People know me as a pragmatic individual who appreciates life, art and the history of humankind. I am a freedom-loving, epistemophilic person. Knowledge is my diet, books are my friends. However, I am also beginning to think that recent trends are pushing humanity to a path I am not totally on the page with. I know, I know, people had always been pessimistic about current affairs, and how the world looked at the moment - just take a look at this rant of the great Socrates about youth back in 470 BC:

Children; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers. Children are now tyrants.

However, things look pretty bleak today. I am well-aware of media panic (after all, I am a media scientist), and as the matter of fact, always raised awareness of it, but current (high) technology is negatively affecting people, especially young ones, social media is dismantling social life and mental health, and governments are not sufficiently equipped to resist the immense influence of tech companies. Empty entertainment is dumbing down people, and ignorance is while on the rise being praised. Political correctness dominates the public sphere and is killing joy, fun and freedom. Expressing yourself might get you permanently ostracized from the society. Neoleftists are unknowingly embracing fascism. If it wasn't tragic, it sure would be comical. And all this comes not from a right-wing lover, but a long-time socialist.

But I am an optimistic soul. It must get better. We just have to survive these intellectually Dark Ages. The great astrophysicist Carl Sagan wrote these prophetic words in his book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark from 1995: