So what to make of Jeff’s point that it’s too early to judge the impact of the internet—what he calls a “connection machine”—on democracy? It’s an interesting position. Yes, he’s right to compare the historical significance of the digital revolution to Gutenberg’s 15th-century invention of the printing press. And he’s right to underline that the disruptive impact of this technological revolution lasted several centuries. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make a judgment now in the early stages of the digital revolution. – LitHub