Playing off of Robert Forrant's conclusion, Carlson positions those who imagine that the future depends on sci-fi technologies as naysayers to his more rounded and thoughtful analysis. He advances his argument by pointing out that most of the technologies that make our lives possible today stem from very old technology. 

Those who identify with Anna Lappe's school of thought are nay-sayers to Carlson's argument in that they are taking an unbalanced and overly simplified  approach in trying to solve a complex matter where similar principles apply.   

The author is injecting a naysayer into his argument here by giving some attention to those who question the value of a college degree. Rather that searching out something fundamentally different from what higher education has to offer, Carlson explains, we aught to look with a fresh pair of eyes at what is already present and can be enhanced in the current system. 

Here, Pamela Paul is positioning the google spokesperson (who is a proponent of the new type of google search) as a naysayer to her argument that that our ever increasing connectedness to past relationships by way of social media is a curse and not a blessing. She deals with this opposition by mocking the notion of "the faceless web" and asserts that we have the exact opposite problem. She obviously does not take the google spokespersons position seriously because she twists it in her summary with the yellow bikini anecdote.