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- 1
- 00:00:15,849 --> 00:00:17,934
- [eerie instrumental music playing]
- 2
- 00:00:31,114 --> 00:00:34,659
- [interviewer] Why don't you go ahead?
- Sit down and see if you can get comfy.
- 3
- 00:00:37,579 --> 00:00:39,789
- -You good? All right.
- -Yeah. [exhales]
- 4
- 00:00:39,914 --> 00:00:42,125
- -[interviewer] Um...
- -[cell phone vibrates]
- 5
- 00:00:43,043 --> 00:00:44,794
- [crew member] Take one, marker.
- 6
- 00:00:46,796 --> 00:00:48,798
- [interviewer] Wanna start
- by introducing yourself?
- 7
- 00:00:48,882 --> 00:00:49,799
- [crew member coughs]
- 8
- 00:00:50,467 --> 00:00:53,344
- Hello, world. Bailey. Take three.
- 9
- 00:00:53,970 --> 00:00:56,347
- -[interviewer] You good?
- -This is the worst part, man.
- 10
- 00:00:56,890 --> 00:00:59,517
- [chuckling] I don't like this.
- 11
- 00:00:59,851 --> 00:01:02,228
- I worked at Facebook in 2011 and 2012.
- 12
- 00:01:02,312 --> 00:01:05,190
- I was one of the really early employees
- at Instagram.
- 13
- 00:01:05,272 --> 00:01:08,693
- [man 1] <i>I worked at, uh, Google,</i>
- <i>uh, YouTube.</i>
- 14
- 00:01:08,777 --> 00:01:11,696
- [woman] <i>Apple, Google, Twitter, Palm.</i>
- 15
- 00:01:12,739 --> 00:01:15,533
- I helped start Mozilla Labs
- and switched over to the Firefox side.
- 16
- 00:01:15,617 --> 00:01:18,119
- -[interviewer] Are we rolling? Everybody?
- -[crew members reply]
- 17
- 00:01:18,203 --> 00:01:19,162
- [interviewer] Great.
- 18
- 00:01:21,206 --> 00:01:22,624
- [man 2] I worked at Twitter.
- 19
- 00:01:23,041 --> 00:01:23,917
- My last job there
- 20
- 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,169
- was the senior vice president
- of engineering.
- 21
- 00:01:27,337 --> 00:01:29,255
- -[man 3] I was the president of Pinterest.
- -[sips]
- 22
- 00:01:29,339 --> 00:01:32,717
- Before that, um,
- I was the... the director of monetization
- 23
- 00:01:32,801 --> 00:01:34,260
- at Facebook for five years.
- 24
- 00:01:34,344 --> 00:01:37,972
- While at Twitter, I spent a number
- of years running their developer platform,
- 25
- 00:01:38,056 --> 00:01:40,225
- and then I became
- head of consumer product.
- 26
- 00:01:40,308 --> 00:01:44,270
- I was the coinventor of Google Drive,
- Gmail Chat,
- 27
- 00:01:44,354 --> 00:01:46,689
- Facebook Pages,
- and the Facebook like button.
- 28
- 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,777
- Yeah. This is... This is why I spent,
- like, eight months
- 29
- 00:01:50,860 --> 00:01:52,779
- talking back and forth with lawyers.
- 30
- 00:01:54,072 --> 00:01:55,406
- This freaks me out.
- 31
- 00:01:58,409 --> 00:01:59,702
- [man 2] When I was there,
- 32
- 00:01:59,786 --> 00:02:02,914
- I always felt like,
- fundamentally, it was a force for good.
- 33
- 00:02:03,414 --> 00:02:05,375
- I don't know if I feel that way anymore.
- 34
- 00:02:05,458 --> 00:02:10,588
- I left Google in June 2017, uh,
- due to ethical concerns.
- 35
- 00:02:10,672 --> 00:02:14,134
- And... And not just at Google
- but within the industry at large.
- 36
- 00:02:14,217 --> 00:02:15,385
- I'm very concerned.
- 37
- 00:02:16,636 --> 00:02:17,679
- I'm very concerned.
- 38
- 00:02:19,097 --> 00:02:21,808
- It's easy today to lose sight of the fact
- 39
- 00:02:21,891 --> 00:02:27,814
- that these tools actually have created
- some wonderful things in the world.
- 40
- 00:02:27,897 --> 00:02:31,943
- They've reunited lost family members.
- They've found organ donors.
- 41
- 00:02:32,026 --> 00:02:36,573
- I mean, there were meaningful,
- systemic changes happening
- 42
- 00:02:36,656 --> 00:02:39,159
- around the world
- because of these platforms
- 43
- 00:02:39,242 --> 00:02:40,285
- that were positive!
- 44
- 00:02:40,827 --> 00:02:44,539
- I think we were naive
- about the flip side of that coin.
- 45
- 00:02:45,540 --> 00:02:48,585
- Yeah, these things, you release them,
- and they take on a life of their own.
- 46
- 00:02:48,668 --> 00:02:52,005
- And how they're used is pretty different
- than how you expected.
- 47
- 00:02:52,088 --> 00:02:56,509
- Nobody, I deeply believe,
- ever intended any of these consequences.
- 48
- 00:02:56,593 --> 00:02:59,554
- There's no one bad guy.
- No. Absolutely not.
- 49
- 00:03:01,598 --> 00:03:03,975
- [interviewer] So, then,
- what's the... what's the problem?
- 50
- 00:03:09,147 --> 00:03:11,482
- [interviewer] Is there a problem,
- and what is the problem?
- 51
- 00:03:12,108 --> 00:03:13,026
- [swallows]
- 52
- 00:03:17,614 --> 00:03:19,991
- [clicks tongue] Yeah, it is hard
- to give a single, succinct...
- 53
- 00:03:20,074 --> 00:03:22,118
- I'm trying to touch on
- many different problems.
- 54
- 00:03:22,535 --> 00:03:23,953
- [interviewer] What is the problem?
- 55
- 00:03:24,621 --> 00:03:25,914
- [clicks tongue, chuckles]
- 56
- 00:03:27,916 --> 00:03:29,500
- [birds singing]
- 57
- 00:03:31,169 --> 00:03:32,670
- [dog barking in distance]
- 58
- 00:03:33,463 --> 00:03:35,340
- [reporter 1]
- <i>Despite facing mounting criticism,</i>
- 59
- 00:03:35,423 --> 00:03:37,675
- <i>the so-called Big Tech names</i>
- <i>are getting bigger.</i>
- 60
- 00:03:37,759 --> 00:03:40,929
- The entire tech industry is
- under a new level of scrutiny.
- 61
- 00:03:41,012 --> 00:03:43,806
- And a new study sheds light on the link
- 62
- 00:03:43,890 --> 00:03:46,142
- between mental health
- and social media use.
- 63
- 00:03:46,226 --> 00:03:48,686
- [on TV]
- <i>Here to talk about the latest research...</i>
- 64
- 00:03:48,770 --> 00:03:51,397
- [Tucker Carlson] <i>...is going on</i>
- <i>that gets no coverage at all.</i>
- 65
- 00:03:51,481 --> 00:03:54,108
- <i>Tens of millions of Americans</i>
- <i>are hopelessly addicted</i>
- 66
- 00:03:54,192 --> 00:03:56,319
- <i>to their electronic devices.</i>
- 67
- 00:03:56,402 --> 00:03:57,987
- [reporter 2] <i>It's exacerbated by the fact</i>
- 68
- 00:03:58,071 --> 00:04:00,698
- <i>that you can literally isolate yourself</i>
- <i>now</i>
- 69
- 00:04:00,782 --> 00:04:02,742
- in a bubble, thanks to our technology.
- 70
- 00:04:02,825 --> 00:04:04,577
- Fake news is becoming more advanced
- 71
- 00:04:04,661 --> 00:04:06,788
- and threatening societies
- around the world.
- 72
- 00:04:06,871 --> 00:04:10,250
- We weren't expecting any of this
- when we created Twitter over 12 years ago.
- 73
- 00:04:10,333 --> 00:04:12,502
- White House officials say
- they have no reason to believe
- 74
- 00:04:12,585 --> 00:04:14,754
- the Russian cyberattacks will stop.
- 75
- 00:04:14,837 --> 00:04:18,132
- YouTube is being forced
- to concentrate on cleansing the site.
- 76
- 00:04:18,216 --> 00:04:21,552
- [reporter 3] <i>TikTok,</i>
- <i>if you talk to any tween out there...</i>
- 77
- 00:04:21,636 --> 00:04:24,013
- [on TV] <i>...there's no chance</i>
- <i>they'll delete this thing...</i>
- 78
- 00:04:24,097 --> 00:04:26,224
- Hey, Isla,
- can you get the table ready, please?
- 79
- 00:04:26,307 --> 00:04:28,601
- [reporter 4] <i>There's a question</i>
- <i>about whether social media</i>
- 80
- 00:04:28,685 --> 00:04:29,978
- <i>is making your child depressed.</i>
- 81
- 00:04:30,061 --> 00:04:32,105
- [mom] Isla,
- can you set the table, please?
- 82
- 00:04:32,188 --> 00:04:35,316
- [reporter 5] <i>These cosmetic procedures</i>
- <i>are becoming so popular with teens,</i>
- 83
- 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:37,902
- plastic surgeons have coined
- a new syndrome for it,
- 84
- 00:04:37,986 --> 00:04:40,822
- "Snapchat dysmorphia,"
- with young patients wanting surgery
- 85
- 00:04:40,905 --> 00:04:43,741
- so they can look more like they do
- in filtered selfies.
- 86
- 00:04:43,825 --> 00:04:45,910
- Still don't see why you let her have
- that thing.
- 87
- 00:04:45,994 --> 00:04:47,412
- What was I supposed to do?
- 88
- 00:04:47,495 --> 00:04:49,580
- I mean, every other kid
- in her class had one.
- 89
- 00:04:50,164 --> 00:04:51,165
- She's only 11.
- 90
- 00:04:51,249 --> 00:04:52,959
- Cass, no one's forcing you to get one.
- 91
- 00:04:53,042 --> 00:04:55,086
- You can stay disconnected
- as long as you want.
- 92
- 00:04:55,169 --> 00:04:59,340
- Hey, I'm connected without a cell phone,
- okay? I'm on the Internet right now.
- 93
- 00:04:59,424 --> 00:05:03,094
- Also, that isn't even actual connection.
- It's just a load of sh--
- 94
- 00:05:03,177 --> 00:05:05,013
- Surveillance capitalism has come to shape
- 95
- 00:05:05,096 --> 00:05:07,765
- our politics and culture
- in ways many people don't perceive.
- 96
- 00:05:07,849 --> 00:05:10,101
- [reporter 6]
- <i>ISIS inspired followers online,</i>
- 97
- 00:05:10,184 --> 00:05:12,812
- <i>and now white supremacists</i>
- <i>are doing the same.</i>
- 98
- 00:05:12,895 --> 00:05:14,147
- Recently in India,
- 99
- 00:05:14,230 --> 00:05:17,442
- Internet lynch mobs have killed
- a dozen people, including these five...
- 100
- 00:05:17,525 --> 00:05:20,361
- [reporter 7] <i>It's not just fake news;</i>
- <i>it's fake news with consequences.</i>
- 101
- 00:05:20,445 --> 00:05:24,073
- [reporter 8] <i>How do you handle an epidemic</i>
- <i>in the age of fake news?</i>
- 102
- 00:05:24,157 --> 00:05:26,993
- Can you get the coronavirus
- by eating Chinese food?
- 103
- 00:05:27,535 --> 00:05:32,540
- We have gone from the information age
- into the disinformation age.
- 104
- 00:05:32,623 --> 00:05:34,667
- Our democracy is under assault.
- 105
- 00:05:34,751 --> 00:05:36,919
- [man 4] What I said was,
- "I think the tools
- 106
- 00:05:37,003 --> 00:05:39,005
- that have been created today are starting
- 107
- 00:05:39,088 --> 00:05:41,799
- to erode the social fabric
- of how society works."
- 108
- 00:05:41,883 --> 00:05:44,427
- [eerie instrumental music continues]
- 109
- 00:05:55,980 --> 00:05:58,483
- -[music fades]
- -[indistinct chatter]
- 110
- 00:05:58,566 --> 00:05:59,442
- [crew member] Fine.
- 111
- 00:06:00,151 --> 00:06:03,446
- [stage manager] Aza does
- welcoming remarks. We play the video.
- 112
- 00:06:04,197 --> 00:06:07,325
- And then, "Ladies and gentlemen,
- Tristan Harris."
- 113
- 00:06:07,408 --> 00:06:08,868
- -Right.
- -[stage manager] Great.
- 114
- 00:06:08,951 --> 00:06:12,038
- So, I come up, and...
- 115
- 00:06:13,831 --> 00:06:17,126
- basically say, "Thank you all for coming."
- Um...
- 116
- 00:06:17,919 --> 00:06:22,048
- So, today, I wanna talk about a new agenda
- for technology.
- 117
- 00:06:22,131 --> 00:06:25,468
- And why we wanna do that
- is because if you ask people,
- 118
- 00:06:25,551 --> 00:06:27,804
- "What's wrong in the tech industry
- right now?"
- 119
- 00:06:28,262 --> 00:06:31,641
- there's a cacophony of grievances
- and scandals,
- 120
- 00:06:31,724 --> 00:06:33,893
- and "They stole our data."
- And there's tech addiction.
- 121
- 00:06:33,976 --> 00:06:35,978
- And there's fake news.
- And there's polarization
- 122
- 00:06:36,062 --> 00:06:37,855
- and some elections
- that are getting hacked.
- 123
- 00:06:38,189 --> 00:06:41,609
- But is there something
- that is beneath all these problems
- 124
- 00:06:41,692 --> 00:06:44,612
- that's causing all these things
- to happen at once?
- 125
- 00:06:44,821 --> 00:06:46,364
- [stage manager speaking indistinctly]
- 126
- 00:06:46,447 --> 00:06:48,408
- -Does this feel good?
- -Very good. Yeah.
- 127
- 00:06:49,033 --> 00:06:49,992
- Um... [sighs]
- 128
- 00:06:50,743 --> 00:06:52,954
- I'm just trying to...
- Like, I want people to see...
- 129
- 00:06:53,037 --> 00:06:55,123
- Like, there's a problem happening
- in the tech industry,
- 130
- 00:06:55,206 --> 00:06:56,707
- and it doesn't have a name,
- 131
- 00:06:56,791 --> 00:07:00,211
- and it has to do with one source,
- like, one...
- 132
- 00:07:00,795 --> 00:07:03,589
- [eerie instrumental music playing]
- 133
- 00:07:05,091 --> 00:07:09,387
- [Tristan] When you look around you,
- it feels like the world is going crazy.
- 134
- 00:07:12,765 --> 00:07:15,309
- You have to ask yourself, like,
- "Is this normal?
- 135
- 00:07:16,102 --> 00:07:18,771
- Or have we all fallen under some kind
- of spell?"
- 136
- 00:07:27,989 --> 00:07:30,491
- I wish more people could understand
- how this works
- 137
- 00:07:30,575 --> 00:07:34,036
- because it shouldn't be something
- that only the tech industry knows.
- 138
- 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:36,247
- It should be something
- that everybody knows.
- 139
- 00:07:36,330 --> 00:07:38,708
- [backpack zips]
- 140
- 00:07:41,419 --> 00:07:42,378
- [softly] Bye.
- 141
- 00:07:43,629 --> 00:07:44,881
- [guard] Here you go, sir.
- 142
- 00:07:47,383 --> 00:07:48,676
- -[employee] Hello!
- -[Tristan] Hi.
- 143
- 00:07:48,759 --> 00:07:50,678
- -Tristan. Nice to meet you.
- <i>-</i>It's Tris-<i>tan, </i>right?
- 144
- 00:07:50,761 --> 00:07:51,721
- -Yes.
- -Awesome. Cool.
- 145
- 00:07:53,181 --> 00:07:55,933
- [presenter] Tristan Harris
- is a former design ethicist for Google
- 146
- 00:07:56,017 --> 00:07:59,395
- and has been called the closest thing
- Silicon Valley has to a conscience.
- 147
- 00:07:59,479 --> 00:08:00,730
- [reporter] He's asking tech
- 148
- 00:08:00,813 --> 00:08:04,192
- to bring what he calls "ethical design"
- to its products.
- 149
- 00:08:04,275 --> 00:08:06,903
- [Anderson Cooper] <i>It's rare</i>
- <i>for a tech insider to be so blunt,</i>
- 150
- 00:08:06,986 --> 00:08:10,114
- <i>but Tristan Harris believes</i>
- <i>someone needs to be.</i>
- 151
- 00:08:11,324 --> 00:08:12,700
- [Tristan] When I was at Google,
- 152
- 00:08:12,783 --> 00:08:16,037
- I was on the Gmail team,
- and I just started getting burnt out
- 153
- 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:18,372
- 'cause we'd had
- so many conversations about...
- 154
- 00:08:19,457 --> 00:08:23,169
- you know, what the inbox should look like
- and what color it should be, and...
- 155
- 00:08:23,252 --> 00:08:25,880
- And I, you know, felt personally addicted
- to e-mail,
- 156
- 00:08:26,297 --> 00:08:27,632
- and I found it fascinating
- 157
- 00:08:27,715 --> 00:08:31,511
- there was no one at Gmail working
- on making it less addictive.
- 158
- 00:08:31,969 --> 00:08:34,514
- And I was like,
- "Is anybody else thinking about this?
- 159
- 00:08:34,597 --> 00:08:36,390
- I haven't heard anybody talk about this."
- 160
- 00:08:36,849 --> 00:08:39,684
- -And I was feeling this frustration...
- -[sighs]
- 161
- 00:08:39,769 --> 00:08:41,229
- ...with the tech industry, overall,
- 162
- 00:08:41,312 --> 00:08:43,147
- that we'd kind of, like, lost our way.
- 163
- 00:08:43,231 --> 00:08:46,442
- -[ominous instrumental music playing]
- -[message alerts chiming]
- 164
- 00:08:46,817 --> 00:08:49,820
- [Tristan] You know, I really struggled
- to try and figure out
- 165
- 00:08:49,904 --> 00:08:52,573
- how, from the inside, we could change it.
- 166
- 00:08:52,907 --> 00:08:55,117
- [energetic piano music playing]
- 167
- 00:08:55,201 --> 00:08:58,120
- [Tristan] And that was when I decided
- to make a presentation,
- 168
- 00:08:58,204 --> 00:08:59,497
- kind of a call to arms.
- 169
- 00:09:00,998 --> 00:09:04,961
- Every day, I went home and I worked on it
- for a couple hours every single night.
- 170
- 00:09:05,044 --> 00:09:06,087
- [typing]
- 171
- 00:09:06,170 --> 00:09:08,548
- [Tristan] It basically just said,
- you know,
- 172
- 00:09:08,631 --> 00:09:11,884
- never before
- in history have 50 designers--
- 173
- 00:09:12,426 --> 00:09:15,263
- 20- to 35-year-old white guys
- in California--
- 174
- 00:09:15,888 --> 00:09:19,725
- made decisions that would have an impact
- on two billion people.
- 175
- 00:09:21,018 --> 00:09:24,438
- Two billion people will have thoughts
- that they didn't intend to have
- 176
- 00:09:24,522 --> 00:09:28,401
- because a designer at Google said,
- "This is how notifications work
- 177
- 00:09:28,484 --> 00:09:30,778
- on that screen that you wake up to
- in the morning."
- 178
- 00:09:31,195 --> 00:09:35,283
- And we have a moral responsibility,
- as Google, for solving this problem.
- 179
- 00:09:36,075 --> 00:09:37,743
- And I sent this presentation
- 180
- 00:09:37,827 --> 00:09:41,789
- to about 15, 20 of my closest colleagues
- at Google,
- 181
- 00:09:41,872 --> 00:09:44,959
- and I was very nervous about it.
- I wasn't sure how it was gonna land.
- 182
- 00:09:46,460 --> 00:09:48,045
- When I went to work the next day,
- 183
- 00:09:48,129 --> 00:09:50,464
- most of the laptops
- had the presentation open.
- 184
- 00:09:52,133 --> 00:09:54,552
- Later that day, there was, like,
- 400 simultaneous viewers,
- 185
- 00:09:54,635 --> 00:09:56,053
- so it just kept growing and growing.
- 186
- 00:09:56,137 --> 00:10:00,266
- I got e-mails from all around the company.
- I mean, people in every department saying,
- 187
- 00:10:00,349 --> 00:10:02,852
- "I totally agree."
- "I see this affecting my kids."
- 188
- 00:10:02,935 --> 00:10:04,979
- "I see this affecting
- the people around me."
- 189
- 00:10:05,062 --> 00:10:06,939
- "We have to do something about this."
- 190
- 00:10:07,481 --> 00:10:10,818
- It felt like I was sort of launching
- a revolution or something like that.
- 191
- 00:10:11,861 --> 00:10:15,197
- Later, I found out Larry Page
- had been notified about this presentation
- 192
- 00:10:15,281 --> 00:10:17,908
- -in three separate meetings that day.
- -[indistinct chatter]
- 193
- 00:10:17,992 --> 00:10:20,286
- [Tristan] And so, it created
- this kind of cultural moment
- 194
- 00:10:20,870 --> 00:10:24,415
- -that Google needed to take seriously.
- -[whooshing]
- 195
- 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,878
- -[Tristan] And then... nothing.
- -[whooshing fades]
- 196
- 00:10:32,673 --> 00:10:34,216
- [message alerts chiming]
- 197
- 00:10:34,300 --> 00:10:36,135
- [Tim] Everyone in 2006...
- 198
- 00:10:37,219 --> 00:10:39,221
- including all of us at Facebook,
- 199
- 00:10:39,305 --> 00:10:43,392
- just had total admiration for Google
- and what Google had built,
- 200
- 00:10:43,476 --> 00:10:47,396
- which was this incredibly useful service
- 201
- 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:51,442
- that did, far as we could tell,
- lots of goodness for the world,
- 202
- 00:10:51,525 --> 00:10:54,695
- and they built
- this parallel money machine.
- 203
- 00:10:55,404 --> 00:11:00,034
- We had such envy for that,
- and it seemed so elegant to us...
- 204
- 00:11:00,826 --> 00:11:02,161
- and so perfect.
- 205
- 00:11:02,953 --> 00:11:05,289
- Facebook had been around
- for about two years,
- 206
- 00:11:05,373 --> 00:11:08,376
- um, and I was hired to come in
- and figure out
- 207
- 00:11:08,459 --> 00:11:10,586
- what the business model was gonna be
- for the company.
- 208
- 00:11:10,670 --> 00:11:13,422
- I was the director of monetization.
- The point was, like,
- 209
- 00:11:13,506 --> 00:11:17,051
- "You're the person who's gonna figure out
- how this thing monetizes."
- 210
- 00:11:17,134 --> 00:11:19,804
- And there were a lot of people
- who did a lot of the work,
- 211
- 00:11:19,887 --> 00:11:25,476
- but I was clearly one of the people
- who was pointing towards...
- 212
- 00:11:26,769 --> 00:11:28,562
- "Well, we have to make money, A...
- 213
- 00:11:29,313 --> 00:11:33,651
- and I think this advertising model
- is probably the most elegant way.
- 214
- 00:11:36,278 --> 00:11:38,280
- [bright instrumental music playing]
- 215
- 00:11:42,243 --> 00:11:44,370
- Uh-oh. What's this video Mom just sent us?
- 216
- 00:11:44,453 --> 00:11:46,747
- Oh, that's from a talk show,
- but that's pretty good.
- 217
- 00:11:46,831 --> 00:11:47,873
- Guy's kind of a genius.
- 218
- 00:11:47,957 --> 00:11:50,584
- He's talking all about deleting
- social media, which you gotta do.
- 219
- 00:11:50,668 --> 00:11:52,878
- I might have to start blocking
- her e-mails.
- 220
- 00:11:52,962 --> 00:11:54,880
- I don't even know
- what she's talking about, man.
- 221
- 00:11:54,964 --> 00:11:56,090
- She's worse than I am.
- 222
- 00:11:56,173 --> 00:11:58,509
- -No, she only uses it for recipes.
- -Right, and work.
- 223
- 00:11:58,592 --> 00:12:00,553
- -And workout videos.
- -[guy] And to check up on us.
- 224
- 00:12:00,636 --> 00:12:03,055
- And everyone else she's ever met
- in her entire life.
- 225
- 00:12:04,932 --> 00:12:07,893
- <i>If you are scrolling through</i>
- <i>your social media feed</i>
- 226
- 00:12:07,977 --> 00:12:11,731
- <i>while you're watchin' us, you need to put</i>
- <i>the damn phone down and listen up</i>
- 227
- 00:12:11,814 --> 00:12:14,817
- 'cause our next guest has written
- an incredible book
- 228
- 00:12:14,900 --> 00:12:18,112
- about how much it's wrecking our lives.
- 229
- 00:12:18,195 --> 00:12:19,447
- Please welcome author
- 230
- 00:12:19,530 --> 00:12:23,951
- of<i> Ten Arguments for Deleting</i>
- <i>Your Social Media Accounts Right Now...</i>
- 231
- 00:12:24,034 --> 00:12:26,287
- -[Sunny Hostin] Uh-huh.
- -...Jaron Lanier.
- 232
- 00:12:26,370 --> 00:12:27,913
- [cohosts speaking indistinctly]
- 233
- 00:12:27,997 --> 00:12:31,834
- [Jaron] Companies like Google and Facebook
- are some of the wealthiest
- 234
- 00:12:31,917 --> 00:12:33,544
- and most successful of all time.
- 235
- 00:12:33,711 --> 00:12:36,839
- Uh, they have relatively few employees.
- 236
- 00:12:36,922 --> 00:12:41,427
- They just have this giant computer
- that rakes in money, right? Uh...
- 237
- 00:12:41,510 --> 00:12:42,970
- Now, what are they being paid for?
- 238
- 00:12:43,053 --> 00:12:45,222
- [chuckles]
- That's a really important question.
- 239
- 00:12:47,308 --> 00:12:50,311
- [Roger] So, I've been an investor
- in technology for 35 years.
- 240
- 00:12:51,020 --> 00:12:54,356
- The first 50 years of Silicon Valley,
- the industry made products--
- 241
- 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:55,566
- hardware, software--
- 242
- 00:12:55,649 --> 00:12:58,402
- sold 'em to customers.
- Nice, simple business.
- 243
- 00:12:58,486 --> 00:13:01,447
- For the last ten years,
- the biggest companies in Silicon Valley
- 244
- 00:13:01,530 --> 00:13:03,866
- have been in the business
- of selling their users.
- 245
- 00:13:03,949 --> 00:13:05,910
- It's a little even trite to say now,
- 246
- 00:13:05,993 --> 00:13:09,205
- but... because we don't pay
- for the products that we use,
- 247
- 00:13:09,288 --> 00:13:12,166
- advertisers pay
- for the products that we use.
- 248
- 00:13:12,249 --> 00:13:14,210
- Advertisers are the customers.
- 249
- 00:13:14,710 --> 00:13:16,086
- We're the thing being sold.
- 250
- 00:13:16,170 --> 00:13:17,630
- The classic saying is:
- 251
- 00:13:17,713 --> 00:13:21,592
- "If you're not paying for the product,
- then you <i>are </i>the product."
- 252
- 00:13:23,385 --> 00:13:27,223
- A lot of people think, you know,
- "Oh, well, Google's just a search box,
- 253
- 00:13:27,306 --> 00:13:29,850
- and Facebook's just a place to see
- what my friends are doing
- 254
- 00:13:29,934 --> 00:13:31,101
- and see their photos."
- 255
- 00:13:31,185 --> 00:13:35,481
- But what they don't realize
- is they're competing for your attention.
- 256
- 00:13:36,524 --> 00:13:41,111
- So, you know, Facebook, Snapchat,
- Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,
- 257
- 00:13:41,195 --> 00:13:45,699
- companies like this, their business model
- is to keep people engaged on the screen.
- 258
- 00:13:46,283 --> 00:13:49,578
- Let's figure out how to get
- as much of this person's attention
- 259
- 00:13:49,662 --> 00:13:50,955
- as we possibly can.
- 260
- 00:13:51,455 --> 00:13:53,374
- How much time can we get you to spend?
- 261
- 00:13:53,874 --> 00:13:56,669
- How much of your life can we get you
- to give to us?
- 262
- 00:13:58,629 --> 00:14:01,090
- [Justin] When you think about
- how some of these companies work,
- 263
- 00:14:01,173 --> 00:14:02,424
- it starts to make sense.
- 264
- 00:14:03,050 --> 00:14:06,095
- There are all these services
- on the Internet that we think of as free,
- 265
- 00:14:06,178 --> 00:14:09,473
- but they're not free.
- They're paid for by advertisers.
- 266
- 00:14:09,557 --> 00:14:11,559
- Why do advertisers pay those companies?
- 267
- 00:14:11,642 --> 00:14:14,687
- They pay in exchange for showing their ads
- to us.
- 268
- 00:14:14,770 --> 00:14:18,357
- We're the product. Our attention
- is the product being sold to advertisers.
- 269
- 00:14:18,816 --> 00:14:20,442
- That's a little too simplistic.
- 270
- 00:14:20,860 --> 00:14:23,654
- It's the gradual, slight,
- imperceptible change
- 271
- 00:14:23,737 --> 00:14:26,574
- in your own behavior and perception
- that is the product.
- 272
- 00:14:27,658 --> 00:14:30,244
- And that <i>is </i>the product.
- It's the only possible product.
- 273
- 00:14:30,327 --> 00:14:34,081
- There's nothing else on the table
- that could possibly be called the product.
- 274
- 00:14:34,164 --> 00:14:37,001
- That's the only thing there is
- for them to make money from.
- 275
- 00:14:37,668 --> 00:14:39,253
- Changing what you do,
- 276
- 00:14:39,336 --> 00:14:41,714
- how you think, who you are.
- 277
- 00:14:42,631 --> 00:14:45,301
- It's a gradual change. It's slight.
- 278
- 00:14:45,384 --> 00:14:48,971
- If you can go to somebody and you say,
- "Give me $10 million,
- 279
- 00:14:49,054 --> 00:14:54,310
- and I will change the world one percent
- in the direction you want it to change..."
- 280
- 00:14:54,852 --> 00:14:58,188
- It's the world! That can be incredible,
- and that's worth a lot of money.
- 281
- 00:14:59,315 --> 00:15:00,149
- Okay.
- 282
- 00:15:00,691 --> 00:15:04,570
- [Shoshana] This is what every business
- has always dreamt of:
- 283
- 00:15:04,653 --> 00:15:10,910
- to have a guarantee that if it places
- an ad, it will be successful.
- 284
- 00:15:11,327 --> 00:15:12,786
- That's their business.
- 285
- 00:15:12,870 --> 00:15:14,413
- They sell certainty.
- 286
- 00:15:14,997 --> 00:15:17,625
- In order to be successful
- in that business,
- 287
- 00:15:17,708 --> 00:15:19,793
- you have to have great predictions.
- 288
- 00:15:20,085 --> 00:15:24,173
- Great predictions begin
- with one imperative:
- 289
- 00:15:25,215 --> 00:15:26,926
- you need a lot of data.
- 290
- 00:15:29,136 --> 00:15:31,305
- Many people call this
- surveillance capitalism,
- 291
- 00:15:31,639 --> 00:15:34,350
- capitalism profiting
- off of the infinite tracking
- 292
- 00:15:34,433 --> 00:15:38,062
- of everywhere everyone goes
- by large technology companies
- 293
- 00:15:38,145 --> 00:15:40,356
- whose business model is to make sure
- 294
- 00:15:40,439 --> 00:15:42,858
- that advertisers are as successful
- as possible.
- 295
- 00:15:42,942 --> 00:15:45,569
- This is a new kind of marketplace now.
- 296
- 00:15:45,653 --> 00:15:48,072
- It's a marketplace
- that never existed before.
- 297
- 00:15:48,822 --> 00:15:55,371
- And it's a marketplace
- that trades exclusively in human futures.
- 298
- 00:15:56,080 --> 00:16:01,585
- Just like there are markets that trade
- in pork belly futures or oil futures.
- 299
- 00:16:02,127 --> 00:16:07,591
- We now have markets
- that trade in human futures at scale,
- 300
- 00:16:08,175 --> 00:16:13,472
- and those markets have produced
- the trillions of dollars
- 301
- 00:16:14,014 --> 00:16:19,269
- that have made the Internet companies
- the richest companies
- 302
- 00:16:19,353 --> 00:16:22,356
- in the history of humanity.
- 303
- 00:16:23,357 --> 00:16:25,359
- [indistinct chatter]
- 304
- 00:16:27,361 --> 00:16:30,990
- [Jeff] What I want people to know
- is that everything they're doing online
- 305
- 00:16:31,073 --> 00:16:34,326
- <i>is </i>being watched, <i>is </i>being tracked,
- <i>is </i>being measured.
- 306
- 00:16:35,035 --> 00:16:39,623
- Every single action you take
- is carefully monitored and recorded.
- 307
- 00:16:39,707 --> 00:16:43,836
- Exactly what image you stop and look at,
- for how long you look at it.
- 308
- 00:16:43,919 --> 00:16:45,796
- Oh, yeah, seriously,
- for how long you look at it.
- 309
- 00:16:45,879 --> 00:16:47,881
- [monitors beeping]
- 310
- 00:16:50,509 --> 00:16:52,219
- [Tristan] <i>They know</i>
- <i>when people are lonely.</i>
- 311
- 00:16:52,302 --> 00:16:53,804
- <i>They know when people are depressed.</i>
- 312
- 00:16:53,887 --> 00:16:57,099
- <i>They know when people are looking</i>
- <i>at photos of your ex-romantic partners.</i>
- 313
- 00:16:57,182 --> 00:17:00,853
- <i>They know what you're doing late at night.</i>
- <i>They know the entire thing.</i>
- 314
- 00:17:01,270 --> 00:17:03,230
- <i>Whether you're an introvert</i>
- <i>or an extrovert,</i>
- 315
- 00:17:03,313 --> 00:17:06,817
- <i>or what kind of neuroses you have,</i>
- <i>what your personality type is like.</i>
- 316
- 00:17:08,193 --> 00:17:11,613
- [Shoshana] They have more information
- about us
- 317
- 00:17:11,696 --> 00:17:14,324
- than has ever been imagined
- in human history.
- 318
- 00:17:14,950 --> 00:17:16,367
- It is unprecedented.
- 319
- 00:17:18,579 --> 00:17:22,790
- And so, all of this data that we're...
- that we're just pouring out all the time
- 320
- 00:17:22,875 --> 00:17:26,753
- is being fed into these systems
- that have almost no human supervision
- 321
- 00:17:27,463 --> 00:17:30,883
- and that are making better and better
- and better and better predictions
- 322
- 00:17:30,966 --> 00:17:33,552
- about what we're gonna do
- and... and who we are.
- 323
- 00:17:33,635 --> 00:17:35,637
- [indistinct chatter]
- 324
- 00:17:36,305 --> 00:17:39,349
- [Aza] People have the misconception
- it's our data being sold.
- 325
- 00:17:40,350 --> 00:17:43,187
- It's not in Facebook's business interest
- to give up the data.
- 326
- 00:17:45,522 --> 00:17:47,107
- What do they do with that data?
- 327
- 00:17:49,401 --> 00:17:50,986
- [console whirring]
- 328
- 00:17:51,070 --> 00:17:54,490
- [Aza] They build models
- that predict our actions,
- 329
- 00:17:54,573 --> 00:17:57,618
- and whoever has the best model wins.
- 330
- 00:18:02,706 --> 00:18:04,041
- His scrolling speed is slowing.
- 331
- 00:18:04,124 --> 00:18:06,085
- Nearing the end
- of his average session length.
- 332
- 00:18:06,168 --> 00:18:07,002
- Decreasing ad load.
- 333
- 00:18:07,086 --> 00:18:08,337
- Pull back on friends and family.
- 334
- 00:18:09,588 --> 00:18:11,340
- [Tristan] On the other side of the screen,
- 335
- 00:18:11,423 --> 00:18:15,469
- it's almost as if they had
- this avatar voodoo doll-like model of us.
- 336
- 00:18:16,845 --> 00:18:18,180
- All of the things we've ever done,
- 337
- 00:18:18,263 --> 00:18:19,473
- all the clicks we've ever made,
- 338
- 00:18:19,556 --> 00:18:21,642
- all the videos we've watched,
- all the likes,
- 339
- 00:18:21,725 --> 00:18:25,354
- that all gets brought back into building
- a more and more accurate model.
- 340
- 00:18:25,896 --> 00:18:27,481
- The model, once you have it,
- 341
- 00:18:27,564 --> 00:18:29,858
- you can predict the kinds of things
- that person does.
- 342
- 00:18:29,942 --> 00:18:31,777
- Right, let me just test.
- 343
- 00:18:32,569 --> 00:18:34,988
- [Tristan] Where you'll go.
- I can predict what kind of videos
- 344
- 00:18:35,072 --> 00:18:36,115
- will keep you watching.
- 345
- 00:18:36,198 --> 00:18:39,159
- I can predict what kinds of emotions tend
- to trigger you.
- 346
- 00:18:39,243 --> 00:18:40,410
- [blue AI] Yes, perfect.
- 347
- 00:18:41,578 --> 00:18:43,372
- The most epic fails of the year.
- 348
- 00:18:46,125 --> 00:18:47,543
- -[crowd groans on video]
- -[whooshes]
- 349
- 00:18:48,627 --> 00:18:51,088
- -Perfect. That worked.
- -Following with another video.
- 350
- 00:18:51,171 --> 00:18:54,049
- Beautiful. Let's squeeze in a sneaker ad
- before it starts.
- 351
- 00:18:56,426 --> 00:18:58,178
- [Tristan] At a lot
- of technology companies,
- 352
- 00:18:58,262 --> 00:18:59,721
- there's three main goals.
- 353
- 00:18:59,805 --> 00:19:01,348
- There's the engagement goal:
- 354
- 00:19:01,431 --> 00:19:03,684
- to drive up your usage,
- to keep you scrolling.
- 355
- 00:19:04,601 --> 00:19:06,145
- There's the growth goal:
- 356
- 00:19:06,228 --> 00:19:08,689
- to keep you coming back
- and inviting as many friends
- 357
- 00:19:08,772 --> 00:19:10,816
- and getting them to invite more friends.
- 358
- 00:19:11,650 --> 00:19:13,152
- And then there's the advertising goal:
- 359
- 00:19:13,235 --> 00:19:14,987
- to make sure that,
- as all that's happening,
- 360
- 00:19:15,070 --> 00:19:17,406
- we're making as much money as possible
- from advertising.
- 361
- 00:19:18,115 --> 00:19:19,158
- [console beeps]
- 362
- 00:19:19,241 --> 00:19:21,994
- Each of these goals are powered
- by algorithms
- 363
- 00:19:22,077 --> 00:19:24,454
- whose job is to figure out
- what to show you
- 364
- 00:19:24,538 --> 00:19:26,165
- to keep those numbers going up.
- 365
- 00:19:26,623 --> 00:19:29,918
- We often talked about, at Facebook,
- this idea
- 366
- 00:19:30,002 --> 00:19:34,006
- of being able to just dial that as needed.
- 367
- 00:19:34,673 --> 00:19:38,594
- And, you know, we talked
- about having Mark have those dials.
- 368
- 00:19:41,305 --> 00:19:44,474
- "Hey, I want more users in Korea today."
- 369
- 00:19:45,684 --> 00:19:46,602
- "Turn the dial."
- 370
- 00:19:47,436 --> 00:19:49,188
- "Let's dial up the ads a little bit."
- 371
- 00:19:49,980 --> 00:19:51,899
- "Dial up monetization, just slightly."
- 372
- 00:19:52,858 --> 00:19:55,444
- And so, that happ--
- 373
- 00:19:55,527 --> 00:19:59,239
- I mean, at all of these companies,
- there is that level of precision.
- 374
- 00:19:59,990 --> 00:20:02,409
- -Dude, how--
- -I don't know how I didn't get carded.
- 375
- 00:20:02,492 --> 00:20:05,704
- -That ref just, like, sucked or something.
- -You got literally all the way...
- 376
- 00:20:05,787 --> 00:20:07,956
- -That's Rebecca. Go talk to her.
- -I know who it is.
- 377
- 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,834
- -Dude, yo, go talk to her.
- -[guy] I'm workin' on it.
- 378
- 00:20:10,918 --> 00:20:14,171
- His calendar says he's on a break
- right now. We should be live.
- 379
- 00:20:14,755 --> 00:20:16,465
- [sighs] Want me to nudge him?
- 380
- 00:20:17,132 --> 00:20:18,050
- Yeah, nudge away.
- 381
- 00:20:18,133 --> 00:20:19,092
- [console beeps]
- 382
- 00:20:21,637 --> 00:20:24,181
- "Your friend Tyler just joined.
- Say hi with a wave."
- 383
- 00:20:26,016 --> 00:20:27,184
- [Engagement AI] Come on, Ben.
- 384
- 00:20:27,267 --> 00:20:29,311
- Send a wave. [sighs]
- 385
- 00:20:29,394 --> 00:20:32,606
- -You're not... Go talk to her, dude.
- -[phone vibrates, chimes]
- 386
- 00:20:33,857 --> 00:20:35,484
- -[Ben sighs]
- -[cell phone chimes]
- 387
- 00:20:36,902 --> 00:20:37,986
- [console beeps]
- 388
- 00:20:38,070 --> 00:20:40,447
- New link! All right, we're on. [exhales]
- 389
- 00:20:40,948 --> 00:20:46,078
- Follow that up with a post
- from User 079044238820, Rebecca.
- 390
- 00:20:46,161 --> 00:20:49,790
- Good idea. GPS coordinates indicate
- that they're in close proximity.
- 391
- 00:20:55,921 --> 00:20:57,172
- He's primed for an ad.
- 392
- 00:20:57,631 --> 00:20:58,632
- Auction time.
- 393
- 00:21:00,133 --> 00:21:02,803
- Sold! To Deep Fade hair wax.
- 394
- 00:21:03,387 --> 00:21:07,933
- We had 468 interested bidders. We sold Ben
- at 3.262 cents for an impression.
- 395
- 00:21:08,850 --> 00:21:10,852
- [melancholy piano music playing]
- 396
- 00:21:14,147 --> 00:21:15,065
- [Ben sighs]
- 397
- 00:21:17,109 --> 00:21:18,735
- [Jaron] We've created a world
- 398
- 00:21:18,819 --> 00:21:21,530
- in which online connection
- has become primary,
- 399
- 00:21:22,072 --> 00:21:23,907
- especially for younger generations.
- 400
- 00:21:23,991 --> 00:21:28,328
- And yet, in that world,
- any time two people connect,
- 401
- 00:21:29,162 --> 00:21:33,250
- the only way it's financed
- is through a sneaky third person
- 402
- 00:21:33,333 --> 00:21:35,627
- who's paying to manipulate
- those two people.
- 403
- 00:21:36,128 --> 00:21:39,381
- So, we've created
- an entire global generation of people
- 404
- 00:21:39,464 --> 00:21:44,011
- who are raised within a context
- where the very meaning of communication,
- 405
- 00:21:44,094 --> 00:21:47,431
- the very meaning of culture,
- is manipulation.
- 406
- 00:21:47,514 --> 00:21:49,641
- We've put deceit and sneakiness
- 407
- 00:21:49,725 --> 00:21:52,311
- at the absolute center
- of everything we do.
- 408
- 00:22:05,615 --> 00:22:07,242
- -[interviewer] Grab the...
- -[Tristan] Okay.
- 409
- 00:22:07,326 --> 00:22:09,286
- -Where's it help to hold it?
- -[interviewer] Great.
- 410
- 00:22:09,369 --> 00:22:10,787
- -[Tristan] Here?
- -[interviewer] Yeah.
- 411
- 00:22:10,871 --> 00:22:13,832
- How does this come across on camera
- if I were to do, like, this move--
- 412
- 00:22:13,915 --> 00:22:15,542
- -[interviewer] We can--
- -[blows] Like that?
- 413
- 00:22:15,625 --> 00:22:16,918
- -[interviewer laughs] What?
- -Yeah.
- 414
- 00:22:17,002 --> 00:22:19,004
- -[interviewer] Do that again.
- -Exactly. Yeah. [blows]
- 415
- 00:22:19,087 --> 00:22:20,589
- Yeah. No, it's probably not...
- 416
- 00:22:20,672 --> 00:22:21,965
- Like... yeah.
- 417
- 00:22:22,466 --> 00:22:23,884
- I mean, this one is less...
- 418
- 00:22:29,681 --> 00:22:33,268
- [interviewer laughs] Larissa's, like,
- actually freaking out over here.
- 419
- 00:22:34,728 --> 00:22:35,562
- Is that good?
- 420
- 00:22:35,645 --> 00:22:37,773
- [instrumental music playing]
- 421
- 00:22:37,856 --> 00:22:41,068
- [Tristan] I was, like, five years old
- when I learned how to do magic.
- 422
- 00:22:41,151 --> 00:22:45,781
- And I could fool adults,
- fully-grown adults with, like, PhDs.
- 423
- 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:57,709
- Magicians were almost like
- the first neuroscientists
- 424
- 00:22:57,793 --> 00:22:58,960
- and psychologists.
- 425
- 00:22:59,044 --> 00:23:02,005
- Like, they were the ones
- who first understood
- 426
- 00:23:02,089 --> 00:23:03,382
- how people's minds work.
- 427
- 00:23:04,216 --> 00:23:07,677
- They just, in real time, are testing
- lots and lots of stuff on people.
- 428
- 00:23:09,137 --> 00:23:11,139
- A magician understands something,
- 429
- 00:23:11,223 --> 00:23:14,017
- some part of your mind
- that we're not aware of.
- 430
- 00:23:14,101 --> 00:23:15,936
- That's what makes the illusion work.
- 431
- 00:23:16,019 --> 00:23:20,607
- Doctors, lawyers, people who know
- how to build 747s or nuclear missiles,
- 432
- 00:23:20,690 --> 00:23:24,361
- they don't know more about
- how their own mind is vulnerable.
- 433
- 00:23:24,444 --> 00:23:26,113
- That's a separate discipline.
- 434
- 00:23:26,571 --> 00:23:28,990
- And it's a discipline
- that applies to all human beings.
- 435
- 00:23:30,909 --> 00:23:34,079
- From that perspective, you can have
- a very different understanding
- 436
- 00:23:34,162 --> 00:23:35,580
- of what technology is doing.
- 437
- 00:23:36,873 --> 00:23:39,584
- When I was
- at the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab,
- 438
- 00:23:39,668 --> 00:23:41,044
- this is what we learned.
- 439
- 00:23:41,628 --> 00:23:43,463
- How could you use everything we know
- 440
- 00:23:43,547 --> 00:23:45,882
- about the psychology
- of what persuades people
- 441
- 00:23:45,966 --> 00:23:48,385
- and build that into technology?
- 442
- 00:23:48,468 --> 00:23:50,887
- Now, many of you in the audience
- are geniuses already.
- 443
- 00:23:50,971 --> 00:23:55,851
- I think that's true, but my goal is
- to turn you into a behavior-change genius.
- 444
- 00:23:56,852 --> 00:24:01,148
- There are many prominent Silicon Valley
- figures who went through that class--
- 445
- 00:24:01,231 --> 00:24:05,485
- key growth figures at Facebook and Uber
- and... and other companies--
- 446
- 00:24:05,569 --> 00:24:09,197
- and learned how to make technology
- more persuasive,
- 447
- 00:24:09,614 --> 00:24:10,782
- Tristan being one.
- 448
- 00:24:12,284 --> 00:24:14,619
- [Tristan] Persuasive technology
- is just sort of design
- 449
- 00:24:14,703 --> 00:24:16,580
- intentionally applied to the extreme,
- 450
- 00:24:16,663 --> 00:24:18,874
- where we really want to modify
- someone's behavior.
- 451
- 00:24:18,957 --> 00:24:20,542
- We want them to take this action.
- 452
- 00:24:20,625 --> 00:24:23,336
- We want them to keep doing this
- with their finger.
- 453
- 00:24:23,420 --> 00:24:26,256
- You pull down and you refresh,
- it's gonna be a new thing at the top.
- 454
- 00:24:26,339 --> 00:24:28,508
- Pull down and refresh again, it's new.
- Every single time.
- 455
- 00:24:28,592 --> 00:24:33,722
- Which, in psychology, we call
- a positive intermittent reinforcement.
- 456
- 00:24:33,805 --> 00:24:37,142
- You don't know when you're gonna get it
- or if you're gonna get something,
- 457
- 00:24:37,225 --> 00:24:40,061
- which operates just like the slot machines
- in Vegas.
- 458
- 00:24:40,145 --> 00:24:42,230
- It's not enough
- that you use the product consciously,
- 459
- 00:24:42,314 --> 00:24:44,024
- I wanna dig down deeper
- into the brain stem
- 460
- 00:24:44,107 --> 00:24:45,817
- and implant, inside of you,
- 461
- 00:24:45,901 --> 00:24:47,652
- an unconscious habit
- 462
- 00:24:47,736 --> 00:24:50,864
- so that you are being programmed
- at a deeper level.
- 463
- 00:24:50,947 --> 00:24:52,115
- You don't even realize it.
- 464
- 00:24:52,532 --> 00:24:54,034
- [teacher] A man, James Marshall...
- 465
- 00:24:54,117 --> 00:24:56,286
- [Tristan] Every time you see it there
- on the counter,
- 466
- 00:24:56,369 --> 00:24:59,789
- and you just look at it,
- and you know if you reach over,
- 467
- 00:24:59,873 --> 00:25:01,333
- it just might have something for you,
- 468
- 00:25:01,416 --> 00:25:03,877
- so you play that slot machine
- to see what you got, right?
- 469
- 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,046
- That's not by accident.
- That's a design technique.
- 470
- 00:25:06,129 --> 00:25:08,632
- [teacher] He brings a golden nugget
- to an officer
- 471
- 00:25:09,841 --> 00:25:11,301
- in the army in San Francisco.
- 472
- 00:25:12,219 --> 00:25:15,388
- Mind you, the... the population
- of San Francisco was only...
- 473
- 00:25:15,472 --> 00:25:17,432
- [Jeff]
- Another example is photo tagging.
- 474
- 00:25:17,516 --> 00:25:19,643
- -[teacher] The secret didn't last.
- -[phone vibrates]
- 475
- 00:25:19,726 --> 00:25:21,186
- [Jeff] So, if you get an e-mail
- 476
- 00:25:21,269 --> 00:25:24,064
- that says your friend just tagged you
- in a photo,
- 477
- 00:25:24,147 --> 00:25:28,568
- of course you're going to click
- on that e-mail and look at the photo.
- 478
- 00:25:29,152 --> 00:25:31,821
- It's not something
- you can just decide to ignore.
- 479
- 00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:34,157
- This is deep-seated, like,
- 480
- 00:25:34,241 --> 00:25:36,326
- human personality
- that they're tapping into.
- 481
- 00:25:36,409 --> 00:25:38,078
- What you should be asking yourself is:
- 482
- 00:25:38,161 --> 00:25:40,288
- "Why doesn't that e-mail contain
- the photo in it?
- 483
- 00:25:40,372 --> 00:25:42,457
- It would be a lot easier
- to see the photo."
- 484
- 00:25:42,541 --> 00:25:45,919
- When Facebook found that feature,
- they just dialed the hell out of that
- 485
- 00:25:46,002 --> 00:25:48,505
- because they said, "This is gonna be
- a great way to grow activity.
- 486
- 00:25:48,588 --> 00:25:51,091
- Let's just get people tagging each other
- in photos all day long."
- 487
- 00:25:51,174 --> 00:25:53,176
- [upbeat techno music playing]
- 488
- 00:25:57,889 --> 00:25:58,890
- [cell phone chimes]
- 489
- 00:25:59,349 --> 00:26:00,475
- He commented.
- 490
- 00:26:00,559 --> 00:26:01,434
- [Growth AI] Nice.
- 491
- 00:26:01,935 --> 00:26:04,688
- Okay, Rebecca received it,
- and she is responding.
- 492
- 00:26:04,771 --> 00:26:07,566
- All right, let Ben know that she's typing
- so we don't lose him.
- 493
- 00:26:07,649 --> 00:26:08,733
- Activating ellipsis.
- 494
- 00:26:09,776 --> 00:26:11,945
- [teacher continues speaking indistinctly]
- 495
- 00:26:13,697 --> 00:26:15,865
- [tense instrumental music playing]
- 496
- 00:26:19,953 --> 00:26:21,329
- Great, she posted.
- 497
- 00:26:21,454 --> 00:26:24,249
- He's commenting on her comment
- about his comment on her post.
- 498
- 00:26:25,041 --> 00:26:26,418
- Hold on, he stopped typing.
- 499
- 00:26:26,751 --> 00:26:27,752
- Let's autofill.
- 500
- 00:26:28,420 --> 00:26:30,005
- Emojis. He loves emojis.
- 501
- 00:26:33,842 --> 00:26:34,676
- He went with fire.
- 502
- 00:26:34,759 --> 00:26:36,803
- [clicks tongue, sighs]
- I was rootin' for eggplant.
- 503
- 00:26:38,597 --> 00:26:42,726
- [Tristan] There's an entire discipline
- and field called "growth hacking."
- 504
- 00:26:42,809 --> 00:26:47,147
- Teams of engineers
- whose job is to hack people's psychology
- 505
- 00:26:47,230 --> 00:26:48,565
- so they can get more growth.
- 506
- 00:26:48,648 --> 00:26:50,984
- They can get more user sign-ups,
- more engagement.
- 507
- 00:26:51,067 --> 00:26:52,861
- They can get you to invite more people.
- 508
- 00:26:52,944 --> 00:26:55,989
- After all the testing, all the iterating,
- all of this stuff,
- 509
- 00:26:56,072 --> 00:26:57,907
- you know the single biggest thing
- we realized?
- 510
- 00:26:57,991 --> 00:27:00,702
- Get any individual to seven friends
- in ten days.
- 511
- 00:27:01,953 --> 00:27:02,787
- That was it.
- 512
- 00:27:02,871 --> 00:27:05,498
- Chamath was the head of growth at Facebook
- early on,
- 513
- 00:27:05,582 --> 00:27:08,251
- and he's very well known
- in the tech industry
- 514
- 00:27:08,335 --> 00:27:11,004
- for pioneering a lot of the growth tactics
- 515
- 00:27:11,087 --> 00:27:14,758
- that were used to grow Facebook
- at incredible speed.
- 516
- 00:27:14,841 --> 00:27:18,553
- And those growth tactics have then become
- the standard playbook for Silicon Valley.
- 517
- 00:27:18,637 --> 00:27:21,222
- They were used at Uber
- and at a bunch of other companies.
- 518
- 00:27:21,306 --> 00:27:27,062
- One of the things that he pioneered
- was the use of scientific A/B testing
- 519
- 00:27:27,145 --> 00:27:28,480
- of small feature changes.
- 520
- 00:27:29,022 --> 00:27:30,940
- Companies like Google and Facebook
- 521
- 00:27:31,024 --> 00:27:34,569
- would roll out
- lots of little, tiny experiments
- 522
- 00:27:34,653 --> 00:27:36,821
- that they were constantly doing on users.
- 523
- 00:27:36,905 --> 00:27:39,866
- And over time,
- by running these constant experiments,
- 524
- 00:27:39,949 --> 00:27:43,036
- you... you develop the most optimal way
- 525
- 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,288
- to get users to do
- what you want them to do.
- 526
- 00:27:45,372 --> 00:27:46,790
- It's... It's manipulation.
- 527
- 00:27:47,332 --> 00:27:49,459
- [interviewer]
- Uh, you're making me feel like a lab rat.
- 528
- 00:27:49,834 --> 00:27:51,920
- You <i>are </i>a lab rat. We're all lab rats.
- 529
- 00:27:52,545 --> 00:27:55,548
- And it's not like we're lab rats
- for developing a cure for cancer.
- 530
- 00:27:55,632 --> 00:27:58,134
- It's not like they're trying
- to benefit <i>us.</i>
- 531
- 00:27:58,218 --> 00:28:01,680
- Right? We're just zombies,
- and they want us to look at more ads
- 532
- 00:28:01,763 --> 00:28:03,181
- so they can make more money.
- 533
- 00:28:03,556 --> 00:28:05,266
- [Shoshana] Facebook conducted
- 534
- 00:28:05,350 --> 00:28:08,228
- what they called
- "massive-scale contagion experiments."
- 535
- 00:28:08,311 --> 00:28:09,145
- Okay.
- 536
- 00:28:09,229 --> 00:28:13,066
- [Shoshana] How do we use subliminal cues
- on the Facebook pages
- 537
- 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,654
- to get more people to go vote
- in the midterm elections?
- 538
- 00:28:17,987 --> 00:28:20,824
- And they discovered
- that they were able to do that.
- 539
- 00:28:20,907 --> 00:28:24,160
- One thing they concluded
- is that we now know
- 540
- 00:28:24,744 --> 00:28:28,915
- we can affect real-world behavior
- and emotions
- 541
- 00:28:28,998 --> 00:28:32,877
- without ever triggering
- the user's awareness.
- 542
- 00:28:33,378 --> 00:28:37,382
- They are completely clueless.
- 543
- 00:28:38,049 --> 00:28:41,970
- We're pointing these engines of AI
- back at ourselves
- 544
- 00:28:42,053 --> 00:28:46,224
- to reverse-engineer what elicits responses
- from us.
- 545
- 00:28:47,100 --> 00:28:49,561
- Almost like you're stimulating nerve cells
- on a spider
- 546
- 00:28:49,644 --> 00:28:51,479
- to see what causes its legs to respond.
- 547
- 00:28:51,938 --> 00:28:53,940
- So, it really is
- this kind of prison experiment
- 548
- 00:28:54,023 --> 00:28:56,735
- where we're just, you know,
- roping people into the matrix,
- 549
- 00:28:56,818 --> 00:29:00,572
- and we're just harvesting all this money
- and... and data from all their activity
- 550
- 00:29:00,655 --> 00:29:01,489
- to profit from.
- 551
- 00:29:01,573 --> 00:29:03,450
- And we're not even aware
- that it's happening.
- 552
- 00:29:04,117 --> 00:29:07,912
- So, we want to psychologically figure out
- how to manipulate you as fast as possible
- 553
- 00:29:07,996 --> 00:29:10,081
- and then give you back that dopamine hit.
- 554
- 00:29:10,165 --> 00:29:12,375
- We did that brilliantly at Facebook.
- 555
- 00:29:12,625 --> 00:29:14,919
- Instagram has done it.
- WhatsApp has done it.
- 556
- 00:29:15,003 --> 00:29:17,380
- You know, Snapchat has done it.
- Twitter has done it.
- 557
- 00:29:17,464 --> 00:29:19,424
- I mean, it's exactly the kind of thing
- 558
- 00:29:19,507 --> 00:29:22,427
- that a... that a hacker like myself
- would come up with
- 559
- 00:29:22,510 --> 00:29:27,015
- because you're exploiting a vulnerability
- in... in human psychology.
- 560
- 00:29:27,807 --> 00:29:29,726
- [chuckles] And I just...
- I think that we...
- 561
- 00:29:29,809 --> 00:29:33,438
- you know, the inventors, creators...
- 562
- 00:29:33,980 --> 00:29:37,317
- uh, you know, and it's me, it's Mark,
- it's the...
- 563
- 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,403
- you know, Kevin Systrom at Instagram...
- It's all of these people...
- 564
- 00:29:40,487 --> 00:29:46,451
- um, understood this consciously,
- and we did it anyway.
- 565
- 00:29:50,580 --> 00:29:53,750
- No one got upset when bicycles showed up.
- 566
- 00:29:55,043 --> 00:29:58,004
- Right? Like, if everyone's starting
- to go around on bicycles,
- 567
- 00:29:58,087 --> 00:30:00,924
- no one said,
- "Oh, my God, we've just ruined society.
- 568
- 00:30:01,007 --> 00:30:03,051
- [chuckles]
- Like, bicycles are affecting people.
- 569
- 00:30:03,134 --> 00:30:05,303
- They're pulling people
- away from their kids.
- 570
- 00:30:05,386 --> 00:30:08,723
- They're ruining the fabric of democracy.
- People can't tell what's true."
- 571
- 00:30:08,807 --> 00:30:11,476
- Like, we never said any of that stuff
- about a bicycle.
- 572
- 00:30:12,769 --> 00:30:16,147
- If something is a tool,
- it genuinely is just sitting there,
- 573
- 00:30:16,731 --> 00:30:18,733
- waiting patiently.
- 574
- 00:30:19,317 --> 00:30:22,821
- If something is not a tool,
- it's demanding things from you.
- 575
- 00:30:22,904 --> 00:30:26,533
- It's seducing you. It's manipulating you.
- It wants things from you.
- 576
- 00:30:26,950 --> 00:30:30,495
- And we've moved away from having
- a tools-based technology environment
- 577
- 00:30:31,037 --> 00:30:34,499
- to an addiction- and manipulation-based
- technology environment.
- 578
- 00:30:34,582 --> 00:30:35,708
- That's what's changed.
- 579
- 00:30:35,792 --> 00:30:39,420
- Social media isn't a tool
- that's just waiting to be used.
- 580
- 00:30:39,504 --> 00:30:43,466
- It has its own goals,
- and it has its own means of pursuing them
- 581
- 00:30:43,550 --> 00:30:45,677
- by using your psychology against you.
- 582
- 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:47,762
- [ominous instrumental music playing]
- 583
- 00:30:57,564 --> 00:31:00,567
- [Tim] Rewind a few years ago,
- I was the...
- 584
- 00:31:00,650 --> 00:31:02,318
- I was the president of Pinterest.
- 585
- 00:31:03,152 --> 00:31:05,113
- I was coming home,
- 586
- 00:31:05,196 --> 00:31:08,366
- and I couldn't get off my phone
- once I got home,
- 587
- 00:31:08,449 --> 00:31:12,161
- despite having two young kids
- who needed my love and attention.
- 588
- 00:31:12,245 --> 00:31:15,748
- I was in the pantry, you know,
- typing away on an e-mail
- 589
- 00:31:15,832 --> 00:31:17,542
- or sometimes looking at Pinterest.
- 590
- 00:31:18,001 --> 00:31:19,627
- I thought, "God, this is classic irony.
- 591
- 00:31:19,711 --> 00:31:22,046
- I am going to work during the day
- 592
- 00:31:22,130 --> 00:31:26,426
- and building something
- that then I am falling prey to."
- 593
- 00:31:26,509 --> 00:31:30,096
- And I couldn't... I mean, some
- of those moments, I couldn't help myself.
- 594
- 00:31:30,179 --> 00:31:31,848
- -[notification chimes]
- -[woman gasps]
- 595
- 00:31:32,307 --> 00:31:36,102
- The one
- that I'm... I'm most prone to is Twitter.
- 596
- 00:31:36,185 --> 00:31:38,021
- Uh, used to be Reddit.
- 597
- 00:31:38,104 --> 00:31:42,859
- I actually had to write myself software
- to break my addiction to reading Reddit.
- 598
- 00:31:42,942 --> 00:31:44,903
- -[notifications chime]
- -[slot machines whir]
- 599
- 00:31:45,403 --> 00:31:47,780
- I'm probably most addicted to my e-mail.
- 600
- 00:31:47,864 --> 00:31:49,866
- I mean, really. I mean, I... I feel it.
- 601
- 00:31:49,949 --> 00:31:51,409
- -[notifications chime]
- -[woman gasps]
- 602
- 00:31:51,492 --> 00:31:52,493
- [electricity crackles]
- 603
- 00:31:52,577 --> 00:31:54,954
- Well, I mean, it's sort-- it's interesting
- 604
- 00:31:55,038 --> 00:31:58,166
- that knowing what was going on
- behind the curtain,
- 605
- 00:31:58,249 --> 00:32:01,628
- I still wasn't able to control my usage.
- 606
- 00:32:01,711 --> 00:32:03,046
- So, that's a little scary.
- 607
- 00:32:03,630 --> 00:32:07,050
- Even knowing how these tricks work,
- I'm still susceptible to them.
- 608
- 00:32:07,133 --> 00:32:09,886
- I'll still pick up the phone,
- and 20 minutes will disappear.
- 609
- 00:32:09,969 --> 00:32:11,387
- [notifications chime]
- 610
- 00:32:11,471 --> 00:32:12,722
- -[fluid rushes]
- -[woman gasps]
- 611
- 00:32:12,805 --> 00:32:15,725
- Do you check your smartphone
- before you pee in the morning
- 612
- 00:32:15,808 --> 00:32:17,477
- or while you're peeing in the morning?
- 613
- 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:19,479
- 'Cause those are the only two choices.
- 614
- 00:32:19,562 --> 00:32:23,274
- I tried through willpower,
- just pure willpower...
- 615
- 00:32:23,358 --> 00:32:26,903
- "I'll put down my phone, I'll leave
- my phone in the car when I get home."
- 616
- 00:32:26,986 --> 00:32:30,573
- I think I told myself a thousand times,
- a thousand different days,
- 617
- 00:32:30,657 --> 00:32:32,617
- "I am not gonna bring my phone
- to the bedroom,"
- 618
- 00:32:32,700 --> 00:32:34,535
- and then 9:00 p.m. rolls around.
- 619
- 00:32:34,619 --> 00:32:37,121
- "Well, I wanna bring my phone
- in the bedroom."
- 620
- 00:32:37,205 --> 00:32:39,290
- [takes a deep breath]
- And so, that was sort of...
- 621
- 00:32:39,374 --> 00:32:41,125
- Willpower was kind of attempt one,
- 622
- 00:32:41,209 --> 00:32:44,295
- and then attempt two was,
- you know, brute force.
- 623
- 00:32:44,379 --> 00:32:48,091
- [announcer] Introducing the Kitchen Safe.
- The Kitchen Safe is a revolutionary,
- 624
- 00:32:48,174 --> 00:32:51,678
- new, time-locking container
- that helps you fight temptation.
- 625
- 00:32:51,761 --> 00:32:56,724
- <i>All David has to do is place</i>
- <i>those temptations in the Kitchen Safe.</i>
- 626
- 00:32:57,392 --> 00:33:00,395
- <i>Next, he rotates the dial</i>
- <i>to set the timer.</i>
- 627
- 00:33:01,479 --> 00:33:04,232
- <i>And, finally, he presses the dial</i>
- <i>to activate the lock.</i>
- 628
- 00:33:04,315 --> 00:33:05,525
- <i>The Kitchen Safe is great...</i>
- 629
- 00:33:05,608 --> 00:33:06,776
- We have that, don't we?
- 630
- 00:33:06,859 --> 00:33:08,653
- <i>...video games, credit cards,</i>
- <i>and cell phones.</i>
- 631
- 00:33:08,736 --> 00:33:09,654
- Yeah, we do.
- 632
- 00:33:09,737 --> 00:33:12,407
- [announcer] <i>Once the Kitchen Safe</i>
- <i>is locked, it cannot be opened</i>
- 633
- 00:33:12,490 --> 00:33:13,866
- <i>until the timer reaches zero.</i>
- 634
- 00:33:13,950 --> 00:33:15,618
- [Anna] So, here's the thing.
- 635
- 00:33:15,702 --> 00:33:17,537
- Social media is a drug.
- 636
- 00:33:17,620 --> 00:33:20,873
- I mean,
- we have a basic biological imperative
- 637
- 00:33:20,957 --> 00:33:23,084
- to connect with other people.
- 638
- 00:33:23,167 --> 00:33:28,214
- That directly affects the release
- of dopamine in the reward pathway.
- 639
- 00:33:28,297 --> 00:33:32,552
- Millions of years of evolution, um,
- are behind that system
- 640
- 00:33:32,635 --> 00:33:35,596
- to get us to come together
- and live in communities,
- 641
- 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,016
- to find mates, to propagate our species.
- 642
- 00:33:38,099 --> 00:33:41,853
- So, there's no doubt
- that a vehicle like social media,
- 643
- 00:33:41,936 --> 00:33:45,690
- which optimizes this connection
- between people,
- 644
- 00:33:45,773 --> 00:33:48,568
- is going to have the potential
- for addiction.
- 645
- 00:33:52,071 --> 00:33:54,115
- -Mmm! [laughs]
- -Dad, stop!
- 646
- 00:33:55,450 --> 00:33:58,453
- I have, like, 1,000 more snips
- to send before dinner.
- 647
- 00:33:58,536 --> 00:34:00,788
- -[dad] Snips?
- -I don't know what a snip is.
- 648
- 00:34:00,872 --> 00:34:03,207
- -Mm, that smells good, baby.
- -All right. Thank you.
- 649
- 00:34:03,291 --> 00:34:05,877
- I was, um, thinking we could use
- all five senses
- 650
- 00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:07,712
- to enjoy our dinner tonight.
- 651
- 00:34:07,795 --> 00:34:11,382
- So, I decided that we're not gonna have
- any cell phones at the table tonight.
- 652
- 00:34:11,466 --> 00:34:13,301
- So, turn 'em in.
- 653
- 00:34:13,801 --> 00:34:14,802
- -Really?
- -[mom] Yep.
- 654
- 00:34:15,928 --> 00:34:18,056
- -All right.
- -Thank you. Ben?
- 655
- 00:34:18,139 --> 00:34:20,433
- -Okay.
- -Mom, the phone pirate. [scoffs]
- 656
- 00:34:21,100 --> 00:34:21,934
- -Got it.
- -Mom!
- 657
- 00:34:22,518 --> 00:34:26,147
- So, they will be safe in here
- until after dinner...
- 658
- 00:34:27,273 --> 00:34:30,650
- -and everyone can just chill out.
- -[safe whirs]
- 659
- 00:34:30,735 --> 00:34:31,569
- Okay?
- 660
- 00:34:40,828 --> 00:34:41,704
- [Cass sighs]
- 661
- 00:34:45,708 --> 00:34:47,043
- [notification chimes]
- 662
- 00:34:47,418 --> 00:34:49,253
- -Can I just see who it is?
- -No.
- 663
- 00:34:54,759 --> 00:34:56,969
- Just gonna go get another fork.
- 664
- 00:34:58,304 --> 00:34:59,263
- Thank you.
- 665
- 00:35:04,727 --> 00:35:06,771
- Honey, you can't open that.
- 666
- 00:35:06,854 --> 00:35:09,315
- I locked it for an hour,
- so just leave it alone.
- 667
- 00:35:11,192 --> 00:35:13,361
- So, what should we talk about?
- 668
- 00:35:13,444 --> 00:35:14,695
- Well, we could talk
- 669
- 00:35:14,779 --> 00:35:17,615
- about the, uh, Extreme Center wackos
- I drove by today.
- 670
- 00:35:17,698 --> 00:35:18,825
- -[mom] Please, Frank.
- -What?
- 671
- 00:35:18,908 --> 00:35:20,785
- [mom] I don't wanna talk about politics.
- 672
- 00:35:20,868 --> 00:35:23,538
- -What's wrong with the Extreme Center?
- -See? He doesn't even get it.
- 673
- 00:35:23,621 --> 00:35:24,622
- It depends on who you ask.
- 674
- 00:35:24,705 --> 00:35:26,624
- It's like asking,
- "What's wrong with propaganda?"
- 675
- 00:35:26,707 --> 00:35:28,376
- -[safe smashes]
- -[mom and Frank scream]
- 676
- 00:35:28,709 --> 00:35:29,710
- [Frank] Isla!
- 677
- 00:35:32,797 --> 00:35:33,756
- Oh, my God.
- 678
- 00:35:36,425 --> 00:35:38,553
- -[sighs] Do you want me to...
- -[mom] Yeah.
- 679
- 00:35:41,973 --> 00:35:43,933
- [Anna] I... I'm worried about my kids.
- 680
- 00:35:44,016 --> 00:35:46,686
- And if you have kids,
- I'm worried about your kids.
- 681
- 00:35:46,769 --> 00:35:50,189
- Armed with all the knowledge that I have
- and all of the experience,
- 682
- 00:35:50,273 --> 00:35:52,108
- I am fighting my kids about the time
- 683
- 00:35:52,191 --> 00:35:54,443
- that they spend on phones
- and on the computer.
- 684
- 00:35:54,527 --> 00:35:58,197
- I will say to my son, "How many hours do
- you think you're spending on your phone?"
- 685
- 00:35:58,281 --> 00:36:01,075
- He'll be like, "It's, like, half an hour.
- It's half an hour, tops."
- 686
- 00:36:01,159 --> 00:36:04,829
- I'd say upwards hour, hour and a half.
- 687
- 00:36:04,912 --> 00:36:06,789
- I looked at his screen report
- a couple weeks ago.
- 688
- 00:36:06,873 --> 00:36:08,708
- -Three hours and 45 minutes.
- -[James] That...
- 689
- 00:36:11,377 --> 00:36:13,588
- I don't think that's...
- No. Per day, on average?
- 690
- 00:36:13,671 --> 00:36:15,506
- -Yeah.
- -Should I go get it right now?
- 691
- 00:36:15,590 --> 00:36:19,177
- There's not a day that goes by
- that I don't remind my kids
- 692
- 00:36:19,260 --> 00:36:21,762
- about the pleasure-pain balance,
- 693
- 00:36:21,846 --> 00:36:24,390
- about dopamine deficit states,
- 694
- 00:36:24,473 --> 00:36:26,267
- about the risk of addiction.
- 695
- 00:36:26,350 --> 00:36:27,310
- [Mary] Moment of truth.
- 696
- 00:36:27,935 --> 00:36:29,687
- Two hours, 50 minutes per day.
- 697
- 00:36:29,770 --> 00:36:31,772
- -Let's see.
- -Actually, I've been using a lot today.
- 698
- 00:36:31,856 --> 00:36:33,357
- -Last seven days.
- -That's probably why.
- 699
- 00:36:33,441 --> 00:36:37,361
- Instagram, six hours, 13 minutes.
- Okay, so my Instagram's worse.
- 700
- 00:36:39,572 --> 00:36:41,991
- My screen's completely shattered.
- 701
- 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:43,201
- Thanks, Cass.
- 702
- 00:36:44,410 --> 00:36:45,995
- What do you mean, "Thanks, Cass"?
- 703
- 00:36:46,078 --> 00:36:49,040
- You keep freaking Mom out about our phones
- when it's not really a problem.
- 704
- 00:36:49,373 --> 00:36:51,167
- We don't need our phones to eat dinner!
- 705
- 00:36:51,250 --> 00:36:53,878
- I get what you're saying.
- It's just not that big a deal. It's not.
- 706
- 00:36:56,047 --> 00:36:58,382
- If it's not that big a deal,
- don't use it for a week.
- 707
- 00:36:59,634 --> 00:37:00,593
- [Ben sighs]
- 708
- 00:37:01,135 --> 00:37:06,349
- Yeah. Yeah, actually, if you can put
- that thing away for, like, a whole week...
- 709
- 00:37:07,725 --> 00:37:09,518
- I will buy you a new screen.
- 710
- 00:37:10,978 --> 00:37:12,897
- -Like, starting now?
- -[mom] Starting now.
- 711
- 00:37:15,149 --> 00:37:16,859
- -Okay. You got a deal.
- -[mom] Okay.
- 712
- 00:37:16,943 --> 00:37:19,111
- Okay, you gotta leave it here, though,
- buddy.
- 713
- 00:37:19,862 --> 00:37:21,364
- All right, I'm plugging it in.
- 714
- 00:37:22,531 --> 00:37:25,076
- Let the record show... I'm backing away.
- 715
- 00:37:25,159 --> 00:37:25,993
- Okay.
- 716
- 00:37:27,787 --> 00:37:29,413
- -You're on the clock.
- -[Ben] One week.
- 717
- 00:37:29,497 --> 00:37:30,331
- Oh, my...
- 718
- 00:37:31,457 --> 00:37:32,416
- Think he can do it?
- 719
- 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:34,252
- I don't know. We'll see.
- 720
- 00:37:35,002 --> 00:37:36,128
- Just eat, okay?
- 721
- 00:37:44,220 --> 00:37:45,263
- Good family dinner!
- 722
- 00:37:47,682 --> 00:37:49,809
- [Tristan] These technology products
- were not designed
- 723
- 00:37:49,892 --> 00:37:53,896
- by child psychologists who are trying
- to protect and nurture children.
- 724
- 00:37:53,980 --> 00:37:56,148
- They were just designing
- to make these algorithms
- 725
- 00:37:56,232 --> 00:37:58,734
- that were really good at recommending
- the next video to you
- 726
- 00:37:58,818 --> 00:38:02,321
- or really good at getting you
- to take a photo with a filter on it.
- 727
- 00:38:15,710 --> 00:38:16,669
- [cell phone chimes]
- 728
- 00:38:16,752 --> 00:38:18,879
- [Tristan] It's not just
- that it's controlling
- 729
- 00:38:18,963 --> 00:38:20,548
- where they spend their attention.
- 730
- 00:38:21,173 --> 00:38:26,304
- Especially social media starts to dig
- deeper and deeper down into the brain stem
- 731
- 00:38:26,387 --> 00:38:29,765
- and take over kids' sense of self-worth
- and identity.
- 732
- 00:38:41,736 --> 00:38:42,903
- [notifications chiming]
- 733
- 00:38:52,371 --> 00:38:56,208
- [Tristan] We evolved to care about
- whether other people in our tribe...
- 734
- 00:38:56,751 --> 00:38:59,128
- think well of us or not
- 'cause it matters.
- 735
- 00:38:59,837 --> 00:39:04,550
- But were we evolved to be aware
- of what 10,000 people think of us?
- 736
- 00:39:04,633 --> 00:39:08,763
- We were not evolved
- to have social approval being dosed to us
- 737
- 00:39:08,846 --> 00:39:10,348
- every five minutes.
- 738
- 00:39:10,431 --> 00:39:13,142
- That was not at all what we were built
- to experience.
- 739
- 00:39:15,394 --> 00:39:19,982
- [Chamath] We curate our lives
- around this perceived sense of perfection
- 740
- 00:39:20,733 --> 00:39:23,527
- because we get rewarded
- in these short-term signals--
- 741
- 00:39:23,611 --> 00:39:25,154
- hearts, likes, thumbs-up--
- 742
- 00:39:25,237 --> 00:39:28,407
- and we conflate that with value,
- and we conflate it with truth.
- 743
- 00:39:29,825 --> 00:39:33,120
- And instead, what it really is
- is fake, brittle popularity...
- 744
- 00:39:33,913 --> 00:39:37,458
- that's short-term and that leaves you
- even more, and admit it,
- 745
- 00:39:37,541 --> 00:39:39,919
- vacant and empty before you did it.
- 746
- 00:39:41,295 --> 00:39:43,381
- Because then it forces you
- into this vicious cycle
- 747
- 00:39:43,464 --> 00:39:47,176
- where you're like, "What's the next thing
- I need to do now? 'Cause I need it back."
- 748
- 00:39:48,260 --> 00:39:50,846
- Think about that compounded
- by two billion people,
- 749
- 00:39:50,930 --> 00:39:54,767
- and then think about how people react then
- to the perceptions of others.
- 750
- 00:39:54,850 --> 00:39:56,435
- It's just a... It's really bad.
- 751
- 00:39:56,977 --> 00:39:58,229
- It's really, really bad.
- 752
- 00:40:00,856 --> 00:40:03,484
- [Jonathan] There has been
- a gigantic increase
- 753
- 00:40:03,567 --> 00:40:06,529
- in depression and anxiety
- for American teenagers
- 754
- 00:40:06,612 --> 00:40:10,950
- which began right around...
- between 2011 and 2013.
- 755
- 00:40:11,033 --> 00:40:15,371
- The number of teenage girls out of 100,000
- in this country
- 756
- 00:40:15,454 --> 00:40:17,123
- who were admitted to a hospital every year
- 757
- 00:40:17,206 --> 00:40:19,917
- because they cut themselves
- or otherwise harmed themselves,
- 758
- 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,921
- that number was pretty stable
- until around 2010, 2011,
- 759
- 00:40:24,004 --> 00:40:25,756
- and then it begins going way up.
- 760
- 00:40:28,759 --> 00:40:32,513
- It's up 62 percent for older teen girls.
- 761
- 00:40:33,848 --> 00:40:38,310
- It's up 189 percent for the preteen girls.
- That's nearly triple.
- 762
- 00:40:40,312 --> 00:40:43,524
- Even more horrifying,
- we see the same pattern with suicide.
- 763
- 00:40:44,775 --> 00:40:47,570
- The older teen girls, 15 to 19 years old,
- 764
- 00:40:47,653 --> 00:40:49,196
- they're up 70 percent,
- 765
- 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,699
- compared to the first decade
- of this century.
- 766
- 00:40:52,158 --> 00:40:55,077
- The preteen girls,
- who have very low rates to begin with,
- 767
- 00:40:55,161 --> 00:40:57,663
- they are up 151 percent.
- 768
- 00:40:58,831 --> 00:41:01,709
- And that pattern points to social media.
- 769
- 00:41:04,044 --> 00:41:07,214
- Gen Z, the kids born after 1996 or so,
- 770
- 00:41:07,298 --> 00:41:10,342
- those kids are the first generation
- in history
- 771
- 00:41:10,426 --> 00:41:12,636
- that got on social media in middle school.
- 772
- 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:14,722
- [thunder rumbling in distance]
- 773
- 00:41:15,890 --> 00:41:17,600
- [Jonathan] How do they spend their time?
- 774
- 00:41:19,727 --> 00:41:22,730
- They come home from school,
- and they're on their devices.
- 775
- 00:41:24,315 --> 00:41:29,195
- A whole generation is more anxious,
- more fragile, more depressed.
- 776
- 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:30,529
- -[thunder rumbles]
- -[Isla gasps]
- 777
- 00:41:30,613 --> 00:41:33,282
- [Jonathan] They're much less comfortable
- taking risks.
- 778
- 00:41:34,325 --> 00:41:37,536
- The rates at which they get
- driver's licenses have been dropping.
- 779
- 00:41:38,954 --> 00:41:41,081
- The number
- who have ever gone out on a date
- 780
- 00:41:41,165 --> 00:41:44,251
- or had any kind of romantic interaction
- is dropping rapidly.
- 781
- 00:41:47,505 --> 00:41:49,715
- This is a real change in a generation.
- 782
- 00:41:53,177 --> 00:41:57,306
- And remember, for every one of these,
- for every hospital admission,
- 783
- 00:41:57,389 --> 00:42:00,267
- there's a family that is traumatized
- and horrified.
- 784
- 00:42:00,351 --> 00:42:02,353
- "My God, what is happening to our kids?"
- 785
- 00:42:08,734 --> 00:42:09,693
- [Isla sighs]
- 786
- 00:42:19,411 --> 00:42:21,413
- [Tim] It's plain as day to me.
- 787
- 00:42:22,873 --> 00:42:28,128
- These services are killing people...
- and causing people to kill themselves.
- 788
- 00:42:29,088 --> 00:42:33,300
- I don't know any parent who says, "Yeah,
- I really want my kids to be growing up
- 789
- 00:42:33,384 --> 00:42:36,887
- feeling manipulated by tech designers, uh,
- 790
- 00:42:36,971 --> 00:42:39,723
- manipulating their attention,
- making it impossible to do their homework,
- 791
- 00:42:39,807 --> 00:42:42,560
- making them compare themselves
- to unrealistic standards of beauty."
- 792
- 00:42:42,643 --> 00:42:44,687
- Like, no one wants that. [chuckles]
- 793
- 00:42:45,104 --> 00:42:46,355
- No one does.
- 794
- 00:42:46,438 --> 00:42:48,482
- We... We used to have these protections.
- 795
- 00:42:48,566 --> 00:42:50,943
- When children watched
- Saturday morning cartoons,
- 796
- 00:42:51,026 --> 00:42:52,778
- we cared about protecting children.
- 797
- 00:42:52,861 --> 00:42:56,574
- We would say, "You can't advertise
- to these age children in these ways."
- 798
- 00:42:57,366 --> 00:42:58,784
- But then you take YouTube for Kids,
- 799
- 00:42:58,867 --> 00:43:02,454
- and it gobbles up that entire portion
- of the attention economy,
- 800
- 00:43:02,538 --> 00:43:04,915
- and now all kids are exposed
- to YouTube for Kids.
- 801
- 00:43:04,999 --> 00:43:07,710
- And all those protections
- and all those regulations are gone.
- 802
- 00:43:08,210 --> 00:43:10,212
- [tense instrumental music playing]
- 803
- 00:43:18,304 --> 00:43:22,141
- [Tristan] We're training and conditioning
- a whole new generation of people...
- 804
- 00:43:23,434 --> 00:43:29,148
- that when we are uncomfortable or lonely
- or uncertain or afraid,
- 805
- 00:43:29,231 --> 00:43:31,775
- we have a digital pacifier for ourselves
- 806
- 00:43:32,234 --> 00:43:36,488
- that is kind of atrophying our own ability
- to deal with that.
- 807
- 00:43:53,881 --> 00:43:55,674
- [Tristan] Photoshop didn't have
- 1,000 engineers
- 808
- 00:43:55,758 --> 00:43:58,969
- on the other side of the screen,
- using notifications, using your friends,
- 809
- 00:43:59,053 --> 00:44:02,431
- using AI to predict what's gonna
- perfectly addict you, or hook you,
- 810
- 00:44:02,514 --> 00:44:04,516
- or manipulate you, or allow advertisers
- 811
- 00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:08,437
- to test 60,000 variations
- of text or colors to figure out
- 812
- 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:11,065
- what's the perfect manipulation
- of your mind.
- 813
- 00:44:11,148 --> 00:44:14,985
- This is a totally new species
- of power and influence.
- 814
- 00:44:16,070 --> 00:44:19,156
- I... I would say, again, the methods used
- 815
- 00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:22,785
- to play on people's ability
- to be addicted or to be influenced
- 816
- 00:44:22,868 --> 00:44:25,204
- may be different this time,
- and they probably are different.
- 817
- 00:44:25,287 --> 00:44:28,749
- They were different when newspapers
- came in and the printing press came in,
- 818
- 00:44:28,832 --> 00:44:31,835
- and they were different
- when television came in,
- 819
- 00:44:31,919 --> 00:44:34,004
- and you had three major networks and...
- 820
- 00:44:34,463 --> 00:44:36,423
- -At the time.
- -At the time. That's what I'm saying.
- 821
- 00:44:36,507 --> 00:44:38,384
- But I'm saying the idea
- that there's a new level
- 822
- 00:44:38,467 --> 00:44:42,054
- and that new level has happened
- so many times before.
- 823
- 00:44:42,137 --> 00:44:45,099
- I mean, this is just the latest new level
- that we've seen.
- 824
- 00:44:45,182 --> 00:44:48,727
- There's this narrative that, you know,
- "We'll just adapt to it.
- 825
- 00:44:48,811 --> 00:44:51,188
- We'll learn how to live
- with these devices,
- 826
- 00:44:51,271 --> 00:44:53,732
- just like we've learned how to live
- with everything else."
- 827
- 00:44:53,816 --> 00:44:56,694
- And what this misses
- is there's something distinctly new here.
- 828
- 00:44:57,486 --> 00:45:00,155
- Perhaps the most dangerous piece
- of all this is the fact
- 829
- 00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:04,410
- that it's driven by technology
- that's advancing exponentially.
- 830
- 00:45:05,869 --> 00:45:09,081
- Roughly, if you say from, like,
- the 1960s to today,
- 831
- 00:45:09,873 --> 00:45:12,960
- processing power has gone up
- about a trillion times.
- 832
- 00:45:13,794 --> 00:45:18,340
- Nothing else that we have has improved
- at anything near that rate.
- 833
- 00:45:18,424 --> 00:45:22,177
- Like, cars are, you know,
- roughly twice as fast.
- 834
- 00:45:22,261 --> 00:45:25,013
- And almost everything else is negligible.
- 835
- 00:45:25,347 --> 00:45:27,182
- And perhaps most importantly,
- 836
- 00:45:27,266 --> 00:45:31,353
- our human-- our physiology,
- our brains have evolved not at all.
- 837
- 00:45:37,401 --> 00:45:41,488
- [Tristan] Human beings, at a mind and body
- and sort of physical level,
- 838
- 00:45:41,947 --> 00:45:43,866
- are not gonna fundamentally change.
- 839
- 00:45:44,825 --> 00:45:45,868
- [indistinct chatter]
- 840
- 00:45:47,035 --> 00:45:48,954
- [chuckling] I know, but they...
- 841
- 00:45:49,037 --> 00:45:51,623
- [continues speaking indistinctly]
- 842
- 00:45:53,584 --> 00:45:54,752
- [camera shutter clicks]
- 843
- 00:45:56,837 --> 00:46:00,924
- [Tristan] We can do genetic engineering
- and develop new kinds of human beings,
- 844
- 00:46:01,008 --> 00:46:05,220
- but realistically speaking,
- you're living inside of hardware, a brain,
- 845
- 00:46:05,304 --> 00:46:07,222
- that was, like, millions of years old,
- 846
- 00:46:07,306 --> 00:46:10,559
- and then there's this screen, and then
- on the opposite side of the screen,
- 847
- 00:46:10,642 --> 00:46:13,562
- there's these thousands of engineers
- and supercomputers
- 848
- 00:46:13,645 --> 00:46:16,106
- that have goals that are different
- than your goals,
- 849
- 00:46:16,190 --> 00:46:19,693
- and so, who's gonna win in that game?
- Who's gonna win?
- 850
- 00:46:25,699 --> 00:46:26,617
- How are we losing?
- 851
- 00:46:27,159 --> 00:46:29,828
- -I don't know.
- -Where is he? This is not normal.
- 852
- 00:46:29,912 --> 00:46:32,080
- Did I overwhelm him
- with friends and family content?
- 853
- 00:46:32,164 --> 00:46:34,082
- -Probably.
- -Well, maybe it was all the ads.
- 854
- 00:46:34,166 --> 00:46:37,795
- No. Something's very wrong.
- Let's switch to resurrection mode.
- 855
- 00:46:39,713 --> 00:46:44,051
- [Tristan] When you think of AI,
- you know, an AI's gonna ruin the world,
- 856
- 00:46:44,134 --> 00:46:47,221
- and you see, like, a Terminator,
- and you see Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- 857
- 00:46:47,638 --> 00:46:48,680
- I'll be back.
- 858
- 00:46:48,764 --> 00:46:50,933
- [Tristan] You see drones,
- and you think, like,
- 859
- 00:46:51,016 --> 00:46:52,684
- "Oh, we're gonna kill people with AI."
- 860
- 00:46:53,644 --> 00:46:59,817
- And what people miss is that AI
- already runs today's world right now.
- 861
- 00:46:59,900 --> 00:47:03,237
- Even talking about "an AI"
- is just a metaphor.
- 862
- 00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:09,451
- At these companies like... like Google,
- there's just massive, massive rooms,
- 863
- 00:47:10,327 --> 00:47:13,121
- some of them underground,
- some of them underwater,
- 864
- 00:47:13,205 --> 00:47:14,498
- of just computers.
- 865
- 00:47:14,581 --> 00:47:17,835
- Tons and tons of computers,
- as far as the eye can see.
- 866
- 00:47:18,460 --> 00:47:20,504
- They're deeply interconnected
- with each other
- 867
- 00:47:20,587 --> 00:47:22,923
- and running
- extremely complicated programs,
- 868
- 00:47:23,006 --> 00:47:26,009
- sending information back and forth
- between each other all the time.
- 869
- 00:47:26,802 --> 00:47:28,595
- And they'll be running
- many different programs,
- 870
- 00:47:28,679 --> 00:47:31,014
- many different products
- on those same machines.
- 871
- 00:47:31,348 --> 00:47:33,684
- Some of those things could be described
- as simple algorithms,
- 872
- 00:47:33,767 --> 00:47:35,227
- some could be described as algorithms
- 873
- 00:47:35,310 --> 00:47:37,521
- that are so complicated,
- you would call them intelligence.
- 874
- 00:47:39,022 --> 00:47:39,982
- [crew member sighs]
- 875
- 00:47:40,065 --> 00:47:42,568
- [Cathy]
- I like to say that algorithms are opinions
- 876
- 00:47:42,651 --> 00:47:43,777
- embedded in code...
- 877
- 00:47:45,070 --> 00:47:47,656
- and that algorithms are not objective.
- 878
- 00:47:48,365 --> 00:47:51,577
- Algorithms are optimized
- to some definition of success.
- 879
- 00:47:52,244 --> 00:47:53,370
- So, if you can imagine,
- 880
- 00:47:53,453 --> 00:47:57,124
- if a... if a commercial enterprise builds
- an algorithm
- 881
- 00:47:57,207 --> 00:47:59,293
- to their definition of success,
- 882
- 00:47:59,835 --> 00:48:01,211
- it's a commercial interest.
- 883
- 00:48:01,587 --> 00:48:02,671
- It's usually profit.
- 884
- 00:48:03,130 --> 00:48:07,384
- You are giving the computer
- the goal state, "I want this outcome,"
- 885
- 00:48:07,467 --> 00:48:10,262
- and then the computer itself is learning
- how to do it.
- 886
- 00:48:10,345 --> 00:48:12,598
- That's where the term "machine learning"
- comes from.
- 887
- 00:48:12,681 --> 00:48:14,850
- And so, every day, it gets slightly better
- 888
- 00:48:14,933 --> 00:48:16,977
- at picking the right posts
- in the right order
- 889
- 00:48:17,060 --> 00:48:19,438
- so that you spend longer and longer
- in that product.
- 890
- 00:48:19,521 --> 00:48:22,232
- And no one really understands
- what they're doing
- 891
- 00:48:22,316 --> 00:48:23,901
- in order to achieve that goal.
- 892
- 00:48:23,984 --> 00:48:28,238
- The algorithm has a mind of its own,
- so even though a person writes it,
- 893
- 00:48:28,906 --> 00:48:30,657
- it's written in a way
- 894
- 00:48:30,741 --> 00:48:35,037
- that you kind of build the machine,
- and then the machine changes itself.
- 895
- 00:48:35,120 --> 00:48:37,873
- There's only a handful of people
- at these companies,
- 896
- 00:48:37,956 --> 00:48:40,000
- at Facebook and Twitter
- and other companies...
- 897
- 00:48:40,083 --> 00:48:43,795
- There's only a few people who understand
- how those systems work,
- 898
- 00:48:43,879 --> 00:48:46,715
- and even they don't necessarily
- fully understand
- 899
- 00:48:46,798 --> 00:48:49,551
- what's gonna happen
- with a particular piece of content.
- 900
- 00:48:49,968 --> 00:48:55,474
- So, as humans, we've almost lost control
- over these systems.
- 901
- 00:48:55,891 --> 00:48:59,603
- Because they're controlling, you know,
- the information that we see,
- 902
- 00:48:59,686 --> 00:49:02,189
- they're controlling us more
- than we're controlling them.
- 903
- 00:49:02,522 --> 00:49:04,733
- -[console whirs]
- -[Growth AI] Cross-referencing him
- 904
- 00:49:04,816 --> 00:49:07,319
- against comparables
- in his geographic zone.
- 905
- 00:49:07,402 --> 00:49:09,571
- His psychometric doppelgangers.
- 906
- 00:49:09,655 --> 00:49:13,700
- There are 13,694 people
- behaving just like him in his region.
- 907
- 00:49:13,784 --> 00:49:16,370
- -What's trending with them?
- -We need something actually good
- 908
- 00:49:16,453 --> 00:49:17,704
- for a proper resurrection,
- 909
- 00:49:17,788 --> 00:49:19,957
- given that the typical stuff
- isn't working.
- 910
- 00:49:20,040 --> 00:49:21,875
- Not even that cute girl from school.
- 911
- 00:49:22,334 --> 00:49:25,253
- My analysis shows that going political
- with Extreme Center content
- 912
- 00:49:25,337 --> 00:49:28,256
- has a 62.3 percent chance
- of long-term engagement.
- 913
- 00:49:28,340 --> 00:49:29,299
- That's not bad.
- 914
- 00:49:29,383 --> 00:49:32,010
- [sighs] It's not good enough to lead with.
- 915
- 00:49:32,302 --> 00:49:35,305
- Okay, okay, so we've tried notifying him
- about tagged photos,
- 916
- 00:49:35,389 --> 00:49:39,017
- invitations, current events,
- even a direct message from Rebecca.
- 917
- 00:49:39,101 --> 00:49:42,813
- But what about User 01265923010?
- 918
- 00:49:42,896 --> 00:49:44,648
- Yeah, Ben loved all of her posts.
- 919
- 00:49:44,731 --> 00:49:47,776
- For months and, like,
- literally all of them, and then nothing.
- 920
- 00:49:47,859 --> 00:49:50,445
- I calculate a 92.3 percent chance
- of resurrection
- 921
- 00:49:50,529 --> 00:49:52,030
- with a notification about Ana.
- 922
- 00:49:56,535 --> 00:49:57,494
- And her new friend.
- 923
- 00:49:59,621 --> 00:50:01,623
- [eerie instrumental music playing]
- 924
- 00:50:10,590 --> 00:50:11,675
- [cell phone vibrates]
- 925
- 00:50:25,689 --> 00:50:27,441
- [Ben] Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me.
- 926
- 00:50:32,404 --> 00:50:33,613
- Uh... [sighs]
- 927
- 00:50:35,657 --> 00:50:36,616
- Okay.
- 928
- 00:50:38,869 --> 00:50:40,996
- -What?
- -[fanfare plays, fireworks pop]
- 929
- 00:50:41,413 --> 00:50:42,789
- [claps] Bam! We're back!
- 930
- 00:50:42,873 --> 00:50:44,374
- Let's get back to making money, boys.
- 931
- 00:50:44,458 --> 00:50:46,334
- Yes, and connecting Ben
- with the entire world.
- 932
- 00:50:46,418 --> 00:50:49,087
- I'm giving him access
- to all the information he might like.
- 933
- 00:50:49,755 --> 00:50:53,717
- Hey, do you guys ever wonder if, you know,
- like, the feed is good for Ben?
- 934
- 00:50:57,095 --> 00:50:58,430
- -No.
- -No. [chuckles slightly]
- 935
- 00:51:00,307 --> 00:51:03,268
- -[chuckles softly]
- -["I Put a Spell on You" playing]
- 936
- 00:51:17,491 --> 00:51:19,076
- ♪<i> I put a spell on you </i>♪
- 937
- 00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:26,374
- ♪<i> 'Cause you're mine </i>♪
- 938
- 00:51:28,627 --> 00:51:32,089
- [vocalizing] <i>♪ Ah! ♪</i>
- 939
- 00:51:34,508 --> 00:51:36,593
- ♪<i> You better stop the things you do</i> ♪
- 940
- 00:51:41,181 --> 00:51:42,265
- ♪<i> I ain't lyin' </i>♪
- 941
- 00:51:44,976 --> 00:51:46,686
- ♪<i> No, I ain't lyin' </i>♪
- 942
- 00:51:49,981 --> 00:51:51,817
- ♪<i> You know I can't stand it </i>♪
- 943
- 00:51:53,026 --> 00:51:54,611
- ♪<i> You're runnin' around </i>♪
- 944
- 00:51:55,612 --> 00:51:57,239
- ♪<i> You know better, Daddy </i>♪
- 945
- 00:51:58,782 --> 00:52:02,077
- ♪<i> I can't stand it</i>
- <i>'Cause you put me down</i> <i>♪</i>
- 946
- 00:52:03,286 --> 00:52:04,121
- ♪<i> Yeah, yeah </i>♪
- 947
- 00:52:06,456 --> 00:52:08,375
- ♪<i> I put a spell on you </i>♪
- 948
- 00:52:12,379 --> 00:52:14,840
- ♪<i> Because you're mine </i>♪
- 949
- 00:52:18,718 --> 00:52:19,845
- <i>♪ You're mine ♪</i>
- 950
- 00:52:20,929 --> 00:52:24,349
- [Roger] So, imagine you're on Facebook...
- 951
- 00:52:24,766 --> 00:52:29,312
- and you're effectively playing
- against this artificial intelligence
- 952
- 00:52:29,396 --> 00:52:31,314
- that knows everything about you,
- 953
- 00:52:31,398 --> 00:52:34,568
- can anticipate your next move,
- and you know literally nothing about it,
- 954
- 00:52:34,651 --> 00:52:37,404
- except that there are cat videos
- and birthdays on it.
- 955
- 00:52:37,821 --> 00:52:39,656
- That's not a fair fight.
- 956
- 00:52:41,575 --> 00:52:43,869
- Ben and Jerry, it's time to go, bud!
- 957
- 00:52:48,039 --> 00:52:48,874
- [sighs]
- 958
- 00:52:51,126 --> 00:52:51,960
- Ben?
- 959
- 00:53:01,011 --> 00:53:02,137
- [knocks lightly on door]
- 960
- 00:53:02,679 --> 00:53:04,723
- -[Cass] Ben.
- -[Ben] Mm.
- 961
- 00:53:05,182 --> 00:53:06,057
- Come on.
- 962
- 00:53:07,225 --> 00:53:08,351
- School time. [claps]
- 963
- 00:53:08,435 --> 00:53:09,269
- Let's go.
- 964
- 00:53:12,189 --> 00:53:13,148
- [Ben sighs]
- 965
- 00:53:25,118 --> 00:53:27,120
- [excited chatter]
- 966
- 00:53:31,374 --> 00:53:33,627
- -[tech] How you doing today?
- -Oh, I'm... I'm nervous.
- 967
- 00:53:33,710 --> 00:53:35,003
- -Are ya?
- -Yeah. [chuckles]
- 968
- 00:53:37,380 --> 00:53:39,132
- [Tristan]
- We were all looking for the moment
- 969
- 00:53:39,216 --> 00:53:42,969
- when technology would overwhelm
- human strengths and intelligence.
- 970
- 00:53:43,053 --> 00:53:47,015
- When is it gonna cross the singularity,
- replace our jobs, be smarter than humans?
- 971
- 00:53:48,141 --> 00:53:50,101
- But there's this much earlier moment...
- 972
- 00:53:50,977 --> 00:53:55,315
- when technology exceeds
- and overwhelms human weaknesses.
- 973
- 00:53:57,484 --> 00:54:01,780
- This point being crossed
- is at the root of addiction,
- 974
- 00:54:02,113 --> 00:54:04,741
- polarization, radicalization,
- outrage-ification,
- 975
- 00:54:04,824 --> 00:54:06,368
- vanity-ification, the entire thing.
- 976
- 00:54:07,702 --> 00:54:09,913
- This is overpowering human nature,
- 977
- 00:54:10,538 --> 00:54:13,500
- and this is checkmate on humanity.
- 978
- 00:54:20,131 --> 00:54:21,883
- -[sighs deeply]
- -[door opens]
- 979
- 00:54:30,558 --> 00:54:31,851
- I'm sorry. [sighs]
- 980
- 00:54:37,607 --> 00:54:39,609
- -[seat belt clicks]
- -[engine starts]
- 981
- 00:54:41,736 --> 00:54:44,656
- [Jaron] One of the ways
- I try to get people to understand
- 982
- 00:54:45,198 --> 00:54:49,828
- just how wrong feeds from places
- like Facebook are
- 983
- 00:54:49,911 --> 00:54:51,454
- is to think about the Wikipedia.
- 984
- 00:54:52,956 --> 00:54:56,209
- When you go to a page, you're seeing
- the same thing as other people.
- 985
- 00:54:56,584 --> 00:55:00,297
- So, it's one of the few things online
- that we at least hold in common.
- 986
- 00:55:00,380 --> 00:55:03,425
- Now, just imagine for a second
- that Wikipedia said,
- 987
- 00:55:03,508 --> 00:55:07,178
- "We're gonna give each person
- a different customized definition,
- 988
- 00:55:07,262 --> 00:55:09,472
- and we're gonna be paid by people
- for that."
- 989
- 00:55:09,556 --> 00:55:13,435
- So, Wikipedia would be spying on you.
- Wikipedia would calculate,
- 990
- 00:55:13,518 --> 00:55:17,188
- "What's the thing I can do
- to get this person to change a little bit
- 991
- 00:55:17,272 --> 00:55:19,899
- on behalf of some commercial interest?"
- Right?
- 992
- 00:55:19,983 --> 00:55:21,818
- And then it would change the entry.
- 993
- 00:55:22,444 --> 00:55:24,738
- Can you imagine that?
- Well, you should be able to,
- 994
- 00:55:24,821 --> 00:55:26,823
- 'cause that's exactly what's happening
- on Facebook.
- 995
- 00:55:26,906 --> 00:55:28,992
- It's exactly what's happening
- in your YouTube feed.
- 996
- 00:55:29,075 --> 00:55:31,786
- When you go to Google and type in
- "Climate change is,"
- 997
- 00:55:31,870 --> 00:55:34,998
- you're going to see different results
- depending on where you live.
- 998
- 00:55:36,166 --> 00:55:38,460
- In certain cities,
- you're gonna see it autocomplete
- 999
- 00:55:38,543 --> 00:55:40,462
- with "climate change is a hoax."
- 1000
- 00:55:40,545 --> 00:55:42,088
- In other cases, you're gonna see
- 1001
- 00:55:42,172 --> 00:55:44,841
- "climate change is causing the destruction
- of nature."
- 1002
- 00:55:44,924 --> 00:55:48,428
- And that's a function not
- of what the truth is about climate change,
- 1003
- 00:55:48,511 --> 00:55:51,097
- but about
- where you happen to be Googling from
- 1004
- 00:55:51,181 --> 00:55:54,100
- and the particular things
- Google knows about your interests.
- 1005
- 00:55:54,851 --> 00:55:58,021
- Even two friends
- who are so close to each other,
- 1006
- 00:55:58,104 --> 00:56:00,190
- who have almost the exact same set
- of friends,
- 1007
- 00:56:00,273 --> 00:56:02,817
- they think, you know,
- "I'm going to news feeds on Facebook.
- 1008
- 00:56:02,901 --> 00:56:05,403
- I'll see the exact same set of updates."
- 1009
- 00:56:05,487 --> 00:56:06,738
- But it's not like that at all.
- 1010
- 00:56:06,821 --> 00:56:08,448
- They see completely different worlds
- 1011
- 00:56:08,531 --> 00:56:10,575
- because they're based
- on these computers calculating
- 1012
- 00:56:10,658 --> 00:56:12,035
- what's perfect for each of them.
- 1013
- 00:56:12,118 --> 00:56:14,245
- [whistling over monitor]
- 1014
- 00:56:14,329 --> 00:56:18,416
- [Roger] The way to think about it
- is it's 2.7 billion <i>Truman Shows.</i>
- 1015
- 00:56:18,500 --> 00:56:21,294
- Each person has their own reality,
- with their own...
- 1016
- 00:56:22,670 --> 00:56:23,671
- facts.
- 1017
- 00:56:23,755 --> 00:56:27,008
- <i>Why do you think</i>
- <i>that, uh, Truman has never come close</i>
- 1018
- 00:56:27,092 --> 00:56:30,095
- <i>to discovering the true nature</i>
- <i>of his world until now?</i>
- 1019
- 00:56:31,054 --> 00:56:34,140
- We accept the reality of the world
- with which we're presented.
- 1020
- 00:56:34,224 --> 00:56:35,141
- It's as simple as that.
- 1021
- 00:56:36,476 --> 00:56:41,064
- Over time, you have the false sense
- that everyone agrees with you,
- 1022
- 00:56:41,147 --> 00:56:44,067
- because everyone in your news feed
- sounds just like you.
- 1023
- 00:56:44,567 --> 00:56:49,072
- And that once you're in that state,
- it turns out you're easily manipulated,
- 1024
- 00:56:49,155 --> 00:56:51,741
- the same way you would be manipulated
- by a magician.
- 1025
- 00:56:51,825 --> 00:56:55,370
- A magician shows you a card trick
- and says, "Pick a card, any card."
- 1026
- 00:56:55,453 --> 00:56:58,164
- What you don't realize
- was that they've done a set-up,
- 1027
- 00:56:58,456 --> 00:57:00,583
- so you pick the card
- they want you to pick.
- 1028
- 00:57:00,667 --> 00:57:03,169
- And that's how Facebook works.
- Facebook sits there and says,
- 1029
- 00:57:03,253 --> 00:57:06,172
- "Hey, you pick your friends.
- You pick the links that you follow."
- 1030
- 00:57:06,256 --> 00:57:08,716
- But that's all nonsense.
- It's just like the magician.
- 1031
- 00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:11,302
- Facebook is in charge of your news feed.
- 1032
- 00:57:11,386 --> 00:57:14,514
- We all simply are operating
- on a different set of facts.
- 1033
- 00:57:14,597 --> 00:57:16,474
- When that happens at scale,
- 1034
- 00:57:16,558 --> 00:57:20,645
- you're no longer able to reckon with
- or even consume information
- 1035
- 00:57:20,728 --> 00:57:23,690
- that contradicts with that world view
- that you've created.
- 1036
- 00:57:23,773 --> 00:57:26,443
- That means we aren't actually being
- objective,
- 1037
- 00:57:26,526 --> 00:57:28,319
- constructive individuals. [chuckles]
- 1038
- 00:57:28,403 --> 00:57:32,449
- [crowd chanting] Open up your eyes,
- don't believe the lies! Open up...
- 1039
- 00:57:32,532 --> 00:57:34,701
- [Justin] And then you look
- over at the other side,
- 1040
- 00:57:35,243 --> 00:57:38,746
- and you start to think,
- "How can those people be so stupid?
- 1041
- 00:57:38,830 --> 00:57:42,125
- Look at all of this information
- that I'm constantly seeing.
- 1042
- 00:57:42,208 --> 00:57:44,627
- How are they not seeing
- that same information?"
- 1043
- 00:57:44,711 --> 00:57:47,297
- And the answer is, "They're not seeing
- that same information."
- 1044
- 00:57:47,380 --> 00:57:50,800
- [crowd continues chanting]
- Open up your eyes, don't believe the lies!
- 1045
- 00:57:50,884 --> 00:57:52,010
- [shouting indistinctly]
- 1046
- 00:57:52,093 --> 00:57:55,472
- -[interviewer] What are Republicans like?
- -People that don't have a clue.
- 1047
- 00:57:55,555 --> 00:57:58,933
- The Democrat Party is a crime syndicate,
- not a real political party.
- 1048
- 00:57:59,017 --> 00:58:03,188
- A huge new Pew Research Center study
- of 10,000 American adults
- 1049
- 00:58:03,271 --> 00:58:05,315
- finds us more divided than ever,
- 1050
- 00:58:05,398 --> 00:58:09,152
- with personal and political polarization
- at a 20-year high.
- 1051
- 00:58:11,738 --> 00:58:14,199
- [pundit] You have
- more than a third of Republicans saying
- 1052
- 00:58:14,282 --> 00:58:16,826
- the Democratic Party is a threat
- to the nation,
- 1053
- 00:58:16,910 --> 00:58:20,580
- more than a quarter of Democrats saying
- the same thing about the Republicans.
- 1054
- 00:58:20,663 --> 00:58:22,499
- So many of the problems
- that we're discussing,
- 1055
- 00:58:22,582 --> 00:58:24,417
- like, around political polarization
- 1056
- 00:58:24,501 --> 00:58:28,046
- exist in spades on cable television.
- 1057
- 00:58:28,129 --> 00:58:31,007
- The media has this exact same problem,
- 1058
- 00:58:31,090 --> 00:58:33,343
- where their business model, by and large,
- 1059
- 00:58:33,426 --> 00:58:35,762
- is that they're selling our attention
- to advertisers.
- 1060
- 00:58:35,845 --> 00:58:38,890
- And the Internet is just a new,
- even more efficient way to do that.
- 1061
- 00:58:40,141 --> 00:58:44,145
- [Guillaume] At YouTube, I was working
- on YouTube recommendations.
- 1062
- 00:58:44,229 --> 00:58:47,148
- It worries me that an algorithm
- that I worked on
- 1063
- 00:58:47,232 --> 00:58:50,401
- is actually increasing polarization
- in society.
- 1064
- 00:58:50,485 --> 00:58:53,112
- But from the point of view of watch time,
- 1065
- 00:58:53,196 --> 00:58:57,617
- this polarization is extremely efficient
- at keeping people online.
- 1066
- 00:58:58,785 --> 00:59:00,870
- <i>The only reason</i>
- <i>these teachers are teaching this stuff</i>
- 1067
- 00:59:00,954 --> 00:59:02,288
- <i>is 'cause they're getting paid to.</i>
- 1068
- 00:59:02,372 --> 00:59:04,374
- <i>-It's absolutely absurd.</i>
- -[Cass] Hey, Benji.
- 1069
- 00:59:04,916 --> 00:59:06,292
- No soccer practice today?
- 1070
- 00:59:06,376 --> 00:59:08,795
- Oh, there is. I'm just catching up
- on some news stuff.
- 1071
- 00:59:08,878 --> 00:59:11,506
- [vlogger] <i>Do research. Anything</i>
- <i>that sways from the Extreme Center--</i>
- 1072
- 00:59:11,589 --> 00:59:14,008
- Wouldn't exactly call the stuff
- that you're watching news.
- 1073
- 00:59:15,552 --> 00:59:18,846
- You're always talking about how messed up
- everything is. So are they.
- 1074
- 00:59:19,305 --> 00:59:21,140
- But that stuff is just propaganda.
- 1075
- 00:59:21,224 --> 00:59:24,060
- [vlogger] <i>Neither is true.</i>
- <i>It's all about what makes sense.</i>
- 1076
- 00:59:24,769 --> 00:59:26,938
- Ben, I'm serious.
- That stuff is bad for you.
- 1077
- 00:59:27,021 --> 00:59:29,232
- -You should go to soccer practice.
- -[Ben] Mm.
- 1078
- 00:59:31,109 --> 00:59:31,943
- [Cass sighs]
- 1079
- 00:59:35,154 --> 00:59:37,490
- <i>I share this stuff because I care.</i>
- 1080
- 00:59:37,574 --> 00:59:41,077
- <i>I care that you are being misled,</i>
- <i>and it's not okay. All right?</i>
- 1081
- 00:59:41,160 --> 00:59:43,121
- [Guillaume] People think
- the algorithm is designed
- 1082
- 00:59:43,204 --> 00:59:46,833
- to give them what they really want,
- only it's not.
- 1083
- 00:59:46,916 --> 00:59:52,589
- The algorithm is actually trying to find
- a few rabbit holes that are very powerful,
- 1084
- 00:59:52,672 --> 00:59:56,217
- trying to find which rabbit hole
- is the closest to your interest.
- 1085
- 00:59:56,301 --> 00:59:59,262
- And then if you start watching
- one of those videos,
- 1086
- 00:59:59,846 --> 01:00:02,223
- then it will recommend it
- over and over again.
- 1087
- 01:00:02,682 --> 01:00:04,934
- It's not like anybody wants this
- to happen.
- 1088
- 01:00:05,018 --> 01:00:07,812
- It's just that this is
- what the recommendation system is doing.
- 1089
- 01:00:07,895 --> 01:00:10,815
- So much so that Kyrie Irving,
- the famous basketball player,
- 1090
- 01:00:11,065 --> 01:00:14,235
- uh, said he believed the Earth was flat,
- and he apologized later
- 1091
- 01:00:14,319 --> 01:00:16,154
- because he blamed it
- on a YouTube rabbit hole.
- 1092
- 01:00:16,487 --> 01:00:18,656
- You know, like,
- you click the YouTube click
- 1093
- 01:00:18,740 --> 01:00:21,534
- and it goes, like,
- how deep the rabbit hole goes.
- 1094
- 01:00:21,618 --> 01:00:23,369
- When he later came on to NPR to say,
- 1095
- 01:00:23,453 --> 01:00:25,955
- "I'm sorry for believing this.
- I didn't want to mislead people,"
- 1096
- 01:00:26,039 --> 01:00:28,291
- a bunch of students in a classroom
- were interviewed saying,
- 1097
- 01:00:28,374 --> 01:00:29,667
- "The round-Earthers got to him."
- 1098
- 01:00:29,751 --> 01:00:30,960
- [audience chuckles]
- 1099
- 01:00:31,044 --> 01:00:33,963
- The flat-Earth conspiracy theory
- was recommended
- 1100
- 01:00:34,047 --> 01:00:37,634
- hundreds of millions of times
- by the algorithm.
- 1101
- 01:00:37,717 --> 01:00:43,890
- It's easy to think that it's just
- a few stupid people who get convinced,
- 1102
- 01:00:43,973 --> 01:00:46,893
- but the algorithm is getting smarter
- and smarter every day.
- 1103
- 01:00:46,976 --> 01:00:50,188
- So, today, they are convincing the people
- that the Earth is flat,
- 1104
- 01:00:50,271 --> 01:00:53,983
- but tomorrow, they will be convincing <i>you</i>
- of something that's false.
- 1105
- 01:00:54,317 --> 01:00:57,820
- [reporter] <i>On November 7th,</i>
- <i>the hashtag "Pizzagate" was born.</i>
- 1106
- 01:00:57,904 --> 01:00:59,197
- [Renée] Pizzagate...
- 1107
- 01:01:00,114 --> 01:01:01,449
- [clicks tongue] Oh, boy.
- 1108
- 01:01:01,532 --> 01:01:02,533
- Uh... [laughs]
- 1109
- 01:01:03,159 --> 01:01:06,913
- I still am not 100 percent sure
- how this originally came about,
- 1110
- 01:01:06,996 --> 01:01:12,377
- but the idea that ordering a pizza
- meant ordering a trafficked person.
- 1111
- 01:01:12,460 --> 01:01:15,046
- As the groups got bigger on Facebook,
- 1112
- 01:01:15,129 --> 01:01:19,967
- Facebook's recommendation engine
- started suggesting to regular users
- 1113
- 01:01:20,051 --> 01:01:21,761
- that they join Pizzagate groups.
- 1114
- 01:01:21,844 --> 01:01:27,392
- So, if a user was, for example,
- anti-vaccine or believed in chemtrails
- 1115
- 01:01:27,475 --> 01:01:30,645
- or had indicated to Facebook's algorithms
- in some way
- 1116
- 01:01:30,728 --> 01:01:33,398
- that they were prone to belief
- in conspiracy theories,
- 1117
- 01:01:33,481 --> 01:01:36,859
- Facebook's recommendation engine
- would serve them Pizzagate groups.
- 1118
- 01:01:36,943 --> 01:01:41,072
- Eventually, this culminated in
- a man showing up with a gun,
- 1119
- 01:01:41,155 --> 01:01:44,617
- deciding that he was gonna go liberate
- the children from the basement
- 1120
- 01:01:44,701 --> 01:01:46,911
- of the pizza place
- that did not have a basement.
- 1121
- 01:01:46,994 --> 01:01:48,538
- [officer 1] What were you doing?
- 1122
- 01:01:48,871 --> 01:01:50,498
- [man] Making sure
- there was nothing there.
- 1123
- 01:01:50,581 --> 01:01:52,458
- -[officer 1] Regarding?
- -[man] Pedophile ring.
- 1124
- 01:01:52,542 --> 01:01:54,293
- -[officer 1] What?
- -[man] Pedophile ring.
- 1125
- 01:01:54,377 --> 01:01:55,962
- [officer 2] He's talking about Pizzagate.
- 1126
- 01:01:56,045 --> 01:02:00,216
- This is an example of a conspiracy theory
- 1127
- 01:02:00,299 --> 01:02:03,678
- that was propagated
- across all social networks.
- 1128
- 01:02:03,761 --> 01:02:06,097
- The social network's
- own recommendation engine
- 1129
- 01:02:06,180 --> 01:02:07,974
- is voluntarily serving this up to people
- 1130
- 01:02:08,057 --> 01:02:10,643
- who had never searched
- for the term "Pizzagate" in their life.
- 1131
- 01:02:12,437 --> 01:02:14,439
- [Tristan] There's a study, an MIT study,
- 1132
- 01:02:14,522 --> 01:02:19,819
- that fake news on Twitter spreads
- six times faster than true news.
- 1133
- 01:02:19,902 --> 01:02:21,863
- What is that world gonna look like
- 1134
- 01:02:21,946 --> 01:02:24,741
- when one has a six-times advantage
- to the other one?
- 1135
- 01:02:25,283 --> 01:02:27,660
- You can imagine
- these things are sort of like...
- 1136
- 01:02:27,744 --> 01:02:31,706
- they... they tilt the floor
- of... of human behavior.
- 1137
- 01:02:31,789 --> 01:02:34,709
- They make some behavior harder
- and some easier.
- 1138
- 01:02:34,792 --> 01:02:37,420
- And you're always free
- to walk up the hill,
- 1139
- 01:02:37,503 --> 01:02:38,796
- but fewer people do,
- 1140
- 01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:43,092
- and so, at scale, at society's scale,
- you really are just tilting the floor
- 1141
- 01:02:43,176 --> 01:02:45,970
- and changing what billions of people think
- and do.
- 1142
- 01:02:46,053 --> 01:02:52,018
- We've created a system
- that biases towards false information.
- 1143
- 01:02:52,643 --> 01:02:54,437
- Not because we want to,
- 1144
- 01:02:54,520 --> 01:02:58,816
- but because false information makes
- the companies more money
- 1145
- 01:02:59,400 --> 01:03:01,319
- than the truth. The truth is boring.
- 1146
- 01:03:01,986 --> 01:03:04,489
- It's a disinformation-for-profit
- business model.
- 1147
- 01:03:04,906 --> 01:03:08,159
- You make money the more you allow
- unregulated messages
- 1148
- 01:03:08,701 --> 01:03:11,287
- to reach anyone for the best price.
- 1149
- 01:03:11,662 --> 01:03:13,956
- <i>Because climate change? Yeah.</i>
- 1150
- 01:03:14,040 --> 01:03:16,751
- <i>It's a hoax. Yeah, it's real.</i>
- <i>That's the point.</i>
- 1151
- 01:03:16,834 --> 01:03:20,046
- <i>The more they talk about it</i>
- <i>and the more they divide us,</i>
- 1152
- 01:03:20,129 --> 01:03:22,423
- <i>the more they have the power,</i>
- <i>the more...</i>
- 1153
- 01:03:22,507 --> 01:03:25,468
- [Tristan] Facebook has trillions
- of these news feed posts.
- 1154
- 01:03:26,552 --> 01:03:29,180
- They can't know what's real
- or what's true...
- 1155
- 01:03:29,972 --> 01:03:33,726
- which is why this conversation
- is so critical right now.
- 1156
- 01:03:33,810 --> 01:03:37,021
- [reporter 1] <i>It's not just COVID-19</i>
- <i>that's spreading fast.</i>
- 1157
- 01:03:37,104 --> 01:03:40,191
- <i>There's a flow of misinformation online</i>
- <i>about the virus.</i>
- 1158
- 01:03:40,274 --> 01:03:41,818
- [reporter 2]<i> The notion</i>
- <i>drinking water</i>
- 1159
- 01:03:41,901 --> 01:03:43,694
- <i>will flush coronavirus from your system</i>
- 1160
- 01:03:43,778 --> 01:03:47,490
- <i>is one of several myths about the virus</i>
- <i>circulating on social media.</i>
- 1161
- 01:03:47,573 --> 01:03:50,451
- [automated voice] <i>The government planned</i>
- <i>this event, created the virus,</i>
- 1162
- 01:03:50,535 --> 01:03:53,621
- <i>and had a simulation</i>
- <i>of how the countries would react.</i>
- 1163
- 01:03:53,955 --> 01:03:55,581
- Coronavirus is a... a hoax.
- 1164
- 01:03:56,165 --> 01:03:57,959
- [man] SARS, coronavirus.
- 1165
- 01:03:58,376 --> 01:04:01,045
- And look at when it was made. 2018.
- 1166
- 01:04:01,128 --> 01:04:03,798
- I think the US government started
- this shit.
- 1167
- 01:04:04,215 --> 01:04:09,095
- Nobody is sick. Nobody is sick.
- Nobody knows anybody who's sick.
- 1168
- 01:04:09,512 --> 01:04:13,015
- Maybe the government is using
- the coronavirus as an excuse
- 1169
- 01:04:13,099 --> 01:04:15,643
- to get everyone to stay inside
- because something else is happening.
- 1170
- 01:04:15,726 --> 01:04:18,020
- Coronavirus is not killing people,
- 1171
- 01:04:18,104 --> 01:04:20,940
- it's the 5G radiation
- that they're pumping out.
- 1172
- 01:04:21,023 --> 01:04:22,525
- [crowd shouting]
- 1173
- 01:04:22,608 --> 01:04:24,944
- [Tristan]
- <i>We're being bombarded with rumors.</i>
- 1174
- 01:04:25,403 --> 01:04:28,823
- <i>People are blowing up</i>
- <i>actual physical cell phone towers.</i>
- 1175
- 01:04:28,906 --> 01:04:32,201
- <i>We see Russia and China spreading rumors</i>
- <i>and conspiracy theories.</i>
- 1176
- 01:04:32,285 --> 01:04:35,246
- [reporter 3] <i>This morning,</i>
- <i>panic and protest in Ukraine as...</i>
- 1177
- 01:04:35,329 --> 01:04:38,916
- [Tristan] <i>People have no idea what's true,</i>
- <i>and now it's a matter of life and death.</i>
- 1178
- 01:04:39,876 --> 01:04:42,628
- [woman] Those sources that are spreading
- coronavirus misinformation
- 1179
- 01:04:42,712 --> 01:04:45,798
- have amassed
- something like 52 million engagements.
- 1180
- 01:04:45,882 --> 01:04:50,094
- You're saying that silver solution
- would be effective.
- 1181
- 01:04:50,177 --> 01:04:54,140
- Well, let's say it hasn't been tested
- on this strain of the coronavirus, but...
- 1182
- 01:04:54,223 --> 01:04:57,226
- [Tristan] <i>What we're seeing with COVID</i>
- <i>is just an extreme version</i>
- 1183
- 01:04:57,310 --> 01:05:00,521
- <i>of what's happening</i>
- <i>across our information ecosystem.</i>
- 1184
- 01:05:00,938 --> 01:05:05,026
- <i>Social media amplifies exponential gossip</i>
- <i>and exponential hearsay</i>
- 1185
- 01:05:05,109 --> 01:05:07,111
- <i>to the point</i>
- <i>that we don't know what's true,</i>
- 1186
- 01:05:07,194 --> 01:05:08,946
- <i>no matter what issue we care about.</i>
- 1187
- 01:05:15,161 --> 01:05:16,579
- [teacher] He discovers this.
- 1188
- 01:05:16,662 --> 01:05:18,664
- [continues lecturing indistinctly]
- 1189
- 01:05:19,874 --> 01:05:21,292
- [Rebecca whispers] Ben.
- 1190
- 01:05:26,130 --> 01:05:28,257
- -Are you still on the team?
- -[Ben] Mm-hmm.
- 1191
- 01:05:30,384 --> 01:05:32,678
- [Rebecca] Okay, well,
- I'm gonna get a snack before practice
- 1192
- 01:05:32,762 --> 01:05:34,430
- if you... wanna come.
- 1193
- 01:05:35,640 --> 01:05:36,515
- [Ben] Hm?
- 1194
- 01:05:36,974 --> 01:05:38,601
- [Rebecca] You know, never mind.
- 1195
- 01:05:38,684 --> 01:05:40,686
- [footsteps fading]
- 1196
- 01:05:45,066 --> 01:05:47,526
- [vlogger] <i>Nine out of ten people</i>
- <i>are dissatisfied right now.</i>
- 1197
- 01:05:47,610 --> 01:05:50,613
- <i>The EC is like any political movement</i>
- <i>in history, when you think about it.</i>
- 1198
- 01:05:50,696 --> 01:05:54,492
- <i>We are standing up, and we are...</i>
- <i>we are standing up to this noise.</i>
- 1199
- 01:05:54,575 --> 01:05:57,036
- <i>You are my people. I trust you guys.</i>
- 1200
- 01:05:59,246 --> 01:06:02,583
- -The Extreme Center content is brilliant.
- <i>-</i>He absolutely loves it.
- 1201
- 01:06:02,667 --> 01:06:03,626
- Running an auction.
- 1202
- 01:06:04,627 --> 01:06:08,547
- 840 bidders. He sold for 4.35 cents
- to a weapons manufacturer.
- 1203
- 01:06:08,631 --> 01:06:10,800
- Let's promote some of these events.
- 1204
- 01:06:10,883 --> 01:06:13,511
- Upcoming rallies in his geographic zone
- later this week.
- 1205
- 01:06:13,594 --> 01:06:15,179
- I've got a new vlogger lined up, too.
- 1206
- 01:06:15,262 --> 01:06:16,263
- [chuckles]
- 1207
- 01:06:17,765 --> 01:06:22,979
- <i>And... and, honestly, I'm telling you,</i>
- <i>I'm willing to do whatever it takes.</i>
- 1208
- 01:06:23,062 --> 01:06:24,939
- <i>And I mean whatever.</i>
- 1209
- 01:06:32,154 --> 01:06:33,197
- <i>-Subscribe...</i>
- -[Cass] Ben?
- 1210
- 01:06:33,280 --> 01:06:35,908
- <i>...and also come back</i>
- <i>because I'm telling you, yo...</i>
- 1211
- 01:06:35,992 --> 01:06:38,869
- -[knocking on door]
- <i>-...I got some real big things comin'.</i>
- 1212
- 01:06:38,953 --> 01:06:40,162
- <i>Some real big things.</i>
- 1213
- 01:06:40,788 --> 01:06:45,292
- [Roger] One of the problems with Facebook
- is that, as a tool of persuasion,
- 1214
- 01:06:45,793 --> 01:06:47,920
- it may be the greatest thing ever created.
- 1215
- 01:06:48,004 --> 01:06:52,508
- Now, imagine what that means in the hands
- of a dictator or an authoritarian.
- 1216
- 01:06:53,718 --> 01:06:57,638
- If you want to control the population
- of your country,
- 1217
- 01:06:57,722 --> 01:07:01,308
- there has never been a tool
- as effective as Facebook.
- 1218
- 01:07:04,937 --> 01:07:07,398
- [Cynthia]
- Some of the most troubling implications
- 1219
- 01:07:07,481 --> 01:07:10,985
- of governments and other bad actors
- weaponizing social media,
- 1220
- 01:07:11,235 --> 01:07:13,612
- um, is that it has led
- to real, offline harm.
- 1221
- 01:07:13,696 --> 01:07:15,072
- I think the most prominent example
- 1222
- 01:07:15,156 --> 01:07:17,658
- that's gotten a lot of press
- is what's happened in Myanmar.
- 1223
- 01:07:19,243 --> 01:07:21,203
- In Myanmar,
- when people think of the Internet,
- 1224
- 01:07:21,287 --> 01:07:22,913
- what they are thinking about is Facebook.
- 1225
- 01:07:22,997 --> 01:07:25,916
- And what often happens is
- when people buy their cell phone,
- 1226
- 01:07:26,000 --> 01:07:29,920
- the cell phone shop owner will actually
- preload Facebook on there for them
- 1227
- 01:07:30,004 --> 01:07:31,505
- and open an account for them.
- 1228
- 01:07:31,589 --> 01:07:34,884
- And so when people get their phone,
- the first thing they open
- 1229
- 01:07:34,967 --> 01:07:37,595
- and the only thing they know how to open
- is Facebook.
- 1230
- 01:07:38,179 --> 01:07:41,891
- Well, a new bombshell investigation
- exposes Facebook's growing struggle
- 1231
- 01:07:41,974 --> 01:07:43,809
- to tackle hate speech in Myanmar.
- 1232
- 01:07:43,893 --> 01:07:46,020
- [crowd shouting]
- 1233
- 01:07:46,103 --> 01:07:49,190
- Facebook really gave the military
- and other bad actors
- 1234
- 01:07:49,273 --> 01:07:51,776
- a new way to manipulate public opinion
- 1235
- 01:07:51,859 --> 01:07:55,529
- and to help incite violence
- against the Rohingya Muslims
- 1236
- 01:07:55,613 --> 01:07:57,406
- that included mass killings,
- 1237
- 01:07:58,115 --> 01:07:59,867
- burning of entire villages,
- 1238
- 01:07:59,950 --> 01:08:03,704
- mass rape, and other serious crimes
- against humanity
- 1239
- 01:08:03,788 --> 01:08:04,955
- that have now led
- 1240
- 01:08:05,039 --> 01:08:08,209
- to 700,000 Rohingya Muslims
- having to flee the country.
- 1241
- 01:08:11,170 --> 01:08:14,799
- It's not
- that highly motivated propagandists
- 1242
- 01:08:14,882 --> 01:08:16,550
- haven't existed before.
- 1243
- 01:08:16,634 --> 01:08:19,761
- It's that the platforms make it possible
- 1244
- 01:08:19,845 --> 01:08:23,724
- to spread manipulative narratives
- with phenomenal ease,
- 1245
- 01:08:23,808 --> 01:08:25,434
- and without very much money.
- 1246
- 01:08:25,518 --> 01:08:27,812
- If I want to manipulate an election,
- 1247
- 01:08:27,895 --> 01:08:30,564
- I can now go into
- a conspiracy theory group on Facebook,
- 1248
- 01:08:30,648 --> 01:08:32,233
- and I can find 100 people
- 1249
- 01:08:32,316 --> 01:08:34,443
- who believe
- that the Earth is completely flat
- 1250
- 01:08:34,859 --> 01:08:37,779
- and think it's all this conspiracy theory
- that we landed on the moon,
- 1251
- 01:08:37,863 --> 01:08:41,450
- and I can tell Facebook,
- "Give me 1,000 users who look like that."
- 1252
- 01:08:42,118 --> 01:08:46,080
- Facebook will happily send me
- thousands of users that look like them
- 1253
- 01:08:46,162 --> 01:08:49,250
- that I can now hit
- with more conspiracy theories.
- 1254
- 01:08:50,376 --> 01:08:53,087
- -[button clicks]
- -Sold for 3.4 cents an impression.
- 1255
- 01:08:53,379 --> 01:08:56,381
- -New EC video to promote.
- -[Advertising AI] Another ad teed up.
- 1256
- 01:08:58,509 --> 01:09:00,928
- [Justin] Algorithms
- and manipulative politicians
- 1257
- 01:09:01,011 --> 01:09:02,138
- are becoming so expert
- 1258
- 01:09:02,220 --> 01:09:04,055
- at learning how to trigger us,
- 1259
- 01:09:04,140 --> 01:09:08,352
- getting so good at creating fake news
- that we absorb as if it were reality,
- 1260
- 01:09:08,435 --> 01:09:10,813
- and confusing us into believing
- those lies.
- 1261
- 01:09:10,895 --> 01:09:12,606
- It's as though we have
- less and less control
- 1262
- 01:09:12,689 --> 01:09:14,149
- over who we are and what we believe.
- 1263
- 01:09:14,233 --> 01:09:16,234
- [ominous instrumental music playing]
- 1264
- 01:09:31,375 --> 01:09:32,835
- [vlogger] <i>...so they can pick sides.</i>
- 1265
- 01:09:32,917 --> 01:09:34,879
- <i>There's lies here,</i>
- <i>and there's lies over there.</i>
- 1266
- 01:09:34,962 --> 01:09:36,337
- <i>So they can keep the power,</i>
- 1267
- 01:09:36,421 --> 01:09:39,966
- <i>-so they can control everything.</i>
- -[police siren blaring]
- 1268
- 01:09:40,050 --> 01:09:42,553
- [vlogger] <i>They can control our minds,</i>
- 1269
- 01:09:42,636 --> 01:09:46,390
- <i>-so that they can keep their secrets.</i>
- -[crowd chanting]
- 1270
- 01:09:48,517 --> 01:09:50,895
- [Tristan] Imagine a world
- where no one believes anything true.
- 1271
- 01:09:52,897 --> 01:09:55,649
- Everyone believes
- the government's lying to them.
- 1272
- 01:09:56,317 --> 01:09:58,444
- Everything is a conspiracy theory.
- 1273
- 01:09:58,527 --> 01:10:01,197
- "I shouldn't trust anyone.
- I hate the other side."
- 1274
- 01:10:01,280 --> 01:10:02,698
- That's where all this is heading.
- 1275
- 01:10:02,781 --> 01:10:06,160
- The political earthquakes in Europe
- continue to rumble.
- 1276
- 01:10:06,243 --> 01:10:08,412
- This time, in Italy and Spain.
- 1277
- 01:10:08,495 --> 01:10:11,999
- [reporter] <i>Overall, Europe's traditional,</i>
- <i>centrist coalition lost its majority</i>
- 1278
- 01:10:12,082 --> 01:10:15,002
- <i>while far right</i>
- <i>and far left populist parties made gains.</i>
- 1279
- 01:10:15,085 --> 01:10:16,086
- [man shouts]
- 1280
- 01:10:16,170 --> 01:10:17,504
- [crowd chanting]
- 1281
- 01:10:19,757 --> 01:10:20,591
- Back up.
- 1282
- 01:10:21,300 --> 01:10:22,509
- -[radio beeps]
- -Okay, let's go.
- 1283
- 01:10:24,845 --> 01:10:26,847
- [police siren wailing]
- 1284
- 01:10:28,390 --> 01:10:31,268
- [reporter] <i>These accounts</i>
- <i>were deliberately, specifically attempting</i>
- 1285
- 01:10:31,352 --> 01:10:34,355
- <i>-to sow political discord in Hong Kong.</i>
- -[crowd shouting]
- 1286
- 01:10:36,440 --> 01:10:37,399
- [sighs]
- 1287
- 01:10:38,609 --> 01:10:40,361
- -All right, Ben.
- -[car doors lock]
- 1288
- 01:10:42,863 --> 01:10:45,032
- What does it look like to be a country
- 1289
- 01:10:45,115 --> 01:10:48,410
- that's entire diet is Facebook
- and social media?
- 1290
- 01:10:48,953 --> 01:10:50,871
- Democracy crumbled quickly.
- 1291
- 01:10:50,955 --> 01:10:51,830
- Six months.
- 1292
- 01:10:51,914 --> 01:10:53,791
- [reporter 1] <i>After that chaos in Chicago,</i>
- 1293
- 01:10:53,874 --> 01:10:57,086
- <i>violent clashes between protesters</i>
- <i>and supporters...</i>
- 1294
- 01:10:58,003 --> 01:11:01,632
- [reporter 2] <i>Democracy is facing</i>
- <i>a crisis of confidence.</i>
- 1295
- 01:11:01,715 --> 01:11:04,343
- What we're seeing is a global assault
- on democracy.
- 1296
- 01:11:04,426 --> 01:11:05,427
- [crowd shouting]
- 1297
- 01:11:05,511 --> 01:11:07,930
- [Renée] Most of the countries
- that are targeted are countries
- 1298
- 01:11:08,013 --> 01:11:09,723
- that run democratic elections.
- 1299
- 01:11:10,641 --> 01:11:12,518
- [Tristan] This is happening at scale.
- 1300
- 01:11:12,601 --> 01:11:15,562
- By state actors,
- by people with millions of dollars saying,
- 1301
- 01:11:15,646 --> 01:11:18,524
- "I wanna destabilize Kenya.
- I wanna destabilize Cameroon.
- 1302
- 01:11:18,607 --> 01:11:20,651
- Oh, Angola? That only costs this much."
- 1303
- 01:11:20,734 --> 01:11:23,362
- [reporter] <i>An extraordinary election</i>
- <i>took place Sunday in Brazil.</i>
- 1304
- 01:11:23,445 --> 01:11:25,823
- With a campaign that's been powered
- by social media.
- 1305
- 01:11:25,906 --> 01:11:29,702
- [crowd chanting in Portuguese]
- 1306
- 01:11:31,036 --> 01:11:33,956
- [Tristan] We in the tech industry
- have created the tools
- 1307
- 01:11:34,039 --> 01:11:37,418
- to destabilize
- and erode the fabric of society
- 1308
- 01:11:37,501 --> 01:11:40,254
- in every country, all at once, everywhere.
- 1309
- 01:11:40,337 --> 01:11:44,508
- You have this in Germany, Spain, France,
- Brazil, Australia.
- 1310
- 01:11:44,591 --> 01:11:47,261
- Some of the most "developed nations"
- in the world
- 1311
- 01:11:47,344 --> 01:11:49,221
- are now imploding on each other,
- 1312
- 01:11:49,305 --> 01:11:50,931
- and what do they have in common?
- 1313
- 01:11:51,974 --> 01:11:52,975
- Knowing what you know now,
- 1314
- 01:11:53,058 --> 01:11:56,312
- do you believe Facebook impacted
- the results of the 2016 election?
- 1315
- 01:11:56,770 --> 01:11:58,814
- [Mark Zuckerberg]
- Oh, that's... that is hard.
- 1316
- 01:11:58,897 --> 01:12:00,691
- You know, it's... the...
- 1317
- 01:12:01,275 --> 01:12:04,653
- the reality is, well, there
- were so many different forces at play.
- 1318
- 01:12:04,737 --> 01:12:07,865
- Representatives from Facebook, Twitter,
- and Google are back on Capitol Hill
- 1319
- 01:12:07,948 --> 01:12:09,450
- for a second day of testimony
- 1320
- 01:12:09,533 --> 01:12:12,578
- about Russia's interference
- in the 2016 election.
- 1321
- 01:12:12,661 --> 01:12:17,291
- The manipulation
- by third parties is not a hack.
- 1322
- 01:12:18,500 --> 01:12:21,462
- Right? The Russians didn't hack Facebook.
- 1323
- 01:12:21,545 --> 01:12:24,965
- What they did was they used the tools
- that Facebook created
- 1324
- 01:12:25,049 --> 01:12:27,843
- for legitimate advertisers
- and legitimate users,
- 1325
- 01:12:27,926 --> 01:12:30,346
- and they applied it
- to a nefarious purpose.
- 1326
- 01:12:32,014 --> 01:12:34,391
- [Tristan]
- It's like remote-control warfare.
- 1327
- 01:12:34,475 --> 01:12:36,602
- One country can manipulate another one
- 1328
- 01:12:36,685 --> 01:12:39,229
- without actually invading
- its physical borders.
- 1329
- 01:12:39,605 --> 01:12:42,232
- [reporter 1] <i>We're seeing violent images.</i>
- <i>It appears to be a dumpster</i>
- 1330
- 01:12:42,316 --> 01:12:43,317
- <i>being pushed around...</i>
- 1331
- 01:12:43,400 --> 01:12:46,028
- [Tristan] But it wasn't
- about who you wanted to vote for.
- 1332
- 01:12:46,362 --> 01:12:50,574
- It was about sowing total chaos
- and division in society.
- 1333
- 01:12:50,657 --> 01:12:53,035
- [reporter 2] <i>Now,</i>
- <i>this was in Huntington Beach. A march...</i>
- 1334
- 01:12:53,118 --> 01:12:54,870
- [Tristan] It's about making two sides
- 1335
- 01:12:54,953 --> 01:12:56,413
- who couldn't hear each other anymore,
- 1336
- 01:12:56,497 --> 01:12:58,123
- who didn't want to hear each other
- anymore,
- 1337
- 01:12:58,207 --> 01:12:59,875
- who didn't trust each other anymore.
- 1338
- 01:12:59,958 --> 01:13:03,212
- [reporter 3] <i>This is a city</i>
- <i>where hatred was laid bare</i>
- 1339
- 01:13:03,295 --> 01:13:05,464
- <i>and transformed into racial violence.</i>
- 1340
- 01:13:05,547 --> 01:13:07,549
- [crowd shouting]
- 1341
- 01:13:09,009 --> 01:13:11,178
- [indistinct shouting]
- 1342
- 01:13:12,471 --> 01:13:14,014
- [men grunting]
- 1343
- 01:13:17,851 --> 01:13:20,062
- [police siren blaring]
- 1344
- 01:13:20,145 --> 01:13:20,979
- [Cass] Ben!
- 1345
- 01:13:21,605 --> 01:13:22,439
- Cassandra!
- 1346
- 01:13:22,981 --> 01:13:23,816
- -Cass!
- -Ben!
- 1347
- 01:13:23,899 --> 01:13:25,484
- [officer 1] Come here! Come here!
- 1348
- 01:13:27,486 --> 01:13:31,156
- Arms up. Arms up.
- Get down on your knees. Now, down.
- 1349
- 01:13:31,240 --> 01:13:32,491
- [crowd continues shouting]
- 1350
- 01:13:36,120 --> 01:13:37,204
- -[officer 2] Calm--
- -Ben!
- 1351
- 01:13:37,287 --> 01:13:38,664
- [officer 2] Hey! Hands up!
- 1352
- 01:13:39,623 --> 01:13:41,750
- Turn around. On the ground. On the ground!
- 1353
- 01:13:43,710 --> 01:13:46,463
- -[crowd echoing]
- -[melancholy piano music playing]
- 1354
- 01:13:51,969 --> 01:13:54,388
- [siren continues wailing]
- 1355
- 01:13:56,723 --> 01:14:00,018
- [Tristan] Do we want this system for sale
- to the highest bidder?
- 1356
- 01:14:01,437 --> 01:14:05,399
- For democracy to be completely for sale,
- where you can reach any mind you want,
- 1357
- 01:14:05,482 --> 01:14:09,069
- target a lie to that specific population,
- and create culture wars?
- 1358
- 01:14:09,236 --> 01:14:10,237
- Do we want that?
- 1359
- 01:14:14,700 --> 01:14:16,577
- [Marco Rubio] We are a nation of people...
- 1360
- 01:14:16,952 --> 01:14:18,871
- that no longer speak to each other.
- 1361
- 01:14:19,872 --> 01:14:23,000
- We are a nation of people
- who have stopped being friends with people
- 1362
- 01:14:23,083 --> 01:14:25,461
- because of who they voted for
- in the last election.
- 1363
- 01:14:25,878 --> 01:14:28,422
- We are a nation of people
- who have isolated ourselves
- 1364
- 01:14:28,505 --> 01:14:30,966
- to only watch channels
- that tell us that we're right.
- 1365
- 01:14:32,259 --> 01:14:36,597
- My message here today is that tribalism
- is ruining us.
- 1366
- 01:14:37,347 --> 01:14:39,183
- It is tearing our country apart.
- 1367
- 01:14:40,267 --> 01:14:42,811
- It is no way for sane adults to act.
- 1368
- 01:14:43,187 --> 01:14:45,314
- If everyone's entitled to their own facts,
- 1369
- 01:14:45,397 --> 01:14:49,401
- there's really no need for compromise,
- no need for people to come together.
- 1370
- 01:14:49,485 --> 01:14:51,695
- In fact, there's really no need
- for people to interact.
- 1371
- 01:14:52,321 --> 01:14:53,530
- We need to have...
- 1372
- 01:14:53,989 --> 01:14:58,410
- some shared understanding of reality.
- Otherwise, we aren't a country.
- 1373
- 01:14:58,952 --> 01:15:02,998
- So, uh, long-term, the solution here is
- to build more AI tools
- 1374
- 01:15:03,081 --> 01:15:08,128
- that find patterns of people using
- the services that no real person would do.
- 1375
- 01:15:08,212 --> 01:15:11,840
- We are allowing the technologists
- to frame this as a problem
- 1376
- 01:15:11,924 --> 01:15:13,884
- that they're equipped to solve.
- 1377
- 01:15:15,135 --> 01:15:16,470
- That is... That's a lie.
- 1378
- 01:15:17,679 --> 01:15:20,724
- People talk about AI
- as if it will know truth.
- 1379
- 01:15:21,683 --> 01:15:23,685
- AI's not gonna solve these problems.
- 1380
- 01:15:24,269 --> 01:15:27,189
- AI cannot solve the problem of fake news.
- 1381
- 01:15:28,649 --> 01:15:31,026
- Google doesn't have the option of saying,
- 1382
- 01:15:31,109 --> 01:15:36,240
- "Oh, is this conspiracy? Is this truth?"
- Because they don't know what truth is.
- 1383
- 01:15:36,782 --> 01:15:37,783
- They don't have a...
- 1384
- 01:15:37,908 --> 01:15:40,827
- They don't have a proxy for truth
- that's better than a click.
- 1385
- 01:15:41,870 --> 01:15:45,123
- If we don't agree on what is true
- 1386
- 01:15:45,207 --> 01:15:47,584
- or that there is such a thing as truth,
- 1387
- 01:15:48,293 --> 01:15:49,294
- we're toast.
- 1388
- 01:15:49,753 --> 01:15:52,089
- This is the problem
- beneath other problems
- 1389
- 01:15:52,172 --> 01:15:54,424
- because if we can't agree on what's true,
- 1390
- 01:15:55,092 --> 01:15:57,803
- then we can't navigate
- out of any of our problems.
- 1391
- 01:15:57,886 --> 01:16:00,806
- -[ominous instrumental music playing]
- -[console droning]
- 1392
- 01:16:05,435 --> 01:16:07,729
- [Growth AI] We should suggest
- Flat Earth Football Club.
- 1393
- 01:16:07,813 --> 01:16:10,566
- [Engagement AI] Don't show him
- sports updates. He doesn't engage.
- 1394
- 01:16:11,483 --> 01:16:14,027
- [AIs speaking indistinctly]
- 1395
- 01:16:15,696 --> 01:16:17,698
- [music swells]
- 1396
- 01:16:39,886 --> 01:16:42,764
- [Jaron] A lot of people in Silicon Valley
- subscribe to some kind of theory
- 1397
- 01:16:42,848 --> 01:16:45,142
- that we're building
- some global super brain,
- 1398
- 01:16:45,309 --> 01:16:48,020
- and all of our users
- are just interchangeable little neurons,
- 1399
- 01:16:48,103 --> 01:16:49,563
- no one of which is important.
- 1400
- 01:16:50,230 --> 01:16:53,150
- And it subjugates people
- into this weird role
- 1401
- 01:16:53,233 --> 01:16:56,069
- where you're just, like,
- this little computing element
- 1402
- 01:16:56,153 --> 01:16:58,905
- that we're programming
- through our behavior manipulation
- 1403
- 01:16:58,989 --> 01:17:02,367
- for the service of this giant brain,
- and you don't matter.
- 1404
- 01:17:02,451 --> 01:17:04,911
- You're not gonna get paid.
- You're not gonna get acknowledged.
- 1405
- 01:17:04,995 --> 01:17:06,455
- You don't have self-determination.
- 1406
- 01:17:06,538 --> 01:17:09,416
- We'll sneakily just manipulate you
- because you're a computing node,
- 1407
- 01:17:09,499 --> 01:17:12,336
- so we need to program you 'cause that's
- what you do with computing nodes.
- 1408
- 01:17:14,504 --> 01:17:16,506
- [reflective instrumental music playing]
- 1409
- 01:17:20,093 --> 01:17:21,845
- Oh, man. [sighs]
- 1410
- 01:17:21,928 --> 01:17:25,390
- [Tristan] When you think about technology
- and it being an existential threat,
- 1411
- 01:17:25,474 --> 01:17:28,060
- you know, that's a big claim, and...
- 1412
- 01:17:29,603 --> 01:17:33,982
- it's easy to then, in your mind, think,
- "Okay, so, there I am with the phone...
- 1413
- 01:17:35,609 --> 01:17:37,235
- scrolling, clicking, using it.
- 1414
- 01:17:37,319 --> 01:17:39,196
- Like, where's the existential threat?
- 1415
- 01:17:40,280 --> 01:17:41,615
- Okay, there's the supercomputer.
- 1416
- 01:17:41,698 --> 01:17:43,950
- The other side of the screen,
- pointed at my brain,
- 1417
- 01:17:44,409 --> 01:17:47,537
- got me to watch one more video.
- Where's the existential threat?"
- 1418
- 01:17:47,621 --> 01:17:49,623
- [indistinct chatter]
- 1419
- 01:17:54,252 --> 01:17:57,631
- [Tristan] It's not
- about the technology
- 1420
- 01:17:57,714 --> 01:17:59,341
- being the existential threat.
- 1421
- 01:18:03,679 --> 01:18:06,264
- It's the technology's ability
- 1422
- 01:18:06,348 --> 01:18:09,476
- to bring out the worst in society...
- [chuckles]
- 1423
- 01:18:09,559 --> 01:18:13,522
- ...and the worst in society
- being the existential threat.
- 1424
- 01:18:18,819 --> 01:18:20,570
- If technology creates...
- 1425
- 01:18:21,697 --> 01:18:23,115
- mass chaos,
- 1426
- 01:18:23,198 --> 01:18:24,533
- outrage, incivility,
- 1427
- 01:18:24,616 --> 01:18:26,326
- lack of trust in each other,
- 1428
- 01:18:27,452 --> 01:18:30,414
- loneliness, alienation, more polarization,
- 1429
- 01:18:30,706 --> 01:18:33,333
- more election hacking, more populism,
- 1430
- 01:18:33,917 --> 01:18:36,962
- more distraction and inability
- to focus on the real issues...
- 1431
- 01:18:37,963 --> 01:18:39,715
- that's just society. [scoffs]
- 1432
- 01:18:40,340 --> 01:18:46,388
- And now society
- is incapable of healing itself
- 1433
- 01:18:46,471 --> 01:18:48,515
- and just devolving into a kind of chaos.
- 1434
- 01:18:51,977 --> 01:18:54,938
- This affects everyone,
- even if you don't use these products.
- 1435
- 01:18:55,397 --> 01:18:57,524
- These things have become
- digital Frankensteins
- 1436
- 01:18:57,607 --> 01:19:00,068
- that are terraforming the world
- in their image,
- 1437
- 01:19:00,152 --> 01:19:01,862
- whether it's the mental health of children
- 1438
- 01:19:01,945 --> 01:19:04,489
- or our politics
- and our political discourse,
- 1439
- 01:19:04,573 --> 01:19:07,492
- without taking responsibility
- for taking over the public square.
- 1440
- 01:19:07,576 --> 01:19:10,579
- -So, again, it comes back to--
- -And who do you think's responsible?
- 1441
- 01:19:10,662 --> 01:19:13,582
- I think we have
- to have the platforms be responsible
- 1442
- 01:19:13,665 --> 01:19:15,584
- for when they take over
- election advertising,
- 1443
- 01:19:15,667 --> 01:19:17,794
- they're responsible
- for protecting elections.
- 1444
- 01:19:17,878 --> 01:19:20,380
- When they take over mental health of kids
- or Saturday morning,
- 1445
- 01:19:20,464 --> 01:19:22,841
- they're responsible
- for protecting Saturday morning.
- 1446
- 01:19:23,592 --> 01:19:27,929
- The race to keep people's attention
- isn't going away.
- 1447
- 01:19:28,388 --> 01:19:31,850
- Our technology's gonna become
- more integrated into our lives, not less.
- 1448
- 01:19:31,933 --> 01:19:34,895
- The AIs are gonna get better at predicting
- what keeps us on the screen,
- 1449
- 01:19:34,978 --> 01:19:37,105
- not worse at predicting
- what keeps us on the screen.
- 1450
- 01:19:38,940 --> 01:19:42,027
- I... I am 62 years old,
- 1451
- 01:19:42,110 --> 01:19:44,821
- getting older every minute,
- the more this conversation goes on...
- 1452
- 01:19:44,905 --> 01:19:48,033
- -[crowd chuckles]
- -...but... but I will tell you that, um...
- 1453
- 01:19:48,700 --> 01:19:52,370
- I'm probably gonna be dead and gone,
- and I'll probably be thankful for it,
- 1454
- 01:19:52,454 --> 01:19:54,331
- when all this shit comes to fruition.
- 1455
- 01:19:54,790 --> 01:19:59,586
- Because... Because I think
- that this scares me to death.
- 1456
- 01:20:00,754 --> 01:20:03,048
- Do... Do you...
- Do you see it the same way?
- 1457
- 01:20:03,548 --> 01:20:06,885
- Or am I overreacting to a situation
- that I don't know enough about?
- 1458
- 01:20:09,805 --> 01:20:11,598
- [interviewer]
- What are you most worried about?
- 1459
- 01:20:13,850 --> 01:20:18,480
- [sighs] I think,
- in the... in the shortest time horizon...
- 1460
- 01:20:19,523 --> 01:20:20,524
- civil war.
- 1461
- 01:20:24,444 --> 01:20:29,908
- If we go down the current status quo
- for, let's say, another 20 years...
- 1462
- 01:20:31,117 --> 01:20:34,579
- we probably destroy our civilization
- through willful ignorance.
- 1463
- 01:20:34,663 --> 01:20:37,958
- We probably fail to meet the challenge
- of climate change.
- 1464
- 01:20:38,041 --> 01:20:42,087
- We probably degrade
- the world's democracies
- 1465
- 01:20:42,170 --> 01:20:46,132
- so that they fall into some sort
- of bizarre autocratic dysfunction.
- 1466
- 01:20:46,216 --> 01:20:48,426
- We probably ruin the global economy.
- 1467
- 01:20:48,760 --> 01:20:52,264
- Uh, we probably, um, don't survive.
- 1468
- 01:20:52,347 --> 01:20:54,808
- You know,
- I... I really do view it as existential.
- 1469
- 01:20:54,891 --> 01:20:56,893
- [helicopter blades whirring]
- 1470
- 01:21:02,524 --> 01:21:04,985
- [Tristan]
- Is this the last generation of people
- 1471
- 01:21:05,068 --> 01:21:08,488
- that are gonna know what it was like
- before this illusion took place?
- 1472
- 01:21:11,074 --> 01:21:14,578
- Like, how do you wake up from the matrix
- when you don't know you're in the matrix?
- 1473
- 01:21:14,661 --> 01:21:16,538
- [ominous instrumental music playing]
- 1474
- 01:21:27,382 --> 01:21:30,635
- [Tristan] A lot of what we're saying
- sounds like it's just this...
- 1475
- 01:21:31,511 --> 01:21:33,680
- one-sided doom and gloom.
- 1476
- 01:21:33,763 --> 01:21:36,808
- Like, "Oh, my God,
- technology's just ruining the world
- 1477
- 01:21:36,892 --> 01:21:38,059
- and it's ruining kids,"
- 1478
- 01:21:38,143 --> 01:21:40,061
- and it's like... "No." [chuckles]
- 1479
- 01:21:40,228 --> 01:21:44,065
- It's confusing
- because it's simultaneous utopia...
- 1480
- 01:21:44,608 --> 01:21:45,567
- and dystopia.
- 1481
- 01:21:45,942 --> 01:21:50,447
- Like, I could hit a button on my phone,
- and a car shows up in 30 seconds,
- 1482
- 01:21:50,530 --> 01:21:52,699
- and I can go exactly where I need to go.
- 1483
- 01:21:52,782 --> 01:21:55,660
- That is magic. That's amazing.
- 1484
- 01:21:56,161 --> 01:21:57,662
- When we were making the like button,
- 1485
- 01:21:57,746 --> 01:22:01,499
- our entire motivation was, "Can we spread
- positivity and love in the world?"
- 1486
- 01:22:01,583 --> 01:22:05,003
- The idea that, fast-forward to today,
- and teens would be getting depressed
- 1487
- 01:22:05,086 --> 01:22:06,421
- when they don't have enough likes,
- 1488
- 01:22:06,504 --> 01:22:08,632
- or it could be leading
- to political polarization
- 1489
- 01:22:08,715 --> 01:22:09,883
- was nowhere on our radar.
- 1490
- 01:22:09,966 --> 01:22:12,135
- I don't think these guys set out
- to be evil.
- 1491
- 01:22:13,511 --> 01:22:15,764
- It's just the business model
- that has a problem.
- 1492
- 01:22:15,847 --> 01:22:20,226
- You could shut down the service
- and destroy whatever it is--
- 1493
- 01:22:20,310 --> 01:22:24,522
- $20 billion of shareholder value--
- and get sued and...
- 1494
- 01:22:24,606 --> 01:22:27,108
- But you can't, in practice,
- put the genie back in the bottle.
- 1495
- 01:22:27,192 --> 01:22:30,403
- You can make some tweaks,
- but at the end of the day,
- 1496
- 01:22:30,487 --> 01:22:34,032
- you've gotta grow revenue and usage,
- quarter over quarter. It's...
- 1497
- 01:22:34,658 --> 01:22:37,535
- The bigger it gets,
- the harder it is for anyone to change.
- 1498
- 01:22:38,495 --> 01:22:43,458
- What I see is a bunch of people
- who are trapped by a business model,
- 1499
- 01:22:43,541 --> 01:22:46,169
- an economic incentive,
- and shareholder pressure
- 1500
- 01:22:46,252 --> 01:22:48,922
- that makes it almost impossible
- to do something else.
- 1501
- 01:22:49,005 --> 01:22:50,924
- I think we need to accept that it's okay
- 1502
- 01:22:51,007 --> 01:22:53,176
- for companies to be focused
- on making money.
- 1503
- 01:22:53,259 --> 01:22:55,637
- What's not okay
- is when there's no regulation, no rules,
- 1504
- 01:22:55,720 --> 01:22:56,888
- and no competition,
- 1505
- 01:22:56,972 --> 01:23:00,850
- and the companies are acting
- as sort of de facto governments.
- 1506
- 01:23:00,934 --> 01:23:03,353
- And then they're saying,
- "Well, we can regulate ourselves."
- 1507
- 01:23:03,436 --> 01:23:05,981
- I mean, that's just a lie.
- That's just ridiculous.
- 1508
- 01:23:06,064 --> 01:23:08,650
- Financial incentives kind of run
- the world,
- 1509
- 01:23:08,733 --> 01:23:12,529
- so any solution to this problem
- 1510
- 01:23:12,612 --> 01:23:15,573
- has to realign the financial incentives.
- 1511
- 01:23:16,074 --> 01:23:18,785
- There's no fiscal reason
- for these companies to change.
- 1512
- 01:23:18,868 --> 01:23:21,329
- And that is why I think
- we need regulation.
- 1513
- 01:23:21,413 --> 01:23:24,290
- The phone company
- has tons of sensitive data about you,
- 1514
- 01:23:24,374 --> 01:23:27,544
- and we have a lot of laws that make sure
- they don't do the wrong things.
- 1515
- 01:23:27,627 --> 01:23:31,506
- We have almost no laws
- around digital privacy, for example.
- 1516
- 01:23:31,589 --> 01:23:34,426
- We could tax data collection
- and processing
- 1517
- 01:23:34,509 --> 01:23:37,554
- the same way that you, for example,
- pay your water bill
- 1518
- 01:23:37,637 --> 01:23:39,723
- by monitoring the amount of water
- that you use.
- 1519
- 01:23:39,806 --> 01:23:43,226
- You tax these companies on the data assets
- that they have.
- 1520
- 01:23:43,309 --> 01:23:44,769
- It gives them a fiscal reason
- 1521
- 01:23:44,853 --> 01:23:47,856
- to not acquire every piece of data
- on the planet.
- 1522
- 01:23:47,939 --> 01:23:50,567
- The law runs way behind on these things,
- 1523
- 01:23:50,650 --> 01:23:55,864
- but what I know is the current situation
- exists not for the protection of users,
- 1524
- 01:23:55,947 --> 01:23:58,700
- but for the protection
- of the rights and privileges
- 1525
- 01:23:58,783 --> 01:24:01,453
- of these gigantic,
- incredibly wealthy companies.
- 1526
- 01:24:02,245 --> 01:24:05,832
- Are we always gonna defer to the richest,
- most powerful people?
- 1527
- 01:24:05,915 --> 01:24:07,417
- Or are we ever gonna say,
- 1528
- 01:24:07,959 --> 01:24:12,047
- "You know, there are times
- when there is a national interest.
- 1529
- 01:24:12,130 --> 01:24:15,592
- There are times
- when the interests of people, of users,
- 1530
- 01:24:15,675 --> 01:24:17,385
- is actually more important
- 1531
- 01:24:18,011 --> 01:24:21,473
- than the profits of somebody
- who's already a billionaire"?
- 1532
- 01:24:21,556 --> 01:24:26,603
- These markets undermine democracy,
- and they undermine freedom,
- 1533
- 01:24:26,686 --> 01:24:28,521
- and they should be outlawed.
- 1534
- 01:24:29,147 --> 01:24:31,816
- This is not a radical proposal.
- 1535
- 01:24:31,900 --> 01:24:34,194
- There are other markets that we outlaw.
- 1536
- 01:24:34,277 --> 01:24:36,988
- We outlaw markets in human organs.
- 1537
- 01:24:37,072 --> 01:24:39,491
- We outlaw markets in human slaves.
- 1538
- 01:24:39,949 --> 01:24:44,037
- Because they have
- inevitable destructive consequences.
- 1539
- 01:24:44,537 --> 01:24:45,830
- We live in a world
- 1540
- 01:24:45,914 --> 01:24:50,001
- in which a tree is worth more,
- financially, dead than alive,
- 1541
- 01:24:50,085 --> 01:24:53,838
- in a world in which a whale
- is worth more dead than alive.
- 1542
- 01:24:53,922 --> 01:24:56,341
- For so long as our economy works
- in that way
- 1543
- 01:24:56,424 --> 01:24:58,134
- and corporations go unregulated,
- 1544
- 01:24:58,218 --> 01:25:00,678
- they're going to continue
- to destroy trees,
- 1545
- 01:25:00,762 --> 01:25:01,763
- to kill whales,
- 1546
- 01:25:01,846 --> 01:25:06,101
- to mine the earth, and to continue
- to pull oil out of the ground,
- 1547
- 01:25:06,184 --> 01:25:08,394
- even though we know
- it is destroying the planet
- 1548
- 01:25:08,478 --> 01:25:12,148
- and we know that it's going to leave
- a worse world for future generations.
- 1549
- 01:25:12,232 --> 01:25:13,858
- This is short-term thinking
- 1550
- 01:25:13,942 --> 01:25:16,694
- based on this religion of profit
- at all costs,
- 1551
- 01:25:16,778 --> 01:25:20,156
- as if somehow, magically, each corporation
- acting in its selfish interest
- 1552
- 01:25:20,240 --> 01:25:21,950
- is going to produce the best result.
- 1553
- 01:25:22,033 --> 01:25:24,494
- This has been affecting the environment
- for a long time.
- 1554
- 01:25:24,577 --> 01:25:27,288
- What's frightening,
- and what hopefully is the last straw
- 1555
- 01:25:27,372 --> 01:25:29,207
- that will make us wake up
- as a civilization
- 1556
- 01:25:29,290 --> 01:25:31,709
- to how flawed this theory has been
- in the first place
- 1557
- 01:25:31,793 --> 01:25:35,004
- is to see that now we're the tree,
- we're the whale.
- 1558
- 01:25:35,088 --> 01:25:37,048
- Our attention can be mined.
- 1559
- 01:25:37,132 --> 01:25:39,134
- We are more profitable to a corporation
- 1560
- 01:25:39,217 --> 01:25:41,594
- if we're spending time
- staring at a screen,
- 1561
- 01:25:41,678 --> 01:25:42,971
- staring at an ad,
- 1562
- 01:25:43,054 --> 01:25:45,890
- than if we're spending that time
- living our life in a rich way.
- 1563
- 01:25:45,974 --> 01:25:47,559
- And so, we're seeing the results of that.
- 1564
- 01:25:47,642 --> 01:25:50,687
- We're seeing corporations using
- powerful artificial intelligence
- 1565
- 01:25:50,770 --> 01:25:53,648
- to outsmart us and figure out
- how to pull our attention
- 1566
- 01:25:53,731 --> 01:25:55,358
- toward the things they want us to look at,
- 1567
- 01:25:55,441 --> 01:25:57,277
- rather than the things
- that are most consistent
- 1568
- 01:25:57,360 --> 01:25:59,237
- with our goals and our values
- and our lives.
- 1569
- 01:25:59,320 --> 01:26:01,322
- [static crackles]
- 1570
- 01:26:02,991 --> 01:26:04,450
- [crowd cheering]
- 1571
- 01:26:05,535 --> 01:26:06,911
- [Steve Jobs] What a computer is,
- 1572
- 01:26:06,995 --> 01:26:10,290
- is it's the most remarkable tool
- that we've ever come up with.
- 1573
- 01:26:11,124 --> 01:26:13,877
- And it's the equivalent of a bicycle
- for our minds.
- 1574
- 01:26:15,628 --> 01:26:20,091
- The idea of humane technology,
- that's where Silicon Valley got its start.
- 1575
- 01:26:21,050 --> 01:26:25,722
- And we've lost sight of it
- because it became the cool thing to do,
- 1576
- 01:26:25,805 --> 01:26:27,265
- as opposed to the right thing to do.
- 1577
- 01:26:27,348 --> 01:26:29,726
- The Internet was, like,
- a weird, wacky place.
- 1578
- 01:26:29,809 --> 01:26:31,394
- It was experimental.
- 1579
- 01:26:31,477 --> 01:26:34,731
- Creative things happened on the Internet,
- and certainly, they do still,
- 1580
- 01:26:34,814 --> 01:26:38,610
- but, like, it just feels like this,
- like, giant mall. [chuckles]
- 1581
- 01:26:38,693 --> 01:26:42,071
- You know, it's just like, "God,
- there's gotta be...
- 1582
- 01:26:42,155 --> 01:26:44,157
- there's gotta be more to it than that."
- 1583
- 01:26:44,991 --> 01:26:45,992
- [man typing]
- 1584
- 01:26:46,659 --> 01:26:48,411
- [Bailey] I guess I'm just an optimist.
- 1585
- 01:26:48,494 --> 01:26:52,040
- 'Cause I think we can change
- what social media looks like and means.
- 1586
- 01:26:54,083 --> 01:26:56,711
- [Justin] The way the technology works
- is not a law of physics.
- 1587
- 01:26:56,794 --> 01:26:57,921
- It is not set in stone.
- 1588
- 01:26:58,004 --> 01:27:02,175
- These are choices that human beings
- like myself have been making.
- 1589
- 01:27:02,759 --> 01:27:05,345
- And human beings can change
- those technologies.
- 1590
- 01:27:06,971 --> 01:27:09,974
- [Tristan] And the question now is
- whether or not we're willing to admit
- 1591
- 01:27:10,475 --> 01:27:15,438
- that those bad outcomes are coming
- directly as a product of our work.
- 1592
- 01:27:21,027 --> 01:27:24,864
- It's that we built these things,
- and we have a responsibility to change it.
- 1593
- 01:27:28,409 --> 01:27:30,411
- [static crackling]
- 1594
- 01:27:37,085 --> 01:27:38,711
- [Tristan] The attention extraction model
- 1595
- 01:27:38,795 --> 01:27:42,298
- is not how we want to treat
- human beings.
- 1596
- 01:27:45,343 --> 01:27:48,137
- [distorted] Is it just me or...
- 1597
- 01:27:49,722 --> 01:27:51,099
- [distorted] Poor sucker.
- 1598
- 01:27:51,516 --> 01:27:53,226
- [Tristan] The fabric of a healthy society
- 1599
- 01:27:53,309 --> 01:27:56,145
- depends on us getting off
- this corrosive business model.
- 1600
- 01:27:56,938 --> 01:27:58,064
- [console beeps]
- 1601
- 01:27:58,147 --> 01:28:00,149
- [gentle instrumental music playing]
- 1602
- 01:28:01,526 --> 01:28:04,612
- [console whirs, grows quiet]
- 1603
- 01:28:04,696 --> 01:28:08,157
- [Tristan] We can demand
- that these products be designed humanely.
- 1604
- 01:28:09,409 --> 01:28:13,121
- We can demand to not be treated
- as an extractable resource.
- 1605
- 01:28:15,164 --> 01:28:18,334
- The intention could be:
- "How do we make the world better?"
- 1606
- 01:28:20,336 --> 01:28:21,504
- [Jaron] Throughout history,
- 1607
- 01:28:21,587 --> 01:28:23,798
- every single time
- something's gotten better,
- 1608
- 01:28:23,881 --> 01:28:26,342
- it's because somebody has come along
- to say,
- 1609
- 01:28:26,426 --> 01:28:28,428
- "This is stupid. We can do better."
- [laughs]
- 1610
- 01:28:29,178 --> 01:28:32,557
- Like, it's the critics
- that drive improvement.
- 1611
- 01:28:33,141 --> 01:28:35,393
- It's the critics
- who are the true optimists.
- 1612
- 01:28:37,020 --> 01:28:39,147
- [sighs] Hello.
- 1613
- 01:28:42,984 --> 01:28:44,277
- [sighs] Um...
- 1614
- 01:28:46,195 --> 01:28:47,697
- I mean, it seems kind of crazy, right?
- 1615
- 01:28:47,780 --> 01:28:51,534
- It's like the fundamental way
- that this stuff is designed...
- 1616
- 01:28:52,994 --> 01:28:55,163
- isn't going in a good direction.
- [chuckles]
- 1617
- 01:28:55,246 --> 01:28:56,873
- Like, the entire thing.
- 1618
- 01:28:56,956 --> 01:29:00,626
- So, it sounds crazy to say
- we need to change all that,
- 1619
- 01:29:01,169 --> 01:29:02,670
- but that's what we need to do.
- 1620
- 01:29:04,297 --> 01:29:05,923
- [interviewer] Think we're gonna get there?
- 1621
- 01:29:07,383 --> 01:29:08,301
- We have to.
- 1622
- 01:29:14,515 --> 01:29:16,476
- [tense instrumental music playing]
- 1623
- 01:29:20,646 --> 01:29:24,942
- [interviewer] Um,
- it seems like you're very optimistic.
- 1624
- 01:29:26,194 --> 01:29:27,570
- -Is that how I sound?
- -[crew laughs]
- 1625
- 01:29:27,653 --> 01:29:28,905
- [interviewer] Yeah, I mean...
- 1626
- 01:29:28,988 --> 01:29:31,449
- I can't believe you keep saying that,
- because I'm like, "Really?
- 1627
- 01:29:31,532 --> 01:29:33,409
- I feel like we're headed toward dystopia.
- 1628
- 01:29:33,493 --> 01:29:35,328
- I feel like we're on the fast track
- to dystopia,
- 1629
- 01:29:35,411 --> 01:29:37,830
- and it's gonna take a miracle
- to get us out of it."
- 1630
- 01:29:37,914 --> 01:29:40,291
- And that miracle is, of course,
- collective will.
- 1631
- 01:29:41,000 --> 01:29:44,587
- I am optimistic
- that we're going to figure it out,
- 1632
- 01:29:44,670 --> 01:29:47,048
- but I think it's gonna take a long time.
- 1633
- 01:29:47,131 --> 01:29:50,385
- Because not everybody recognizes
- that this is a problem.
- 1634
- 01:29:50,468 --> 01:29:55,890
- I think one of the big failures
- in technology today
- 1635
- 01:29:55,973 --> 01:29:58,643
- is a real failure of leadership,
- 1636
- 01:29:58,726 --> 01:30:01,979
- of, like, people coming out
- and having these open conversations
- 1637
- 01:30:02,063 --> 01:30:05,900
- about things that... not just
- what went well, but what isn't perfect
- 1638
- 01:30:05,983 --> 01:30:08,194
- so that someone can come in
- and build something new.
- 1639
- 01:30:08,277 --> 01:30:10,321
- At the end of the day, you know,
- 1640
- 01:30:10,405 --> 01:30:14,617
- this machine isn't gonna turn around
- until there's massive public pressure.
- 1641
- 01:30:14,700 --> 01:30:18,329
- By having these conversations
- and... and voicing your opinion,
- 1642
- 01:30:18,413 --> 01:30:21,082
- in some cases
- through these very technologies,
- 1643
- 01:30:21,165 --> 01:30:24,252
- we can start to change the tide.
- We can start to change the conversation.
- 1644
- 01:30:24,335 --> 01:30:27,004
- It might sound strange,
- but it's my world. It's my community.
- 1645
- 01:30:27,088 --> 01:30:29,632
- I don't hate them. I don't wanna do
- any harm to Google or Facebook.
- 1646
- 01:30:29,715 --> 01:30:32,885
- I just want to reform them
- so they don't destroy the world. You know?
- 1647
- 01:30:32,969 --> 01:30:35,513
- I've uninstalled a ton of apps
- from my phone
- 1648
- 01:30:35,596 --> 01:30:37,723
- that I felt were just wasting my time.
- 1649
- 01:30:37,807 --> 01:30:40,685
- All the social media apps,
- all the news apps,
- 1650
- 01:30:40,768 --> 01:30:42,520
- and I've turned off notifications
- 1651
- 01:30:42,603 --> 01:30:45,815
- on anything that was vibrating my leg
- with information
- 1652
- 01:30:45,898 --> 01:30:48,943
- that wasn't timely and important to me
- right now.
- 1653
- 01:30:49,026 --> 01:30:51,279
- It's for the same reason
- I don't keep cookies in my pocket.
- 1654
- 01:30:51,362 --> 01:30:53,197
- Reduce the number of notifications
- you get.
- 1655
- 01:30:53,281 --> 01:30:54,449
- Turn off notifications.
- 1656
- 01:30:54,532 --> 01:30:55,950
- Turning off all notifications.
- 1657
- 01:30:56,033 --> 01:30:58,536
- I'm not using Google anymore,
- I'm using Qwant,
- 1658
- 01:30:58,619 --> 01:31:01,497
- which doesn't store your search history.
- 1659
- 01:31:01,581 --> 01:31:04,459
- Never accept a video recommended to you
- on YouTube.
- 1660
- 01:31:04,542 --> 01:31:07,003
- Always choose.
- That's another way to fight.
- 1661
- 01:31:07,086 --> 01:31:12,133
- There are tons of Chrome extensions
- that remove recommendations.
- 1662
- 01:31:12,216 --> 01:31:15,178
- [interviewer] You're recommending
- something to undo what you made.
- 1663
- 01:31:15,261 --> 01:31:16,554
- [laughing] Yep.
- 1664
- 01:31:16,929 --> 01:31:21,642
- Before you share, fact-check,
- consider the source, do that extra Google.
- 1665
- 01:31:21,726 --> 01:31:25,104
- If it seems like it's something designed
- to really push your emotional buttons,
- 1666
- 01:31:25,188 --> 01:31:26,314
- like, it probably is.
- 1667
- 01:31:26,397 --> 01:31:29,025
- Essentially, you vote with your clicks.
- 1668
- 01:31:29,108 --> 01:31:30,359
- If you click on clickbait,
- 1669
- 01:31:30,443 --> 01:31:33,779
- you're creating a financial incentive
- that perpetuates this existing system.
- 1670
- 01:31:33,863 --> 01:31:36,949
- Make sure that you get
- lots of different kinds of information
- 1671
- 01:31:37,033 --> 01:31:37,909
- in your own life.
- 1672
- 01:31:37,992 --> 01:31:40,995
- I follow people on Twitter
- that I disagree with
- 1673
- 01:31:41,078 --> 01:31:44,207
- because I want to be exposed
- to different points of view.
- 1674
- 01:31:44,665 --> 01:31:46,584
- Notice that many people
- in the tech industry
- 1675
- 01:31:46,667 --> 01:31:49,045
- don't give these devices
- to their own children.
- 1676
- 01:31:49,128 --> 01:31:51,047
- My kids don't use social media at all.
- 1677
- 01:31:51,839 --> 01:31:53,549
- [interviewer] Is that a rule,
- or is that a...
- 1678
- 01:31:53,633 --> 01:31:54,509
- That's a rule.
- 1679
- 01:31:55,092 --> 01:31:57,845
- We are zealots about it.
- 1680
- 01:31:57,929 --> 01:31:59,222
- We're... We're crazy.
- 1681
- 01:31:59,305 --> 01:32:05,603
- And we don't let our kids have
- really any screen time.
- 1682
- 01:32:05,686 --> 01:32:08,564
- I've worked out
- what I think are three simple rules, um,
- 1683
- 01:32:08,648 --> 01:32:12,610
- that make life a lot easier for families
- and that are justified by the research.
- 1684
- 01:32:12,693 --> 01:32:15,571
- So, the first rule is
- all devices out of the bedroom
- 1685
- 01:32:15,655 --> 01:32:17,281
- at a fixed time every night.
- 1686
- 01:32:17,365 --> 01:32:20,535
- Whatever the time is, half an hour
- before bedtime, all devices out.
- 1687
- 01:32:20,618 --> 01:32:24,038
- The second rule is no social media
- until high school.
- 1688
- 01:32:24,121 --> 01:32:26,374
- Personally, I think the age should be 16.
- 1689
- 01:32:26,457 --> 01:32:28,960
- Middle school's hard enough.
- Keep it out until high school.
- 1690
- 01:32:29,043 --> 01:32:32,964
- And the third rule is
- work out a time budget with your kid.
- 1691
- 01:32:33,047 --> 01:32:34,757
- And if you talk with them and say,
- 1692
- 01:32:34,840 --> 01:32:37,927
- "Well, how many hours a day
- do you wanna spend on your device?
- 1693
- 01:32:38,010 --> 01:32:39,637
- What do you think is a good amount?"
- 1694
- 01:32:39,720 --> 01:32:41,597
- they'll often say
- something pretty reasonable.
- 1695
- 01:32:42,056 --> 01:32:44,642
- Well, look, I know perfectly well
- 1696
- 01:32:44,725 --> 01:32:48,563
- that I'm not gonna get everybody
- to delete their social media accounts,
- 1697
- 01:32:48,646 --> 01:32:50,439
- but I think I can get a few.
- 1698
- 01:32:50,523 --> 01:32:54,402
- And just getting a few people
- to delete their accounts matters a lot,
- 1699
- 01:32:54,485 --> 01:32:58,406
- and the reason why is that that creates
- the space for a conversation
- 1700
- 01:32:58,489 --> 01:33:00,908
- because I want there to be enough people
- out in the society
- 1701
- 01:33:00,992 --> 01:33:05,204
- who are free of the manipulation engines
- to have a societal conversation
- 1702
- 01:33:05,288 --> 01:33:07,540
- that isn't bounded
- by the manipulation engines.
- 1703
- 01:33:07,623 --> 01:33:10,126
- So, do it! Get out of the system.
- 1704
- 01:33:10,209 --> 01:33:12,503
- Yeah, delete. Get off the stupid stuff.
- 1705
- 01:33:13,546 --> 01:33:16,507
- The world's beautiful.
- Look. Look, it's great out there.
- 1706
- 01:33:17,258 --> 01:33:18,384
- [laughs]
- 1707
- 01:33:21,971 --> 01:33:24,432
- -[birds singing]
- -[children playing and shouting]
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