Scott Alexander, one of the top picks in Fantasy Intellectual Teams, writes a dismissive review of The Revolt of the Public, a book by another of my favorite intellectuals, Martin Gurri. Scott writes, Certainly everything it says is true. Anyone who wrote it in 2000 would have been a prophet. Anyone who wrote it in 2020 would have been stating the obvious. Was writing it in 2014 a boring chronicle of clear truths, or an achievement for the ages? I find my memories are insufficiently precise to be sure.
Sometimes thoughtful and intelligent people have a blind spot to what the typical person understands. When I talk about revolt of the public with friends and acquaintances it is generally clear they haven’t come to Gurri’s insights on their own. Most implicitly assume that the chaos we are living in came about because of Trump and once we put him and his followers out of the picture we can return to normal. Gurri shows that these forces were in motion long before Trump and are thus likely to persist long after him.
My problem with he six points is the concept of "the elites" as a single entity. I don't think the CDC/FDA "elite" fiasco has much to do with the Fed 2008-20 fiasco or the Iraq invasion.
Generally like Scott but he must be living an alternate universe then me. If it is was so obvious then why haven’t any of these institutions adjusted course or attempted it in a real way?
<i> Politicians, journalists, and academics now are overwhelmed by...the amount that others know about them that they used to able to keep secret. Think of President Kennedy trying to get away with his sexual escapades today.</i>
Or think of the effort being spent today to keep these types of secrets, and the resulting effort needed to uncover them.
Sometimes thoughtful and intelligent people have a blind spot to what the typical person understands. When I talk about revolt of the public with friends and acquaintances it is generally clear they haven’t come to Gurri’s insights on their own. Most implicitly assume that the chaos we are living in came about because of Trump and once we put him and his followers out of the picture we can return to normal. Gurri shows that these forces were in motion long before Trump and are thus likely to persist long after him.
My problem with he six points is the concept of "the elites" as a single entity. I don't think the CDC/FDA "elite" fiasco has much to do with the Fed 2008-20 fiasco or the Iraq invasion.
Generally like Scott but he must be living an alternate universe then me. If it is was so obvious then why haven’t any of these institutions adjusted course or attempted it in a real way?
<i> Politicians, journalists, and academics now are overwhelmed by...the amount that others know about them that they used to able to keep secret. Think of President Kennedy trying to get away with his sexual escapades today.</i>
Or think of the effort being spent today to keep these types of secrets, and the resulting effort needed to uncover them.