The death of the public intellectual isn’t a headline - it’s a slow forgetting. Not an explosion, but a collective shrug. And that’s the tragedy. Not that we replaced Baldwin with Bieber or Sontag with skincare, but that we didn’t even notice it happening.
We stopped asking why - and started asking what’s trending?
We traded resonance for reach. Integrity for influence. And worst of all, we mistook aesthetic for authority.
Where intellectuals once burned at the altar of inquiry, today we swipe past ideas before they have a chance to gestate. Thought has become decoration. Debate, performance. Truth, a caption.
And yes - maybe it had to happen this way. Maybe the algorithm is just the new Agora. Maybe podcasts are the modern pulpit. Maybe we’re still thinking, just less visibly. But we must not confuse being visible with being understood. Hailey’s nail polish trends may reach millions - but they don’t reshape moral consensus.
Let us be honest: what Baldwin did at Cambridge wasn’t content. It was confrontation. And what we’ve lost is the courage to sit inside that tension, unfiltered and unsponsored.
The public intellectual isn’t extinct.
She’s just whispering beneath the noise.
And maybe, if you’re still reading - she might be you.
I nodded along as I read, however felt glad and much relieved when in the end the author shaped the conclusion as a call for hope and reload rather than encouraged everyone to lament the death of intellectualism.
True that its public manifestation has severely declined, true also than nowadays virtual space is taken over by the entertainment sector. But it has always been like that more or less. When Sontag and Baldwin and Benjamin were at large their writing, speeches, interviews were not mass product either. TV, radio and literature were full of Bieber-Kardashian-like content too, it just had different shape and ring to it, but the gist was the same.
"You can also incorporate intellectual conversation into your everyday life. Attend local events, art galleries, or even start casual discussions among friends to make these topics more accessible and relevant." A perfectly good advice — we should certainly all do that instead of complaining about lack of creativity and intellectual discussions in our life.
I remember a long time ago my friends and I were nostalgic about the past when writers, artists, philosophers routinely met up in cafes to discuss what mattered. To stop pining over it we just decided to go ahead and do it ourselves. We do it until now. Go into cafes, parks, creative spaces to discuss literature, cinema, art, politics, social issues. No one's preventing us or anyone else. If enough people do it, public intellectual discussions won't have a choice but have a comeback.
It's indisputable that international society has never known a world so swallowed by technologies, but would be unfair that humanity hasn't experiences any abrupt modernisation, for the end of 19th century was exactly the case. Then society was engulfed with a novel media in the form of newspapers. Loads of intellectuals of those times were scandalised by the encroachment of media on the world of creativity, fearful that it will still the space and public's attention from literature and art. However with time not only have they found a way to coexist with the new media but use it to their and literature's advantage. Now the topic is dealt with much more masterfully in this brilliant article on Aeon aeon.co/essays/the-french-modernists-loathed-and-loved-the-mass-media-of-their-day. I encourage those who haven't read it to do so.
What I'm saying is I don't believe social media can be the death of intellectualism as we know it for humans won't be able to live without idea exchange in an aesthetic bliss of visual pleasures, and I agree with the author of this article that it's in our hands to change that for we have done it many times before.
Thank you for this lovely text, I enjoyed it immensely and have long been digesting this food for thought.
If someone else had already written THE essay on death of public intellectual, then I haven't come across it. This was a pleasure to read, as I am constantly craving works that challenge my thoughts and beliefs. It is rather sad that today's environment rewarda virality and speed, as you put it so eloquently. Let's not allow this conversation to die out. Thank you for the inspiration. I have silenced myself to the point of apathy, and am now desperately seeking awaking.
I really really loved this article and I agree!! especially with the kind of content overtaking our feeds these days, we completely stepped away from intellectual conversations to talking about things that lack any real real thought or create any real conversation
I loved reading this, and the idea that there is such a focus now in specialising rather than more broader interests and developing skills resonates very much right now. Thanks for writing!
So great. The devaluing of expertise in particular is such a concern. In a world where every opinion matters and can be tweeted out to affirming followers, spending years studying a subject holds less public respect.
Excellent piece. It says a lot that the most influential people in society are probably famous-for-being-famous celebrities, athletes and CEOs. The people who would have been public intellectuals in another era, including philosophers and authors, have retreated into debates among themselves, as you point out. Could anyone name the most influential author alive?
The Baldwin vs Buckley debate is, for me, some hope in the face of this. I believe that people at the core are still willing to have their minds changed by good ideas and thoughtful presentation.
We lack public intellectuals for all the structural reasons you describe – and we're complicit in the current landscape – but I think we're capable of escaping the mess as much as we were capable to create it. You nail it that "The real danger lies in silence."
This essay was incredible. So well written and so sharp! I think you hit the nail on the head when it comes to the issue of aestheticism leading the culture and how it threatens political and social issues. It’s one of the reasons I love Substack: while sometimes we do get posts with a heavy focus on aestheticism, a large portion of writers write to address thought-provoking issues of our digital and modern culture. I’d even argue that Substack is one of (with YouTube) most accessible intellectual spaces of our time. Maybe the accessibility of intellectual discourse will come from platforms such as these that posit every writer as a contributor to a conversation… how that will affect what is considered to even BE an intellectual discourse I do not know, but it’s interesting to think of the ways social media has increased reach for intellectual content while academia has gatekept it.
A lot of my relationships (of any kind) dwindle into the air & never really stick because I attempt to have intellectual conversations with these people, but I am not met not even a quarter of the way in expanding the ideas I bring up.
I consider these conversations prayers & it has been painful to not be able to pray due to my lack of friends who share the hunger for knowing & exploring & questioning.
I love this essay so so so much. I shared it with everyone that I could, even my Instagram, full of Kardashian wanna be’s (I hope that’s not mean to say). Thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed this brain massage.
While I do lament the loss of space for public intellectuals to reach people, said intellectuals are well aware of the academic rule of “publish or perish” and that this principle goes beyond the struggle for university grants. Sufficed to say, the battle for the Hegelian dialectic has always been hard fought and such a battle is ubiquitous regardless of the era.
These intellectuals need to evolve or die (figuratively speaking), publish or perish.
I was frantically restacking and screenshotting through this. What a great read. It feels particularly poignant having recently been to a Pint Of Science event, where academics share their research in entertaining presentations / debates. I wish there were more of these, but getting people to leave their homes to come along when they can find out information on their phones is a challenge..
The death of the public intellectual isn’t a headline - it’s a slow forgetting. Not an explosion, but a collective shrug. And that’s the tragedy. Not that we replaced Baldwin with Bieber or Sontag with skincare, but that we didn’t even notice it happening.
We stopped asking why - and started asking what’s trending?
We traded resonance for reach. Integrity for influence. And worst of all, we mistook aesthetic for authority.
Where intellectuals once burned at the altar of inquiry, today we swipe past ideas before they have a chance to gestate. Thought has become decoration. Debate, performance. Truth, a caption.
And yes - maybe it had to happen this way. Maybe the algorithm is just the new Agora. Maybe podcasts are the modern pulpit. Maybe we’re still thinking, just less visibly. But we must not confuse being visible with being understood. Hailey’s nail polish trends may reach millions - but they don’t reshape moral consensus.
Let us be honest: what Baldwin did at Cambridge wasn’t content. It was confrontation. And what we’ve lost is the courage to sit inside that tension, unfiltered and unsponsored.
The public intellectual isn’t extinct.
She’s just whispering beneath the noise.
And maybe, if you’re still reading - she might be you.
I nodded along as I read, however felt glad and much relieved when in the end the author shaped the conclusion as a call for hope and reload rather than encouraged everyone to lament the death of intellectualism.
True that its public manifestation has severely declined, true also than nowadays virtual space is taken over by the entertainment sector. But it has always been like that more or less. When Sontag and Baldwin and Benjamin were at large their writing, speeches, interviews were not mass product either. TV, radio and literature were full of Bieber-Kardashian-like content too, it just had different shape and ring to it, but the gist was the same.
"You can also incorporate intellectual conversation into your everyday life. Attend local events, art galleries, or even start casual discussions among friends to make these topics more accessible and relevant." A perfectly good advice — we should certainly all do that instead of complaining about lack of creativity and intellectual discussions in our life.
I remember a long time ago my friends and I were nostalgic about the past when writers, artists, philosophers routinely met up in cafes to discuss what mattered. To stop pining over it we just decided to go ahead and do it ourselves. We do it until now. Go into cafes, parks, creative spaces to discuss literature, cinema, art, politics, social issues. No one's preventing us or anyone else. If enough people do it, public intellectual discussions won't have a choice but have a comeback.
It's indisputable that international society has never known a world so swallowed by technologies, but would be unfair that humanity hasn't experiences any abrupt modernisation, for the end of 19th century was exactly the case. Then society was engulfed with a novel media in the form of newspapers. Loads of intellectuals of those times were scandalised by the encroachment of media on the world of creativity, fearful that it will still the space and public's attention from literature and art. However with time not only have they found a way to coexist with the new media but use it to their and literature's advantage. Now the topic is dealt with much more masterfully in this brilliant article on Aeon aeon.co/essays/the-french-modernists-loathed-and-loved-the-mass-media-of-their-day. I encourage those who haven't read it to do so.
What I'm saying is I don't believe social media can be the death of intellectualism as we know it for humans won't be able to live without idea exchange in an aesthetic bliss of visual pleasures, and I agree with the author of this article that it's in our hands to change that for we have done it many times before.
Thank you for this lovely text, I enjoyed it immensely and have long been digesting this food for thought.
Baldwin was wrong and Buckley was a hack. Good riddance, this stuff was Boomer trash.
If someone else had already written THE essay on death of public intellectual, then I haven't come across it. This was a pleasure to read, as I am constantly craving works that challenge my thoughts and beliefs. It is rather sad that today's environment rewarda virality and speed, as you put it so eloquently. Let's not allow this conversation to die out. Thank you for the inspiration. I have silenced myself to the point of apathy, and am now desperately seeking awaking.
I really really loved this article and I agree!! especially with the kind of content overtaking our feeds these days, we completely stepped away from intellectual conversations to talking about things that lack any real real thought or create any real conversation
I loved reading this, and the idea that there is such a focus now in specialising rather than more broader interests and developing skills resonates very much right now. Thanks for writing!
my favorite essay on substack :) thank you bea, this was extremely refreshing and inspiring xx
This means so much, thank you! <3
So great. The devaluing of expertise in particular is such a concern. In a world where every opinion matters and can be tweeted out to affirming followers, spending years studying a subject holds less public respect.
why do we have no philosophers anymore?
Excellent piece. It says a lot that the most influential people in society are probably famous-for-being-famous celebrities, athletes and CEOs. The people who would have been public intellectuals in another era, including philosophers and authors, have retreated into debates among themselves, as you point out. Could anyone name the most influential author alive?
The Baldwin vs Buckley debate is, for me, some hope in the face of this. I believe that people at the core are still willing to have their minds changed by good ideas and thoughtful presentation.
We lack public intellectuals for all the structural reasons you describe – and we're complicit in the current landscape – but I think we're capable of escaping the mess as much as we were capable to create it. You nail it that "The real danger lies in silence."
This essay was incredible. So well written and so sharp! I think you hit the nail on the head when it comes to the issue of aestheticism leading the culture and how it threatens political and social issues. It’s one of the reasons I love Substack: while sometimes we do get posts with a heavy focus on aestheticism, a large portion of writers write to address thought-provoking issues of our digital and modern culture. I’d even argue that Substack is one of (with YouTube) most accessible intellectual spaces of our time. Maybe the accessibility of intellectual discourse will come from platforms such as these that posit every writer as a contributor to a conversation… how that will affect what is considered to even BE an intellectual discourse I do not know, but it’s interesting to think of the ways social media has increased reach for intellectual content while academia has gatekept it.
A lot of my relationships (of any kind) dwindle into the air & never really stick because I attempt to have intellectual conversations with these people, but I am not met not even a quarter of the way in expanding the ideas I bring up.
I consider these conversations prayers & it has been painful to not be able to pray due to my lack of friends who share the hunger for knowing & exploring & questioning.
I love this essay so so so much. I shared it with everyone that I could, even my Instagram, full of Kardashian wanna be’s (I hope that’s not mean to say). Thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed this brain massage.
Submit to NYT Ops. Such a provoking write-up
While I do lament the loss of space for public intellectuals to reach people, said intellectuals are well aware of the academic rule of “publish or perish” and that this principle goes beyond the struggle for university grants. Sufficed to say, the battle for the Hegelian dialectic has always been hard fought and such a battle is ubiquitous regardless of the era.
These intellectuals need to evolve or die (figuratively speaking), publish or perish.
I was frantically restacking and screenshotting through this. What a great read. It feels particularly poignant having recently been to a Pint Of Science event, where academics share their research in entertaining presentations / debates. I wish there were more of these, but getting people to leave their homes to come along when they can find out information on their phones is a challenge..