Nope -- try reading a collection of essays written 75 - 150 years ago and it will soon become clear how stupid people are today. And why do you think technological leaps lead to better thought? The most profound thoughts that have ever crossed the consciousness of Man are contained in the Bible, which was written by technologically inferior people -- men who walked with God.
I do think there's a degree of selection bias, here. Only quality writing from long ago would survive; the C19 equivalent of tweets (or HN comments) will have long since vanished, so not be around for us to evaluate.
> try reading a collection of essays written 75 - 150 years ago and it will soon become clear how stupid people are today.
I read a lot of essays, novels and newspapers from that era. Plenty of dumb, and completely wrong essays were written then.
I invite you to read - for example - "The Case for Spirit Photography" (1920)[1] by Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, the author of Sherlock Holmes) in which he argues photos of fairies are real.
It's well written, and completely stupid.
> The most profound thoughts that have ever crossed the consciousness of Man are contained in the Bible, which was written by technologically inferior people -- men who walked with God.
Au contraire, the most profound thoughts were clearly those of Aleister Crowley[2]. He wrote right in the period you suggest the best writing occurred (75-150 years ago) and because he was in direct communication with the devil via his sex magick they are obviously the most profound. Or did I mean profane?
