Is Today's Internet Killing Our Culture?
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Are Wikipedia, Google and an infinite number of web blogs, liberating our culture or killing it by abolishing traditional standards and blurring the difference between what's really true and what's false. We consider the backlash against Internet 2.0. Also, the upcoming Iowa caucus, and if you've been wondering about the good things to eat, the author of Omnivore’s Dilemma follows it up with a book In Defense of Food.
- Note: This archived edition of TtP, will not air live on KCRW as it will be pre-empted by special holiday programming.
Making News
Understanding the Caucus Process ()
Two days from today, American voters will finally be heard from about their presidential preferences—not at the polls, but at caucuses in the state of Iowa. What are they? How do they work? Does the process—especially on the Democratic side—reveal how the caucus-goers really feel? David Redlawsk is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the University of Iowa's Hawkeye Poll.
Guests:
- David Redlawsk: Director, University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll
Main Topic
Is Today's Internet Killing Our Culture? ()
Internet 2.0, the participatory websites that depend on content generated by users, is under attack. Once hailed for democratizing culture by providing more information from more sources without either filters or fees, critics now contend that web blogs, Google and Wikipedia are replacing expert gatekeepers with the "wisdom of crowds," often ignorant and wrong. Will traditional standards devolve into cultural anarchy where nobody knows what's true or false or will history's biggest communications explosion liberate culture from the heavy hand of self-interested elites?
Guests:
- Andrew Keen: Author, 'The Cult of the Amateur'
- Xeni Jardin: Technology-culture journalist
- Larry Sanger: Co-Founder, Wikipedia
- Clay Shirky: Instructor in Interactive Telecommunications, New York University
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
Food Versus Edible Food-like Substances ()
After reading Michel Pollan's vastly successful book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the Wall Street Journal's reviewer said, "Eating is no longer a simple pleasure." Beyond that, and despite nutritional science, the industrialized products we call "food" aren't food any more, and they've given America "a national eating disorder." Today, Pollan's latest book is being released. It's called In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.
Guests:
- Michael Pollan: Contributing Writer, New York Times, @michaelpollan
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