This is a very sad and frightening (and well-written) advocacy for what I call the “New Ignorance”. This statement alone (as a techie and very informed student of economics and morality) scares the bejeezus out of me:

“ Moving forward, we, the students on the margins of this growing industry, must look within to consider how we can add value to any kind of organization, then hone those skills to make them marketable. The only lesson anyone needs to know about business is to have something that people want and make that thing easy for people to get from you.”

This is definitely a very good summary of what is happening on many technical fronts: blockchain, AI, eCommerce, media. I’ll call it the Sheryl Sandberg world view. And we know what that has given us.

There is something truly American and truly a reflection of the worst of America in this remark and the point of view advocated here: There is no real need for substantive expertise, there is no reason for modesty in the absence or mastery, and most of all, there is no moral dimension that applies.

Let’s not forget that the originators of rhetoric were the pre-Socratic philosophers, the Sophists. I still hope that sophistry stands a chance of continuing to be viewed as a negative.