The search results show it's not "contrarian" to see the Conservatives as driving anti-intellectualism. It appears to be quite a popular opinion. Open to looking at evidence otherwise!

Biased data shows a thing....

Given this shows the engine can't differentiate between UK and US data I would implore not to use that as a sensible source of anything. Also articles from biased groups are not a 100% unbiased source and demonstrate the public perception of this again being a partisan issue that would go away if the evil blue suits in the city all disappeared.

I,... sigh... yes, You, must be correct because you can copy and paste from google, well done, a person on the internet bows to your clearly superior intelligencia.

> a person on the internet bows to your clearly superior intelligencia

I don't appreciate the sarcastic and attacking nature of this comment (and some previous comments). I've been civil - albeit a little frustrated - and I hope for the same from others.

Perhaps you could provide some examples of where other parties' policies, ideology, or MP's statements undermine expert or scientific consensus? For the Conservatives, I can name several issues where MPs have publicly undermined expert consensus, e.g. Brexit, COVID, climate change, and abortion.

BTW I do already think that the Green Party's stance on GMO and nuclear verges on anti-intellectual, given that they have supported protests against ongoing scientific trials. Whilst it is a minor party and it doesn't reach the level of Conservative anti-intellectualism, it is an issue.

You've mentioned that Labour "promote extremist religious views" which could potentially be anti-intellectual, but this isn't something I've come across except maybe on the very fringes. A slightly stronger claim I've seen is that identity politics could be classed as anti-intellectual if it denies scientific realities regarding sex, although again I haven't really seen this veer into anti-intellectualism except on the fringes.

Of course your correct. I can see that by the size of the wall of text that you must be. Clearly by not reading any of that I'm in the wrong and my life is wasted...

Out of curiosity, what would it take for you to reconsider your position? You're quick to dismiss sources or reasoning without offering much yourself.

A good bit of banter gentle(wo)men. Thanks for the interesting links posted. Sorry I missed that thread while working.

We at least agree, party politics aside, that anti-intellectualism is on the rise. That should be worrying not just because of the horror it historically leads to, but because we are now in a technological society that cannot tolerate it without collapse.

I believe the seeds of the collapse of the Soviet Union were sown much earlier, in Stalin's purges against the engineers and experts. The fact that China "got away" with the Leap Forward as a pre-industrial nation may mean someone is stupid enough to think it's worth trying again for a neo-primitivist course.

I keep saying to fellow hackers, all you "Silicon Valley" types - don't think that the machine you're building wont turn against you. Who will be the first in line? Programmers and engineers who understand how it all works, and are therefore the greatest threat.

Building resistance to tyranny into technology should be a number-one priority. A big part of that is educating people to treat it as the miracle of intellect it is, instead of being dumb, ungrateful, cargo-cult consumers.

> Building resistance to tyranny into technology should be a number-one priority. A big part of that is educating people to treat it as the miracle of intellect it is, instead of being dumb, ungrateful, cargo-cult consumers.

I do think unfortunately the conversation is often dominated with "So therefore terminator?..." when dealing explaining advanced computing concepts to the public.

I do wonder how much success is had in demonstrating core computing concepts with bright colours and zero code. It would have to work as science outreach does with bright colours/concepts and no equations or data despite the messy reality of research.