美国国家公共电台 NPR '#Republic' Author Describes How Social Media Hurts Democracy

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Social media can be an echo chamber¹. Facebook and Twitter feeds often show us posts by people who think pretty much the same way we do - red feed for conservatives, blue feed for liberals. On this week's All Tech Considered, my co-host Kelly McEvers talked with someone who's thought a lot about echo chambers² and whether something could be done to change them.

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KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE³: Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein has written a lot about why societies need dissent⁴. That was the title of one of his earlier books. His new book is "#Republic: Divided Democracy In The Age Of Social Media." He says these echo chambers we live in actually hurt democracy. Cass Sunstein, welcome to the show.

CASS SUNSTEIN: Thank you so much.

MCEVERS: Since the election, I mean, we've done a lot of reporting on this - right? - how the news is being filtered, how people are only reading stories that, you know, match their ideas. But how does this hurt democracy, in your opinion?

SUNSTEIN: Well, there are a couple of things that happened then. None of them is good. One is that if you're listening to people who just agree with you or reading news sources that fit with your own preconceptions, it's not as if you just stay where you are. You tend to end up more extreme, which makes us get kind of blocked as a society, which isn't good for democracy and which makes it possible for people to see people who disagree with them not as fellow citizens, but as enemies who are crazy people or dupes. And that can make problem solving very, very challenging.

MCEVERS: Just after the election, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was, quote, "pretty crazy" to think that fake news on Facebook had any influence on the election. He said, quote, "voters make decisions based on their lived experience." What do you think about that?

SUNSTEIN: Well, with respect to fake news, the data is that it has not had a massive effect on elections. So I think the data is supportive of his conclusion there. In so far as Facebook is disparaging⁵, the concern that it's contributing to a system of division and polarization and extremism and echo chambering, that's not great. We ought to see Facebook thinking - how can we be part of a solution rather than what we now are with respect to polarization? That is part of the problem.

MCEVERS: You know, the question is - what can be done to combat this? What can be can be done to sort of stop that extreme - that extremism?

SUNSTEIN: Yes. Well, there are lots of things that can be done in our individual lives and also on the part of those who provide information. So there's nothing inevitable⁶ in an algorithm that says, you know, this is your type of content. Here you go. If you have an algorithm that exposes you to opposing viewpoints or topics you never would have put there - and that can change your life in a good way.

MCEVERS: I'm imagining, like, a serendipity⁷ bar where you sort of move it - you know, like the brightness control on your phone - like, you move it right or left. You're like - I want more serendipity in my algorithm or less.

SUNSTEIN: Completely love that - serendipity button or an opposing viewpoint button.

MCEVERS: Or a slider, yeah

SUNSTEIN: A slider - definitely. What we have, in a way, now on the social media is a serendipity bar which is dialed down to black, black, black. And it isn't easy to dial it up till it's actually used, so providers can completely do that.

MCEVERS: But it's not in their interest to do that, right? I mean, they want - I mean, I was reading in your book, like, you know, some - a memo⁸ - a Facebook memo - where they were talking about the desire to keep people, you know, reading an article for, you know, the maximum amount of time. And to do that, you give them something they want.

SUNSTEIN: Well, we're early days, really, still for Facebook and social media. And so my expectation is that Facebook and Twitter will do some experimenting on this count. It is true that kind of a quick reaction is provide people with content that they will look at. And that might be the information cocoon⁹ effect. But lots of Americans have not just a desire to see, you know, what they already think, but a desire to see some stuff that'll be challenging or eye-opening.

MCEVERS: What should we, as social media users, do? I mean, is the, you know, sort of immediate¹⁰ suggestion that, like, liberals should follow more conservatives and vice¹¹ versa?

SUNSTEIN: I think - no question - that if you're left of center, have a little plan in the next two weeks to follow some smart people who are right of center. And if you're right of center, and you tend to ridicule¹² or contempt for people on the left, follow some liberals. Find some who have at least a little bit of credibility for you. Or make a determined¹³ judgment¹⁴ whether you're left or right. See what you can get from the other side. And this is, you know, individual lives, but as the framers of the constitution knew, a republic is built up of innumerable individual decisions. And whether we get a well-functioning system or not depends on, you know, countless¹⁵ individual acts.

MCEVERS: Cass Sunstein's new book is "#Republic: Divided Democracy In The Age Of Social Media." Thank you.

SUNSTEIN: Thank you so much.

1 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

2 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

5 disparaging   

adj.轻蔑的，毁谤的v.轻视( disparage的现在分词 )；贬低；批评；非难

参考例句：

• Halliday's comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable and disparaging. 一天天过去，哈里代的评论越来越肆无忌惮，越来越讨人嫌，越来越阴损了。 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡
• Even with favorable items they would usually add some disparaging comments. 即使对好消息，他们也往往要加上几句诋毁的评语。 来自互联网

6 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

7 serendipity   

n.偶然发现物品之才能；意外新发现

参考例句：

• "It was serendipity all the way,"he says.用他的话说是“一直都很走运”。
• Some of the best effects in my garden have been the result of serendipity.我园子里最珍贵的几件物品是机缘巧合之下意外所得。

8 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

9 cocoon   

n.茧

参考例句：

• A cocoon is a kind of silk covering made by an insect.蚕茧是由昆虫制造的一种由丝组成的外包层。
• The beautiful butterfly emerged from the cocoon.美丽的蝴蝶自茧中出现。

10 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

13 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

14 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

15 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。