Is the Internet making us ignorant?


	Is the Internet making us ignorant?

apple white

11-7-2007 12:42 PM

623 views

tags:

internet, democracy, politics, freedom, debate

apple white says:

interesting interview with author Cass Sunstein "Republic.com 2.0"

2 Comments |

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11-7-2007 3:41 PM

abailart

As claimed in the interview polarisation is 'very much a part of human nature'. A rough overview of clipmark contributions, for example, shows extremely few cases of clippers' highlighting points of view quite different from their own. I think that the internet, the mass media etc. don't 'make' us ignorant, but reflect and reinforce our differences. A useful thing to 'know'!

11-10-2007 3:26 PM

skwirlinator

Biased but not ignorant

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/1f059ab8-9679-4490-ae10-731750623dfd/714F2E38-7064-45CA-8AA1-58EFE725083B/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/07/sunstein/index.html?source=newsletter" href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/07/sunstein/index.html?source=newsletter" style="font-size: 11px;">www.salon.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/07/sunstein/index.html?source=newsletter">Sure, the Internet has been a boon to democracy in all sorts of ways, Sunstein acknowledges -- but if new technology gives us unprecedented access to information, it also gives us more ways to avoid information we don't like. Conservatives are increasingly seeking only conservative views, liberals are seeking only liberal views, and never the twain shall meet. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/07/sunstein/index.html?source=newsletter">He uses experiments and statistical analyses to back that up: One study of hyperlinking patterns on the Web shows that political bloggers rarely highlight opposing opinions -- of 1,400 blogs surveyed, 91 percent of links were to like-minded sites.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/07/sunstein/index.html?source=newsletter">When it comes to the Internet, we demand the right to reinforce our own beliefs without embracing the responsibility to challenge them.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/07/sunstein/index.html?source=newsletter">The empirical finding was that like-minded jurors, when they talk to one another, tend to get more extreme.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/11/07/sunstein/index.html?source=newsletter">Internet enthusiasts really can't even see a problem and can't see the individual and social benefits of being exposed to stuff you didn't choose.</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/714F2E38-7064-45CA-8AA1-58EFE725083B/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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