Smart people in society used to worry that people in classes lower than theirs would become monsters through osmosis by hanging around people who were already monsters.

Other than self-aware parents, I don’t know of any smart person, in an elite position of power in our society, in my day right now, who worries too much about that kind of influence anymore. Heck, we applaud people who may be of questionable character and give them attention and trust, based on the fact that they might be able to move an algorithm to “influence” some audience member’s behavior.

The lack of worry–and the presence of social applause–might be part of the reason that it appears as though there are more monsters, with larger microphones, around as of late.