> “I think what people are still coming to grips with is realizing that actually there was a lot of optimism in the beginning of the internet,” Dutilh Novaes said. We expected that more freely available information would lead to more transparency and less confusion. Instead, we’ve been disappointed to discover that even in an information golden age, people can still be wrong.<p>Yeah... I think some of that optimism may have come from selection-bias within the earlier internet population, which trended towards certain interests and educations.<p>For example the folks who wanted to mindlessly consume opinions from TV news anchors or celebrities weren't there yet because the bandwidth/resolution capabilities couldn't compete with what they got from the TV, and few celebrities were interested in setting up a presence with a blog, BBS, or web-forum.