I think on average, ‘liberal democracies’ have tended to have better epistemic conditions than other types of regimes. However, I also think there has been significant ‘internal regime change’ (to borrow your term) that has undermined this advantage, at least in the US. Specifically, the rise of the ‘censorship-industrial complex’ (in which the US government outsources censorship to Big Tech companies) seems to have significantly eroded the quality and reliability of public epistemics on social media.
Wei Dai: yes, I agree with both points.
I think on average, ‘liberal democracies’ have tended to have better epistemic conditions than other types of regimes. However, I also think there has been significant ‘internal regime change’ (to borrow your term) that has undermined this advantage, at least in the US. Specifically, the rise of the ‘censorship-industrial complex’ (in which the US government outsources censorship to Big Tech companies) seems to have significantly eroded the quality and reliability of public epistemics on social media.