A systematic search for pathologically poor recommendations would allow us to immerse ourselves in an outsider perspective tailor-made to detourn our own ideas

John,

This is a great idea. I want the “bad recommendation” button so very badly. I’d be willing to contribute ten or fifteen dollars toward its creation. I often say, “The collective wisdom of our culture is on the Internet.” Now I see that, like real wisdom, we are constitutionally predisposed to select familiar folly rather than disruptive engagement.

I have almost given up on Syria. I really don’t know what to make of a complicated situation like that. Every day I read something that makes me question what I thought I understood before, and I’m not even sure which part of the information universe I am piddling in.