Our brave new world is filled with a cacophony of opinions; everyone's an expert. The proliferation of media channels, accompanied by ever more desperate attempts to keep up with social networking and inclusivity trends, is leading to a world governed by the lowest common denominator. Now get this: I want to be informed by people who actually understand what they're talking about, even while reserving the right to disagree with them, rather than by someone whose main skill is in double-jointed thumbery and text messaging. Aliens viewing the output of terrestrial media from afar are probably wondering what type of disease is decimating the intelligence of the average Earthling. This babble of uninformed opinions is swamping the already low level of intelligent comment available and nowhere is the problem greater than in finance where people start with the view that possession of a small amount of capital and an internet connection makes them gifted and talented investors. Still, if nothing else, we can probably blame the French.
Post-modern Equivalence
Don't misunderstand me, I absolutely adore France. Indeed there's very little to dislike in a country notable for its independent culture, fantastic food and fanatically rude service staff: it's the only place in the world where your waiter treats you like he's doing you a favour. It's a wonderful country but it does have a history of rather odd ideas. Stuff like liberty, regicide and post-modernist philosophy. Post-modernism is a peculiar branch of philosophy that argues the case for moral relativism or to put it in English, it starts from the point that everyone's perspective is equally valid. This, of course, is the lynchpin of inclusivity – if everyone's viewpoint has an equivalent weight then everyone has an equal right to a voice. Underlying this, though, is a proposition that enrages scientists the world over because if all ways of looking at the world are equivalent then science has no special place and, in particular, scientists have no right to a special say in anything.
And the Scientifically Illiterate Shall Inherit the Earth
This idea has gained an awful lot of traction, mainly amongst people who don't understand science – a group that includes a lot of philosophers, quite a lot of economists, virtually the entire output of university humanities faculties the world over and, not entirely coincidentally, nearly every journalist of every hue imaginable. After all,…
I love this quote. Excellent
the stockmarket is a very efficient mechanism for moving money from the pockets of those who think they know a lot but don't to those who know they don't know much.
