>A shakeup was under way. Astronomy had split off from astrology. Chemistry had become disentangled from alchemy.

This was the only line that caught my attention, but I admittedly stopped reading the article before the story changed from "how to catch a health scammer" 2+ centuries ago.

What if the current big tech is alchemy and astrology time-wise (since we're so early on this whole information curve)?

Though, this seems more like a restaurant that starts serving subpar products. The traffic will go elsewhere after awhile of getting served crap (especially if there's alternatives to measure against), to never return again.

Loyalty in the digital age is about as common as respect (ie. respecting your privacy) online. Its not very solid.