninformed opinions? This is I believe one of the core problems of the internet today.
Regardless, congrats on the many laptop-full and cigarette-free years :)
Lumping anti-vaxxers, homeopaths, eugenicists, and drinkers of raw milk is a pretty clear example of this. I get that Smug is his brand, but it's just overly reductive; you've got three categories of people here: the anti-establishment-science (let's not leave chiropractors out, here), the morally bankrupt, and the risk-takers. Then again, this is a slightly behind the trend article about losing patience with disagreeable people, so I guess it's on message.
The piece that most resonated with me was "The pandemic revealed the high price [...] of *replacing informed debate with cynical doubt*". Informed debate feels like an absolute lost art thanks to the internet. You can't fit informed debate into a tweet. Or into a Facebook post. And when everyone speaks with absolute confidence on their opinion, how can people distinguish informed opinions from uninformed opinions? This is I believe one of the core problems of the internet today.
Regardless, congrats on the many laptop-full and cigarette-free years :)