This is a special post for quick takes by So8res. Only they can create top-level comments. Comments here also appear on the Quick Takes page and All Posts page.
Crossposted from Twitter, might not engage much with comments on LW and I may or may not moderate replies.
Hypothesis: we're rapidly losing the cultural technology to put people into contact with new ideas/worldviews of their own volition, ie, not at the recommendation of a friend or acquaintance.
Related hypothesis: it's easier for people to absorb & internalize a new idea/worldview when the relationship between them and the idea feels private. Ex: your friend is pushing a viewpoint onto you, and you feel some social pressure to find at least one objection.
See also "it's difficult to make a big update when people are staring at you". The old internet (& libraries) put people in contact with new ideas privately; the new internet puts you in contact with new ideas that your friends are peddling.
(Perhaps the shift in the internet's memetic focus -- eg from atheism in the 00's to social justice in the 10's -- is explained in part by the older memes thriving when found privately, and the newer thriving when pushed by a friend?)