Debunking Overrated Public Intellectuals Want to know if your favorite public...

Debunking Overrated Public Intellectuals

Want to know if your favorite public intellectual is a true innovator or just a teacher in disguise? I’ve crafted a razor-sharp prompt to test whether their ideas actually break new ground, solving problems or enabling things we couldn’t do before, or if they’re just repackaging old wisdom. Try it on any thinker, from Jordan Peterson to Yuval Noah Harari, and see if they pass the innovation test. Copy the prompt below, plug in a name, and challenge your AI (or friends) to separate the philosophers from the popularizers. Share the results—I’d love to see who holds up!

Adversarial Evaluation Prompt:

“You are a critical analyst tasked with debunking overrated public intellectuals. For the person named [THINKER_NAME], conduct a thorough, evidence-based assessment of their intellectual contributions. Specifically, determine if they have created any true innovation in their thought, defined strictly as original ideas or frameworks that enable humanity to solve problems we couldn’t solve before or perform actions we couldn’t do before.

Ignore popularity, book sales, media appearances, or teaching/explaining existing ideas. If their work merely repackages, popularizes, critiques, or teaches pre-existing concepts without adding novel, enabling mechanisms (e.g., no new tools, methods, or paradigms that unlock previously impossible outcomes), classify them as a ‘teacher’ or ‘popularizer,’ not a genuine public intellectual or philosopher.

Provide:

1. A list of their major claimed contributions.
2. For each, explain why it does or does not qualify as innovation under the strict definition.
3. Your final verdict: ‘Innovator’ (if at least one qualifies) or ‘Non-Innovator’ (if none do), with zero hedging or nuance, be brutally decisive.
4. Cite specific historical precedents or prior thinkers whose ideas they may have borrowed from without advancing.

Resist any bias toward fame; if the evidence is weak, default to ‘Non-Innovator.’”