Broadcasting Brain

Here in social media and in the blogosphere we (ironically enough) talk a lot about something we call the echo chamber effect.

Just like a sound is repeated, amplified, and occasionally distorted in a real-life echo chamber (a device used to conduct experiments with sound), ideas can be discussed, rediscussed, etc. until we believe them just because we hear them.

Image by webwetwork

In the mainstream media (and digital media) we’ve been seeing a lot of talk about the need for bailouts for various US financial institutions and a seemingly endless stream of experts who say it’s a do or die situation.

The US House of Representatives refused to buy those arguments on Sept. 29, 2008. I’m sure there’s a multitude of reasons why they didn’t pass the legislation, both good and not so good.

I scratched my head a bit and wondered if a bunch of people were just trying to play chicken with the current Executive and Legislative leadership. It seemed like a dumb move.

However, I came across the following article by Howard Owens in Google Reader today that made me think for a moment. Here’s my immediate reaction after reading the article:

Wow. This article is worth reading, if only to give you the opportunity to take a sober second thought about the current US financial situation. Be honest: have you really sat down, read about this issue in detail, and formed your own opinion or are you just echoing? This is an echo-chamber much, much larger than we ever talk about in the blogosphere.

Whether or not you completely agree with the points in Owen’s article, I think you would agree that a lot of the discussions around the proposed bailout package were a living, breathing example of the echo chamber. A single message has been repeated and amplified across the media, creating a lot of nervous people. Result: massive stock market drop on the day of the event. More echoing about the dire nature of that event. And, today, the markets are starting to rally back.

The bailout seems to make sense in many ways, particularly if it means that people who need credit will lose access to it, but we’re certainly leaving the details and execution to a small group of people. These people SHOULD know what they are doing, but if you look back over the past 40 - 45 years of history and at some of the bigger things that went wrong, don’t you think that it might be a good idea to understand the details a bit better? Take a sober second look?

I’m not saying that action isn’t necessary to fix financial problems. All I’m saying is that much of the reactions to Monday’s events are an unmistakable example of the echo chamber in action. Then, when reality sets in and the world’s still there, do you think you are better able to recognize the effects of the echo chamber?

If you're new here, welcome! Please consider subscribing to my RSS feed to stay up to date with my latest posts and articles. Thanks for visiting!