1.'What will we lose socially, politically, civilly, scientifically, psychologically, if a majority decides that the intellectual "shallows" are the proper habi

1.'What will we lose socially, politically, civilly, scientifically, psychologically, if a majority decides that the intellectual "shallows" are the proper habitat for the 21st-century mind?' By comparing the high culture of a previous age to the average culture of a later one, you can always make an argument for a decadence. But what percentage of the population read Tolstoy in his day, even of the literate population? 2. Hyperlinks: Is one supposed to do deep reading without reference to anything other than the text? Does the handiest volume of Shakespeare on your shelves lack footnotes? Do you ever mark up page n of a book with a reference to page n minus m? Does that make you stupider?