Chaos: the Enemy

This column has spoken many times of the need for people to become much more accustomed to the use of “informed” resources. To be very clear now, “informed,” in this context, means to be based on proven facts and knowledge. My Apple dictionary says “based on an understanding of the facts of the situation.” The “facts” is an unambiguous word. Even I, however, did not, while arguing for “informed,” appreciate the depth of remove from facts described in Max Fisher’s new book “The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World” (2022). Max Fisher is a New York Times reporter. He has been an international reporter for many years and writes a column called “The Interpreter.” I can do no better to describe what this book is about than to quote from its ja…