From Stephen Shaw, Kendal, Cumbria, UK
The argument advanced in the book Filterworld, the subject of your review, is that the shift towards algorithmically curated feeds has homogenised culture. I would argue that it may also polarise culture. Take book recommendations of the type “Readers who bought Book X also bought Book Y”. If one reader’s first selection was The Imitation of Christ, while another’s was Mein Kampf, recommendations for future purchases will probably push the two further apart, rather than bring them culturally closer (27 January, p 27).
