Saturday, December 31, 2011

Econ Blogging

Interesting.

“LET Truth and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?” asked John Milton in Areopagitica, his rousing defence of a free press, in 1644. But in an era when a blog can be set up with a few clicks, not everyone agrees that more voices and more choices improve the quality of debate. Cass Sunstein, a Harvard law professor, has argued that by allowing people to retreat into “information cocoons” or “echo chambers” in which they hear only views they agree with, the blogosphere fosters polarisation—a fear widely shared by politicians. Forbes once called blogs “the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective”.

Previous publishing revolutions, such as the advent of printing, prompted similar concerns about trivialisation and extremism. But whatever you think about the impact of blogging on political, scientific or religious debate, it is hard to argue that the internet has cheapened the global conversation about economics. On the contrary, it has improved it.

(6) Comments
Posted by Owen at 1557 hrs
Culture + Economy + Technology

  1. It’s always scary to hear a law professor saying that “allowing people to…” (fill in the blank) is dangerous.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which way that tree is leaning.  Polarization?  Sure there is polarization.  But it started long before blogging.  The struggle in this state and in this country is based on arguments that say on the one hand that government is the mechanism that grants individuals the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  On the other hand, the other side sees government as an inbred, bloated, and dysfunctional machine that inhibits those rights.  It amazes me that anyone can look at the two sides and think that there is any option other than polarization.  Compromise?  Sure, there is room for compromise.  If you take two pillows and squeeze them together, you can fit them in a small space.  But you can only squeeze them so far.  Physics tells us that two objects can not occupy the same space at the same time.  I think we are all out of squeeze room, and I didn’t need a blog to tell me that.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on December 31, 2011 at 1823 hrs


  2. If the press really was free, as in open minded, and treated all pols/sides with the same skepticism, instead of having a thrill up their leg for one side, and seeing the other as evil terrorists, maybe the water wouldn’t be so poisoned. As it is, not all blogs are vicious and slanderous. Some actually report what the MSM thinks isn’t important, or that we don’t need to know.

    Posted by Billiam on December 31, 2011 at 2034 hrs


  3. Ditto Billiam’s comment.  They did not want WHITE AMERICANS to know about the NEW BLACK PANTHERS who accosted and threatened would-be voters during the last election, so they did not report on it.  As a result, the ba$tard$ got out of any charges/punishment because Attorney General Eric Holder saw nothing wrong with what they did.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 01, 2012 at 0823 hrs


  4. Anyone putting forth these ideas of “echo chambers” being bad for discussion needs to immediately disassociate themselves with political parties if they plan to be consistent in their beliefs.

    Seriously folks, you have to realize that the legacy mass media is a BUSINESS. It wouldn’t have existed if it didn’t make money. And by trying to sell what used to be as some Golden Age of Information they’re trying to preserve their business and money. The problem is that anyone who’s interacted with them closely never thought that what they had in the past was a Golden Age, but rather a ruthless gatekeeping by unlearned scribes (and I’m not just talking politics here, I’m talking discussions of science and economics, too).

    Physics tells us that two objects can not occupy the same space at the same time.

    Uh, no. Study quantum mechanics sometime, and in particular the renormalization of QCD. When you get small, all sorts of weirdness happens and you have to toss common sense out the door.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 02, 2012 at 1146 hrs


  5. “I thank God there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world; and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both.”

    —Sir William Berkeley, colonial governor of Virginia

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 03, 2012 at 0859 hrs


  6. Uh, no. Study quantum mechanics sometime, and in particular the renormalization of QCD. When you get small, all sorts of weirdness happens and you have to toss common sense out the door.

    There is a reason it’s called quantum field theory and not quantum field fact.  Until you can bring it to somewhere this side of Star Wars and prove why we can no longer build walls with one brick on top of another because the top brick will fall through the bottom one, the physics principle will hold just fine.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 03, 2012 at 1637 hrs


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