The Social Life of Echo Chambers
David Weinberger,
Kmworld,
Apr 02, 2004
The capacity to personalize the web, or at the very least to locate smaller and smaller content niches on the web, has led to the sort of criticism described in this article, that "The Internet is a set of echo chambers in which people get together to talk with people who believe exactly the same thing as they do." The problem with this observation, notes the author, is that it's probably false. "The Net tends to put diverse opinions in front of us whether we want it to or not." But even more, the echo chamber hypothesis is incoherent. The idea is that being exposed to diverse viewpoints helps us make up our minds. But that's not how we do it. "Only an extreme rationalist thinks that all 'real' conversations have to be the interchange of ideas among participants with serenely open minds." I think this is essentially correct. When we really need diverse points of view in order to decide, the internet provides a wealth of opportunity. But what we mostly need - and want - is something less. Just a place to hang out and chat with friends for a while. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong at all. Via elearningpost.
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