Message from the Future

This makes me feel like I'm part of something much bigger than myself. And it makes me nervous at the same time.

One of the greatest potential benefits of the blogosphere, I think, is that individuals have the capacity to be active participants in their consumption of the news. I decide what I consume. And everyday I stumble upon something new and interesting. Blogs make me smarter, and not because they reinforce my existing opinions (though they sometimes do) but also because they broaden my view of the world.

For years, the MSM was able to spoon feed the public one version of events. Not so anymore. But some people are more comfortable being spoon-fed, and only hearing data that confirms their existing opinions. Unfortunately, they can find a lot of that data in the blogosphere.

If the media evolves as suggested by the linked video, people all over the world will be regularly fed a diet of affirming media. Which then leads to even greater divisions among political, socio-economic and religious groups all over the world.

How do we avoid this outcome?