I think this perception of increased global ignorance may not withstand scrutiny — for starters, global statistics continue to reflect a rise in median education levels over time — but is an increasingly popular intuition that is likely bound to a few adjacent factors, namely:

1. Increased access

Many social spheres have become more inclusive, and perhaps none more-so than those found on the World Wide Web. In other words, you are more likely to encounter ignorance today than 20 years ago not because ignorance is more prevalent, but because those with less education have recently “joined the chat.”

2. Shifting goalposts

What used to be considered minimum required knowledge in a particular era, WRT a particular domain, is now considered insufficient if not obsolete. The most obvious examples relate to Information Age technologies, but include important changes in the realms of finance, climate, economics, and social theory.

3. Expanded range of lifetime education

Measured in years, there is now a much greater spread between groups with “low” versus “high” education rates. This just means the potential difference in those who know more or less is greater, which can easily lead to a perceived decline in knowledge, critical thinking, etc.

Whether more localized or transient effects may trend in the future due to historic shifts in education policy (or technology like LLMs) is yet to be seen. But there is little evidence to suggest that we are witnessing either the end of a golden age of free thought or the beginning of a dark age of ignorance and intellectual atrophy.