You can take what you see here and extrapolate. HN is overwhelmingly "intellectuals" - many academics, though not all. We can see:

* Everyone is quick to make judgement on something they don't know all the details of.

* There's not much agreement - mostly people disagreeing with each other.

* Everyone's opinion is important - they're smart so obviously, they're always right.

* Unrelated politics - my pet issue must be talked about.

* Anything is better - it's impossible for things to get worse.

* I disagree with this opinion so it must be a Russian bot.

Anyway, I wonder what will happen if you get together a bunch of intellectuals in government.