We humans have never been noted for our perspicacity, ability to discern fact from fantasy, or reason from rational premises. In short, we’ve always been stupid, ignorant, and utterly credulous. Modern tech merely makes this more evident and enables the hysteria of adulation or the blind mob frenzy of the witch-hunt to be spread more widely and more rapidly than hitherto. I spent two years criss-crossing the US Bible Belt and frankly the Venerable Bede would have felt entirely at home among those with whom I interacted, so complete was their ignorance and so firm their superstitious beliefs.