Thomas Schelling, polarization and the web

Thomas Schelling has died. Schelling’s pathbreaking work in game theory had enormous influence during the Cold War and ultimately earned him aNobel Prize. Italso helps illuminate some ofthe unexpected consequences of the internet as a medium for information-gathering and conversation—in particular the technology’stendency to breed ideological polarization (a tendency that shaped political discourseduring the recentpresidential campaign). In my 2008 book The Big Switch , I discussed how one of...