9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So imagine that you had[br]your smartphone minituarized

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and hooked up directly to your brain.

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If you had this sort of brain chip,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you'd be able to upload and download[br]to the Internet at the speed of thought.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Accessing social media or Wikipedia[br]would be a lot like --

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well, from the inside at least --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like consulting your own memory.

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It would be as easy[br]and as intimate as thinking.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But would it make it easier[br]for you to know what's true?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Just because a way[br]of accessing information is faster

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doesn't mean it's[br]more reliable of course,

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and it doesn't mean that we would all[br]interpret it the same way.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It doesn't mean that you would be[br]any better at evaluating it,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in fact you might even we worse

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because, you know, more data,[br]less time for evaluation.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Something like this is already[br]happening to us right now.

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We already carry a world of information[br]around in our pockets,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but it seems as if the more information[br]that we share and access online,

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the more difficult it can be

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for us to tell the difference between[br]what's real and what's fake.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's as if we know more[br]but understand less.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, it's a feature of modern like,

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I supposed,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that large swaths of the public [br]live in isolated information bubbles.

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We're polarized not just over values[br]but over the facts,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and one reason for that[br]

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is that the data analytics[br]that drive the Internet

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get us not just more information[br]but more of the information that we want.

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Our online life is personalized,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
everything from the ads we read

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to the news that comes down[br]our Facebook feed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is tailored to satisfy our preferences.

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And so while we get more information,

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a lot of that information ends up[br]reflecting ourselves

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as much as it does reality.

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It ends up,

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I suppose,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
inflating our bubbles rather[br]than bursting them.

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And so maybe it's not surprise

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that we're in a situation --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a paradoxical situation --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
thinking that we know so much more

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and yet not agreeing[br]on what it is we know.