A saga with a twist story told by Photographer Rick Smolan



Rick Smolan is a former Time, Life and National Geographic photographer best known as the co-creator of the "Day in the Life" and "America 24/7" series. He and his partner, Jennifer Erwitt, are the principals of Against All Odds Productions, which specializes in the design and execution of large-scale global projects that combine compelling storytelling with state-of-the-art technology.

Their projects have been featured on the covers of Time, Newsweek, Fortune and U.S. News & World Report and more than five million of their books adorn coffee tables around the world –- many of them New York Times best-sellers. Their books include AMERICA AT HOME, UK AT HOME, Blue Planet Run, AMERICA 24/7, One Digital Day, 24 Hours in Cyberspace, Passage to Vietnam, The Power to Heal, From Alice to Ocean and A Day in the Life of America.

As web companies strive to tailor their services (including news and search results) to our personal tastes, there's a dangerous unintended consequence: We get trapped in a "filter bubble" and don't get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. Eli Pariser argues powerfully that this will ultimately prove to be bad for us and bad for democracy



Pioneering online organizer Eli Pariser is the author of "The Filter Bubble," about how personalized search might be narrowing our worldview.