I would say that ideology has replaced theology as the opiate of the masses: if an idea isn’t forthrightly part of the ideology a person has accepted as the Truth for governing the governance of society, people will refuse to give it consideration. Ideology has made beliefs the standard for judging ideas — just like religion does.

We don't need AI to come up with better ideas for the economy/society. I have developed a revolutionary monetary paradigm that would require no changes to the basic structure or functioning of the existing economic system, yet transform the outcomes for society of the economy. (It does apply the principle of democracy to the economy, by creating an income that a person could actually live on for which any adult citizen could become eligible.) I know of other alternatives to 'what is' economically that seem reasonable enough to me. Simply adopting the European high tax/big benefits model would be a vast improvement for this nation (the U.S.). The existence of ideologies blocks the acceptance of any alternative.