The new bi-partisanship

Knowledge vs Status

About three millennia ago, if you offered Solomon all knowledge in exchange for all his splendor, he would have taken the deal without a second thought.

Today, practically everybody on the planet can access the entirety of information ever available to mankind, and we are instantly connected to everyone else in the world to boot, with nothing more than a cheap electronic device.

So what are we doing with this amazing power?

Some are using it to achieve their best possible understanding, gain greater independence, and create wonderful new things.

Most, it seems, would prefer instead to use this unfathomable ability to gain as much attention as they can.

The result of this trend would be a minority of truth seekers and a majority of status seekers — reason versus group think, shock, awe, and echo chambers. Maybe this is simply the age old dichotomy of wisdom and vanity, on warp speed?

One possible route of redemption could be if our culture were evolve to esteem sense over sensationalism.