Read further down though! He gets to the self-cleaning of the marketplace through "Gauntlets" – that unpopular opinions will be attacked, but if there's truth to them and they stand, they'll eventually be accepted and become mainstream (ex: "smoking causes cancer" from 1940 -> 1960)
The cigarette story is a story of the MPI doing its job. It’s a story of a needle of truth rising up from a haystack on the fringes of the big brain’s consciousness and piercing its way through a century-long barrage of gauntlet attacks until it had conquered the Thought Pile mountain and become the mainstream, status quo viewpoint.
I'm an overweight gay male probably on the autism spectrum with learning disabilities, I don't really like effectively being lectured on my privilege.
You'll never change the conversation if you don't engage with it - its perfectly fine to step away from time to time, but unplugging and living in your own reality serves no one.
The cigarette story is a story of the MPI doing its job. It’s a story of a needle of truth rising up from a haystack on the fringes of the big brain’s consciousness and piercing its way through a century-long barrage of gauntlet attacks until it had conquered the Thought Pile mountain and become the mainstream, status quo viewpoint.