Kids have excellent bullshit detectors, because a.) they haven't been socialized to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit and b.) they don't have incenti

Kids have excellent bullshit detectors, because a.) they haven't been socialized to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit and b.) they don't have incentives to keep their mouth shut when they see bullshit. (cf. Emperor's New Clothes) Very true. This happened to me. However, what you don't get enough of in our culture, is that the new "truth" the kids take as a substitute is often another come-on which is crafted to appeal to a younger generation or an updated culture. You can see analogues for this in 19th century culture, but with the added benefit of hindsight. Various utopian and romantic movements from the 1800's and even in the early 20th century are these saccharine substitutes for truth. However, if you look at them closely and take them apart, you will find that they are based on some sort of conceit or assumption which falls apart under closer examination, or with the benefit of over a century of human and scientific progress. Marxism is a key example. Karl Marx's problem with the "accidental" is the unwarranted and demonstrably false assumption that emergent processes can't usefully regulate complex systems. Of course, Marx didn't have the benefit of a couple of centuries of continued development in biology and the benefit of computer science and game theory. Rousseau's "noble savage" is another such honeypot fiction that the 21st century Left is still plagued by in transmogrified form. "Yes, you're absolutely right, and unfortunately humanity is filled with idiots." Do you really think you can do a better job? Marxist intellectuals who became revolutionaries thought much the same. Their record in the 20th century speaks for itself.