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RE: Screwing with consciousness at the policy level || Profile of a modern trancewar architect
What I find most depressing about this paper is the complete focus on least-effort band-aid treatments (disrupting conspiracy communities) over the vaccine of teaching critical thinking skills to the entire population. The guy is not malevolent; he's just pragmatic to the point of laziness.
I like the fact that he quotes Robert Anton Wilson, though. And his point about open societies vs. closed ones is important, but he misses the fact that in our own internet age, we're sooooo open that people who don't have critical thinking skills can't take advantage of the diversity of news sources. It's like drinking from a firehose, and we retreat into selecting news sources that reinforce our existing views. Most people do this to some extent.
"Pragmatic to the point of laziness" is a great way to put it. Add in some glaring blind-spots (like the inability to give diversity of perspectives more than lip-service) and his embrace by the US political establishment makes perfect sense.