[philwelch]

I think we're talking past each other a little here, but you're probably right that TV has had a positive impact. I'm still dubious whether it's a net positive impact--television displaced books, after all--but my wider point is that by and large, the bulk of television programming falls closer to the worst case outcome than the best case outcome.

I'm actually more optimistic about the internet, because like books, the internet at least encourages literacy. At least so I thought, until bandwidth increased to the point where the internet became another TV. Now I'm dubious. I see the early internet and TV as going in completely opposite directions, though, hence my reluctance to conflate all advances in media as having the same effects.