Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today because Americans are divided. Our public discourse is broken. Instead of fostering open and honest political debate, our flawed information environment creates echo chambers and partisan silos. At times, it feels like the very fabric of our Nation is being torn at the seams. This toxic polarization has infected the Capitol, too, where it is becoming increasingly difficult to get things done in a bipartisan manner. The nonstop outrage and anger must end. To begin solving some of these issues, I propose an idea, which I developed in partnership with my former science and technology policy adviser, Eric Saund, a phenomenal cognitive science and artificial intelligence researcher. Together, we call for redesigning what is popularly described as the ``marketplace of ideas.'' As economists point out, markets are information systems. The invisible hand of supply and demand discovers the value of goods and services, and the equal access to information in a market yields collective efficiency. Now, imagine a market where suppliers or, in this case, speakers of ideas hawk their wares in a public square, while consumers, or listeners, sample and choose the news, stories, and opinions they prefer. The best ideas would win by virtue of the audience's discernment and collective wisdom, right? But what if the market's information architecture, the modes and pathways of information exchange and processing, is fundamentally broken?…”