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Title: Republic.Com by Cass Sunstein ISBN: 0-691-09589-2 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.74 (19 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Very well-argued and reasonable, but strays from the point
Comment: Sunstein excels at calming people down. His writing style tries to chill some of the excitement over the Net, and try to return us to thinking about basic questions of democracy. His argument has several facets and certainly couldn't be adequately represented here (or else there'd be no need to buy the book), but one major point goes like this: so-called ``general interest intermediaries" in the mass media -- for instance, newspapers and television -- serve a vital role in a democracy: they get us to see points of view that we might not have chosen to see if we could totally control the content coming at us. Sunstein sees a great danger that the Internet will (in MIT Media Lab chief Nicholas Negroponte's words) allow us to create a ``daily me": content that we choose to the exclusion of all others. He presents some good arguments about how this content restriction is exactly what democracy *doesn't* need, then proposes some policies -- private if possible, public if necessary -- that will help keep discussion wide-ranging and open on the Net.
I claim that he doesn't go far enough, though. It's possible for people who just read newspapers and magazines -- to say nothing of the Internet -- to see only the narrow opinions that they choose to see (e.g., imagine someone reading only _The National Review_). If Sunstein stuck to the point that democracy require general-interest intermediaries -- on the Net or not -- he'd have a much stronger case. The point is: how do we defend democracy? The Net is incidental to this point. I emailed Sunstein to ask about this, and he replied that he agrees; he says that ``I'll try to fix this, to the extent that I can, in the paperback."
Rating: 5
Summary: This book is important
Comment: I'm a huge Net advocate and a believer in the possibilities of the Net promoting democracy. But Sunstein has written an important book, even if it is one many people online will consider heretic. He's challenging the tech world -- a sometimes narcissistic and elitist culture which often talks a lot about the masses and democracy, even though most people aren't online or tech savvy -- to consider that the explosion in collaborative filtering and other software (like that used here on this site) is causing us to only deal with ideas we know we're going to like. He reminds us that we are also citizens as well as free and empowered netizens, and that citizens need a public place to get together and be exposed to unanticipated and other ideas they might not agree with. The explosion on moderation and filtering is making it easier than every for people to screen out products, books, opinions they think they don't want to hear. In a civic sense, that leads to a sort of cultural Serbia. Sunstein is quite careful in this book not to be knee-jerk. He isn't anti-technology. He is challenging people to consider the implications of this powerful software. In the tech world, stuff is often judged by how cool it is, rather than by its consequences. My one strong disagreement is Sunstein's call for mandatory links to sites that offer opposing points of view. People shouldn't be forced to consider idea they don't like, they should be encouraged to get to places where they are exposed to them. But I think this is a very significant work, and I highly recommend it to people who love the Net and are interested in its impact on democracy.
Rating: 3
Summary: A student in the process of reading
Comment: I recently began to read sunsteins' book, and I have to say that it raises thought provoking ideas on the direction our society is headed if we continue down our current path. I would have to agree with Howe, in that the Daily Me does not open us up to new ideas or other prospectives and therefore does not allow our democracy room to breath. We are sealing ourselves off from the rest of the world by having everything that we like at our disposal while refusing other information.
Even though some of his ideas may seem far-fetched, it is this type of thinking that allows our minds to see different perspectives and escape the fate that awaits us. Of course, his book is not the only thought-provoker but in this growing field of technology ideas such as sunsteins are interesting and a bit refreshing in the world of information
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Title: The Culture of Technology by Arnold Pacey ISBN: 0262660563 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 10 September, 1985 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World by Lawrence Lessig ISBN: 0375726446 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 12 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Toward Digital Equity: Bridging the Divide in Education by Gwen Solomon, Nancy Allen, Paul E. Resta ISBN: 0205360556 Publisher: Allyn & Bacon Pub. Date: 30 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.80 |
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Title: Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech by Cass R. Sunstein ISBN: 0028740009 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Governing With the News: The News Media As a Political Institution by Timothy E. Cook ISBN: 0226115003 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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