For most of the human story, people who looked a lot like us – but with more interesting hair – wandered around in the forests and savannahs rooting up wild crops and hunting meat.
asserted
who → look → meat
In the relatively recent past, someone domesticated grains and animals and, with food thus secured, the first towns were born.
asserted
towns → domesticate → grains
And with them came something never seen before: a large mob of people.
asserted
something → come → people
Across cultures and continents, these new mobs generally did two things: they established chiefs or kings to lay down the law and organise defence or attack, and they peeled off a priestly class to conjure up gods and explain what they offered and required.
asserted
they → do → what
And that’s how it has been for the past 10,000 years.
asserted
it → ’ → years
In the 18th century – the day before yesterday, in the grand scheme of things – something else appeared.
asserted
something → appear → things
In Britain, in Europe, in the new American colonies, the first independent newspapers appeared.
asserted
newspapers → appear → colonies
Fuelled by sales, which brought advertisers, which brought more money, these newspapers gained power.
asserted
newspapers → fuel → power
Indeed, political philosopher Edmund Burke called them the “fourth estate” – sitting alongside the clergy, the nobility and the masses.
asserted
Burke → call → clergy
For thousands of years, human organisation stood on three legs, then added a fourth.
asserted
organisation → stand → fourth
And now three of those legs are crumbling.
asserted
three → crumble → legs
Which means all of us living now are in a deeply consequential moment in human history.
asserted
all → mean → history
The first estate, the clergy, cuts little ice these days.
asserted
estate → cut → ice
As for the nobility, King Charles has a son who barely speaks to him and a brother under police investigation.
asserted
who → have → investigation
Our constitutional monarchy delivers some underlying stability but for most Australians it is dress-ups in a far off land.
asserted
it → deliver → land
It is not kings and dukes but tech billionaires who wield elite power in the 21st century.
asserted
who → wield → century
Meanwhile, the traditional post-enlightenment intellectual elites – the writers, scientists and moral philosophers – are now a hunted minority.
asserted
elites → hunt → ?
Their cachet is also gone.
asserted
cachet → go → ?
It’s the death of expertise.
asserted
It → ’ → expertise
As you may have noticed on social media, we’re left with the mob.
uncertain
we → notice → mob
As Thomas Jefferson famously framed it, the mob is simply “we, the people”.
asserted
mob → frame → it
Where we are vulnerable, is that “we, the people” (WTP), increasingly deal with each other not through parliaments, or church halls, or through the letters pages of the local newspaper, but through a digital space whose profits depend on us fighting each other.
asserted
us → deal → other
Digital platforms depend on “engagement”.
asserted
platforms → depend → engagement
Humans are hard-wired to react most strongly when our anxieties are triggered, or our sense of injustice, or jealousy or rage.
asserted
anxieties → wire → injustice
WTP are not just a mob – we’re constantly stirred up to be an angry mob, with multi-billionaires profiting from our anger.
asserted
billionaires → stir → anger
That instability flows through to our politics.
asserted
instability → flow → politics
Anthony Albanese is the eighth Australian prime minister since Twitter was invented in 2006.
asserted
Twitter → invent → 2006
In the 20 years before Twitter, Britain had three prime ministers.
asserted
Britain → have → ministers
In the 20 years since, it has had nine.
asserted
it → have → nine
The past three US presidents have been one-termers, including Trump twice.
asserted
presidents → include → Trump
This is not solely the fault of Twitter (rebranded X by Elon Musk).
asserted
This → rebrande → Musk
But nor is X exonerated.
asserted
X → exonerate → ?
All social media algorithms feed on anger and all are being deliberately manipulated by both their owners and foreign governments who wish western democracies ill.
asserted
who → feed → democracies
If the clergy and the nobility are no longer a balancing force, what of the fourth estate?
asserted
clergy → balance → estate
Sadly, for someone who made his life’s vocation in it, the flight of advertising dollars and the range of digital distractions mean traditional media is increasingly a spent force.
asserted
media → make → distractions
Most watched commercial bulletins.
asserted
Most → watch → bulletins
Seven, Nine and Ten enjoyed 30 per cent of every advertising dollar spent in Australia, much of it from prime-time programming set up by the early evening bulletin.
asserted
Seven → enjoy → bulletin
These TV networks knew their profits were to be found where the people were.
asserted
people → know → ?
A soothing voice, usually attached to a bloke called Brian, reported sensible debates, mixed up with daily tragedies and crime.
asserted
voice → attach → tragedies
This was the setting when Bob Hawke came to power offering “consensus politics”.
asserted
Hawke → come → politics
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
