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>diversity of opinions

It takes a level of maturity that most people never reach to handle real diversity of opinions. This is why universities used to be small places with only highly interested intellectuals trained to handle that diversity. And even they weren't great at it. Modern universities are a joke, and they are better than most organizations.

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> This is why universities used to be small places with only highly interested intellectuals trained to handle that diversity.

Which time period, and where? Universities used to be more exclusive, but I somehow doubt that exclusivity was for "intellectuals trained to handle that diversity" and not just "well-connected people".

I'd say that universities did contain only highly interested intellectuals. But they contained just a small subset of all highly interested intellectuals: those who had been able to go to university and pursue a doctorate. It's much easier to do this now - for example, if you are a woman. On the other hand, there are probably more networkers and grifters too.

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