The Assault on Reason
by Al Gore · first published 2007
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A #1 New York Times bestseller: A visionary analysis of the degradation of our public sphere and its consequences for our democracyNobel Peace Prize winner, bestselling author, activist, and political icon, Al Gore has become one of the most respected and influential public intellectuals in America today. The Assault on Reason takes an unprecedented look at how faith in the power of reason—the idea that citizens can govern themselves through rational debate—is now under assault. The marketplace of ideas, once open to everyone through the printed word, has been corrupted by the politics of fear
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Assault on Reason by Al Gore. Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum (the movie retains only the name and a basic profile of Jason Bourne, almost none of the plot)
on “Ask YC: Road trip. Which audio books would you recommend?” ↗…by Deirdre Barrett also expanded that idea beyond food to media and gaming and more. The 2010 essay "The Acceleration of Addictiveness" by Paul Graham also explores those themes. In the 2007 book The Assault on Reason by Al Gore talks about watching television and the orienting response to sudden motion like scene changes. In short, humans are adapted for a world with a scarcity of salt, refined carbs like sugar,…
on “GPT-4o” ↗…comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits -- and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orienting_response "In his 2007 book The Assault on Reason, Al Gore posited that watching television affects the orienting response, an effect similar to vicarious traumatization." And how this overload is even harder on young children, as described by Victoria…
on “Elon Musk emails employees about 'extensive and damaging sabotage' by employee” ↗…the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals" Found the libertarian in the room! They even mention Alexis de Tocqueville in the article! Let's keep going. "In his book The Assault on Reason, former U.S. Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore wrote that between 2002 and 2004, 97% of the attendees at Liberty Fund training seminars for judges were Republican administration appointees.…
on “Why Walking to Work Can Be More Polluting Than Driving to Work (2013)” ↗…Internet;coming concomitant with a pervasive social slide towards Elitism when the whole point of the original revolution was to break down the siloes of power aggregated into gatekeeper hands. In the Assault on Reason, AL Gore talked about the ability to craft systems that could enable people to create and engage with content in meaningful ways. No doubt viewing YouTube as an antidote to taking people out of a passive…
on “YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content” ↗