It's probably times like these that encourage the resurgance of logic and philosophy. Think Dune mentats as part of the post Butlerian Juhad Duniverse (when humans overthrew sentient machines). Are we being manipulated by a sophisticated AI that has seeded the cultural thoughtscape with mental flak so thick we can scarcely determine truth from fiction? I don't know, but the result is the same. Whether alien, demonic, or technological, an intelligent agency has been set loose on the world at large, infecting the collective societal mind. So many red herrings. Is the the earth round or flat for example? Does it actually matter? All such thought constructs are simply models we use to make sense of our world. No model is exactly as the world actually is, nor can it possibly be. God knows what the world actually is. A better question that is perhaps more useful is: which model gets me closest to what I need, with the desired results, with the least amount of complication? In other words, the best model is the one that is most useful and passes Occam's Razer. This is the kind of thinking we need now. Efficient, flexible, cunning even, like mental martial arts masters...