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This is a show we originally aired in February. It was recorded in front of a live studio audience.

From WNYC in New York, this is On the Media live from the Jerome L. Green Space. I'm Brooke

and I'm Bob Garfield, Brooke. Yes, Bob. I just want to begin our very first live broadcast of On the Media to say that the fate of mankind hangs in the balance.

Tonight we intend to resolve the question, and yes, it is a big one.

Will the Internet deliver us or destroy us?

How is the Internet changing you on a personal level?

Is it making you better, smarter, less isolated?

I think that it does.

And I'll be making my case, the correct case,

that we're devolving slightly into sad, evil trolls lurking in the shadow,

saying horrible things about one another, stealing content, and shrinking our attention spans

like a sweatshirt in a hot dryer.

Right now, I'll argue we're living through an internet utopia,

and the next part of the show, Bob will be the utopian.

As if the onset of digital barbarism were really in doubt.

Have you ever heard of the site, 4chan?

Oh, no.

People do the most reprehensible things

because the Internet makes them think that other people's feelings

are just less real.

...