Filter Bubble (Political Science)

1) Used in the context of social media, this is the idea that a content consumer has a bias to only consume (or filter) news stories which reinforces already held beliefs. A preexisting bias is reenforced by the process of social media news feed algorithms which tend to show consumers stories that the algorithm believes the consumers wish to see. Note that the algorithm does this based on a profit motive (to retain a customer) rather then risking alienating a consumer by exposing them to news stories they may not agree with. In other words, the algorithm wishes to avoid cognitive dissonance which is deemed unpleasant to the consumer. A filter bubble can be thought of as a subset of the idea of confirmation bias.

2) The inability of policy makers to identify alternatives to failed policies once a policy is in place.

Further Reading: [easyazon_link identifier=”0345308239″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”rethse-20″]The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam[/easyazon_link] by Barbara W. Tuchman

Filter Bubble (Science Fiction)

The tendency of a person to read only one type of sub-genera, As in “I only read Military Science Fiction.”