For most of human history, people could only dream of having ready access to all the world’s knowledge. Books were highly prized rarities, literacy was uncommon, and news could take weeks or months to arrive. The idea that the sum of human experience could fit into a little box in everyone’s pocket once sounded utopian — a paradise of informed, free citizens.

Instead, when handed access to everything, most people went looking for someone to tell them what to think.

The information age isn’t a utopia or a nightmare — it’s a permanent revolution. And it’s only getting wilder from here.

Humans are social creatures, political animals, as Aristotle observed . We crave belonging more than truth. We need a story about our place in the social order, status to pursue, and a circle to protect.

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