There’s also a subject that (from personal experience, every time I bring it up) is taboo and highly politically incorrect: discussions pertaining to IQ. I might be wrong, but my general impression is that celebrities and reality shows primarily appeal to the lowest rungs of of the IQ ladder. More sophisticated people seek out more sophisticated entertainment. Viz, some people read “Foreign Policy” and “The Economist”, for fun. Well, that, and your blog.

If you grant this, then the issue devolves into one of “how can we raise the global level of sophistication?” What natural system does this? I don’t mean just “giving more money to education”, because that has all the usual political baggage. I mean something more like “capitalism”: some set of axioms that automatically drive increasing sophistication. (or maybe, if you are an optimist, it is accomplished by the MaxEnt principle I discuss below, in the other post).