Volume 49, Number 7 · April 25, 2002
The 'Daily Me'
By Cass R. Sunstein, Reply by James Fallows
In response to He's Got Mail (March 14, 2002)
To the Editors:
I am grateful to James Fallows for his generous discussion of my book [NYR, March 14], and write only to offer two clarifications. First, the idea of the "Daily Me," referring to an entirely personalized newspaper, is not my own; it comes from MIT technology specialist Nicholas Negroponte, who is properly credited in the book itself. Second, I use Negroponte's idea not as a basis for attacking the Internet, but as a thought experiment designed to cast light on the neglected requirements of a system of free expression: unanticipated, unchosen encounters and a range of shared experiences. I do offer reason to believe that numerous people are using the Internet to narrow their horizons, but there is no suggestion that this is what most people are doing.
Cass R. Sunstein
Chicago, Illinois
James Fallows replies:
I appreciate the correction to my mention of the "Daily Me," and I am relieved that the problem discussed in Cass Sunstein's book may not be that serious a problem after all.
