They don’t of course, but just for fun let us assume they do – everyone knows everything. Or at least, let us
assume that all those with access to the internet could know anything on the web
if they so wished. This doesn’t cover everything by any means but close enough
for a short ramble through possibilities.
This post isn’t about climate change, but a brief observation may clarify things. Over the past few years, the lack of global warming seems
to have coincided with a marked decline in the quality of official warming
narratives. These days we rarely see anything but obvious drivel whereas once
upon a time there were much more robust attempts to keep the narrative
respectable.
Perhaps this is because everyone knows everything. Everyone
who takes an interest in the climate game knows that the official catastrophe
narrative is sinking. Even warmists know it. Unless global warming resumes it
has become impossible to defend the narrative in a convincing manner and
everyone knows why.
For any political argument there is an alternative.
For any economic argument there is an alternative.
For any social argument there is an alternative.
For any narrative there is an alternative.
For any standpoint there is an alternative.
For many scientific arguments there is an alternative.
The alternatives have always existed; the key differences are
range of opinion, low cost and ease of access. Everyone knows governments are
too inefficient for socialism to deliver its promises, especially those
starry-eyes utopian promises which seemed so seductive only a few decades ago.
You know – the ones Corbyn and his groupies profess to believe in. Similarly
everyone knows there are hardly any honest politicians, no left-right dichotomy and the
world is far too corrupt.
It is not a question
of what you know but who you know.
Never was a dictum more true and it may become even more
significant in a world where everyone knows everything. Knowledge is bound to
be devalued if everyone has access to it. The value of knowledge is roughly equal
to the research effort behind it and that effort has been in steep decline since the
internet went mainstream. Anyone can click on a link.
Personal and family connections have always been more
important than ability, but in a connected world and to an increasing degree there
may be little else to set one apart. Other than a handful of geniuses and
technical wizards that’s it.
A consequence of all this ease of knowing is that elites could
become ever more blatant. As the peasants know everything why bother to hide
venal motives behind fine words? A patchy veneer of respectability will do and that too will go
in time.
