Beyond the Baja – S01E08 | by Aaron Furman
In 1980, Isaac Asimov wrote a blistering critique in Newsweek titled “A Cult of Ignorance.” His warning was blunt:
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been... The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life... nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’”
He wasn’t attacking democracy. He was defending expertise — the kind earned through study, sweat, and failure. And he saw a dangerous trend: opinion masquerading as insight, noise drowning out knowledge.
Forty years later, that warning feels less like critique and more like prophecy.
And it’s not just politics or media. It’s happening in the hemp fiber sector — where half-baked ideas are shaping whole supply chains. Where the loudest voices in the room often have the least field experience. Where confusion is camouflaged as innovation.
This episode of Beyond the Baja is about that disconnect.
We explore:
* The rise of anti-expertise culture and its roots
* What the Dunning-Kruger effect looks like in agriculture
* How synthetic fuels in the 1980s offer a cautionary parallel for hemp today
* Why intention without execution is bleeding trust from the fiber market
* What it really takes to build a resilient bio-based industry
If you care about hemp as more than a trend — if you want to see it scale without imploding under its own hype — this episode is for you.
Why this matters:We’re at a turning point. Hemp could become a cornerstone of sustainable textiles, rural regeneration, and climate-smart agriculture. But only if it's built by people who know what they’re doing — not just talking about it.
Because in a fragile supply chain, every broken assumption becomes a broken promise.
Let’s get into it.
—Aaron FurmanHost, Beyond the BajaStay curious. Stay connected. Stay grounded.
