I can't bring myself to applaud your essay, because the concept is too dystopian to countenance. Which is not to say there is no truth to it, but it is stretched into hyperbole. You might as well say no one thinks.

I have read 50-100 books a year for most of my adult life. I'm back in grad school now (at 68) and one semester from finishing an MFA. I binge on novels between semesters, reading 3 in the last 4 days, but I also constantly buy and read volumes of poetry, memoirs, plays, and books on writing craft, history, science, and much more.

I do know people who read as little as you describe, but few among my close friends and family. To know of great minds only from secondary sources seems to me a poor substitute for actively engaging with their writings.