Although digital technologies allow everyone to speak to everyone, and to access information without constraint, they clearly have not fostered mutual understanding or public reason. On the contrary, open societies have proved the least capable of making sensible use of this long-awaited opportunity.
HAMBURG – Sometimes, the fulfillment of a promise feels like punishment. When the radio was invented more than 100 years ago, the German playwright Bertolt Brecht observed that its full potential could be explored only after it had become a communication tool, rather than merely a distribution channel. After all, there is a big difference between the few being able to speak to the many, and everyone being able to speak with everyone else.
Nowadays, digital technologies have indeed allowed everyone to speak to everyone. But they certainly have not fostered mutual understanding or public reason. On the contrary, open societies seem the least capable of making sensible use of this long-awaited opportunity.
The last two decades have dashed many of the hopes that once came with the digital revolution. Instead of wider access to shared facts, we have fake news. Instead of conversation, we have trolling and shouting matches. Instead of creative diversity, we have new monopolies. Instead of democratic deliberation, we have shouting contests. Those who master the attention game may win it for a while, but they typically produce more noise than enlightenment. The cacophony of public debate grows, because digital platforms are designed to encourage and capitalize on dissonance.
HAMBURG – Sometimes, the fulfillment of a promise feels like punishment. When the radio was invented more than 100 years ago, the German playwright Bertolt Brecht observed that its full potential could be explored only after it had become a communication tool, rather than merely a distribution channel. After all, there is a big difference between the few being able to speak to the many, and everyone being able to speak with everyone else.
Nowadays, digital technologies have indeed allowed everyone to speak to everyone. But they certainly have not fostered mutual understanding or public reason. On the contrary, open societies seem the least capable of making sensible use of this long-awaited opportunity.
The last two decades have dashed many of the hopes that once came with the digital revolution. Instead of wider access to shared facts, we have fake news. Instead of conversation, we have trolling and shouting matches. Instead of creative diversity, we have new monopolies. Instead of democratic deliberation, we have shouting contests. Those who master the attention game may win it for a while, but they typically produce more noise than enlightenment. The cacophony of public debate grows, because digital platforms are designed to encourage and capitalize on dissonance.