~ KIAT-KITDHA-O-SOK-ITBFTHTWMAODCTAALIP ~ Knowledge Is A Treasure – Knowing Is The Distinctively Human Activity –Our – System Of Knowledge – Is The Basis For The Hope That We Might All One Day Come To Agreement And Live In Peace

~ AIW-T-COK-IAITJOFPFAO ~ At Its Worst – This – Crisis Of Knowledge – Is Apparent In The Jumble Of Fears Put Forward As Obvious

~ T-I-IA-UM-O-R/G/L-I-SOA-A-STEO-F/L-F-T-EWASI-HAM-ABATO-E/T-P-WF-‘EC’-O-A-AEFCTOTTWDDTBE ~ The – Internet – Is An – Unedited Mash – Of – Rumor / Gossips / Lies – It – Splinters Our Attention – And – Spells The End Of – Reflective / Long-Form – Thought – Everyone With Any Stupid Idea – Has A Megaphone – As Big As That Of – Educated / Trained – People – We Form – “Echo Chambers” – Online – And – Actually Encounter Fewer Challenges To Our Thinking Than We Did During The Broadcast Era

~ TI-L-F-C-D-A-A-D-P-OOB ~ The Internet – Loves – Fervid – Cult-Driven – Amateurs – And – Drives – Professionals – Out Of Business

~ TI-R-TAOADA-IB-G-E-CM-W-JT-B-TNOTU-WBTNOV-A-KBWITMFTB ~ The Internet – Represents – The Ascension Of A Dark Ages – Inhabited By – Glassy-Eyed – Chronic Masturbators – Who – Judge Truth – By – The Number Of Thumbs Up – Wisdom By The Number Of Views – And – Knowledge By Whatever Is The Most Fun To Believe

~ S-WAIA-COK-ATSTTWAIA-E-EOK ~ So – We Are In A – Crisis Of Knowledge – At The Same Time That We Are In An – Epochal – Exaltation Of Knowledge

~ IO-SN-AO-NF-T-AIS-F-EIFO-T-TNOPW-K/L/R ~ If Our – Social Networks – Are Our – New Filters – Then – Authority Is Shifting – From – Experts In Faraway Offices – To – The Network Of People We – Know / Like / Respect

~ ILTOTI ~ I Learned That On The Internet

~ EI-TSPITRITRI-TRDNMMAWEIS ~ Even If – The Smartest Person In The Room Is The Room Itself – The Room Does Not Magically Make All Who Enter It Smart

~ TEOC ~ The Expertise Of Clouds

~ I-1970-TWATD-TT-T-TAO-3,500-W-ATIOTTOGPI-T-COE-STECOOC ~ In – 1970 – There Were About Two Dozen – Think Tanks – Today – There Are Over – 3,500 – Worldwide – As The Influence Of Think Tanks On Government Policy Increased – The – Cult Of Expertise – Spread To Every Corner Of Our Culture

~ TFAMOFATI-IT-ITBCAHES ~ The First And Most Obvious Fact About The Internet – Is That – It’s The Biggest Crowd Anyone Has Ever Seen

~ TWOC-PC-UW-CDBTE-IDO:ADOO-I-D-A-AWTDA-CD ~ The Wisdom Of Crowds – Precise Conditions – Under Which – Crowds Do Better Than Experts – It Depends On: A Diversity Of Opinion – Independence – Decentralization – And – A Way To Derive A – Collective Decision

~ MOTEO-CNTIE-DNIM ~ Most Of The Examples Of – Crowds Networking Themselves Into Expertise – Do Not Involve Money

~ AMOE? ~ A Marketplace Of Echoes?

~ ITNICM-EC-TBLWBD-FTCWBP-A-TBLATCTA-A-TCWIC ~ If The Net Is Creating More – Echo Chambers – The Biggest Loser Will Be Democracy – For The Citizenry Will Be Polarized – And – Thus Be Less Able To Come To Agreement – And – To Compromise When It Cannot

~ SHS-T-WPSOWTWWTA-TNOBMCOTOV-TTTAMEVOTV ~ Studies Have Shown – That – When People Speak Only With Those With Whom They Agree – They Not Only Become More Convinced Of Their Own Views – They Tend To Adopt More Extreme Versions Of Those Views

~ SWNTK:-I-TN-IF-COM-A-MUTMEV? ~ So We Need To Know: Is – The Net – In Fact – Closing Our Minds – And – Moving Us Toward More Extreme Views?

~ ‘C’-IW-ABRGMBBIIBPATNAT ~ “Cybercascades” – In Which – A Belief Rapidly Gains Many Believers Because It Is Being Passed Around The Net As True

~ TWT-TAK-IT-R-A-O-EATWD ~ The Way To – Truth And Knowledge – Is Through – Reasonable – And – Open – Encounters Among Those Who Disagree

~ WNTBOGATPT-EC-P-CU-TOBA-‘O’-T-A-NUTMEVOT ~ We Need To Be On Guard Agaisnt The – Psychological Tricks – Echo Chambers – Play – Convincing Us – That Our Beliefs Are – “Obviously” – True – And – Nudging Us Toward More Extreme Versions Of Them

~ WW-IS-HA-C-ECM-RTTSCTCOO ~ We Were – In Short – Having A – Classic – Echo Camber Moment – Refusing To Take Seriously Claims That Challenged Our Own

~ PT ~ Public Thinking

~ TI-HNETNF-CPS-N-HICE-TLBPAA ~ The Internet – Has Not Eliminated The Need For – Credentialed Professional Scientists – Nor – Has It Completely Erased – The Line Between Professionals And Amateurs

~ We Are In This Together – We Need To Continue To Assert He Truths That Come From Methods More Likely To Reveal Them