The Internet: A Place to Celebrate Magic, Mourn Loss

Virginia Heffernan, New York Times Magazine contributor, visiting scholar at NYU, editorial director of West Studios, a marketing firm for start-ups, and the author of Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art (Simon & Schuster, 2016), talks about her take on the internet: "the great masterpiece of human civilization" and what that means for past values and what's next.

Heffernan said she especially loves the "particularism" of the web. She used to think people could be clearly categorized as Democrats or Republicans or other, but the internet has shed a light on people who lead with weight loss or abortion rights or religion 

@BrianLehrer I've been reading long, entertaining letters my parents sent in the '60s. The Kids Today won't have that. (But I vote magic.)

— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) June 7, 2016

@BrianLehrer No question the world is a much smaller place thanks to the Internet. How could you not celebrate that magic?

— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) June 7, 2016