To the contrary, the entertainment business depends on intelligent specialists. But Hollywood is very distant from politics and policy. To expect Meryl Streep to provide expert testimony on pesticide regulation is to demand an illusion. Hollywood is happy to oblige. Illusions are its business.
Silicon Valley is in the reality business.
Its time-strapped executives have a praiseworthy sense of humility. Proud of what they do know, they readily acknowledge their ignorance. I'm a tough person to ask about politics. Silicon Valley's political disengagement does exact a cost. An engaged Silicon Valley could provide a counterweight to the static, control- oriented assumptions that govern American political debate.