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Ep 16  |  Tristan Harris

Tristan Harris: “Social Media: Bringing the Ring to Mordor”

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TGS16 Tristan Harris The Great Simplification

On this episode, we meet with Co-Founder of the Center for Humane Technology and co-host of Your Undivided Attention Podcast, Tristan Harris.

Harris explores the intersection of society and social media technology. How does modern social media pose an existential risk for society? How can we create a healthier, sustainable relationship between our social technology and culture?

Harris explains how privacy, liability, and antitrust could contribute to a healthier tech ecosystem. Why is it not enough to reduce the harm of technology, and how can we use technology to strengthen democracy?

About Tristan Harris

Tristan Harris has spent his career studying how today’s major technology platforms have increasingly become the social fabric by which we live and think, wielding dangerous power over our ability to make sense of the world. Along with Aza Raksin, he is the Co-Host of “Your Undivided Attention,” consistently among the top ten technology podcasts on Apple Podcasts, which explores how social media’s race for attention is destabilizing society and the vital insights we need to envision solutions. Tristan was also the primary subject of the acclaimed Netflix documentary, “The Social Dilemma,” which unveiled the hidden machinations behind social media.

In French, we have a motto that says that a simple drawing is often better than a long explanation. Jean-Marc Jancovici Carbone 4 President

That’s very understandable because with left atmosphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher

We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Director of ISEOF

This is the crux of the whole problem. Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. Thomas Crowther Founder Restor

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

00:45 – Tristan Harris info, Center for Human Technology

02:33 – The Social Dilemma

03:24 – Facebook market stock

06:02 – Nate’s Book and Animated Videos

06:33 – Social Dilemma production team

07:34 – Race to the bottom of the brainstem for attention

09:03 – Tiktok automatic beautification

09:42 – Collective action problem

11:29 – Runaway growth imperative

12:20 – Captured facts and shared understanding/reality

14:33 – Tiktok surpasses Facebook for time spent on Android

15:22 – Externalities of digital infrastructure

16:55 – Walter Cronkite

17:47 – E.O. Wilson

18:07 – We were evolved for a different environment

19:04 – Fitness matters more than truth

20:06 – Energy blind

22:06 – Frances Haugen

22:18 – Parents in the age of social media

23:32 – Downward causation and the financial market

25:52 – Aza Raskin – infinite scroll + TGS Episode with Aza Raskin

29:15 – Highly intelligent species eventually try to understand themselves

29:47 – Loss aversion

32:29 – Frank Luntz

34:01 – Laura Borodinsky

34:25 – George Lakoff Metaphors We Live By

35:07 – Evolutionary Psychology

35:54 – Ontological design

37:23 – We assume others think like us – but they don’t

42:33 – Countries manipulating social media algorithms

45:55 – AI can predict big 5 personality traits based on mouse/eye movement 

46:23 – AI can predict our micro expressions

49:23 – Tech Fiduciaries Act

50:17 – Stanford Marshmallow Experiment

51:08 – Superorganism

51:47 – Social media undermines mindfulness efforts

53:10 – More in Common

53:33 – Extreme voices and overrepresentation

53:50 – False beliefs between about opposing political parties

56:50 – Taiwan and digital democracy and online polling system

57:50 – Your Undivided Attention – Audrey Tang

1:02:52 – TGS Episode with Jamie Wheal

1:04:09 – Nate’s Earth Day Talks

1:05:48 – TGS Episode with Nora Bateson

1:09:57 – Don’t Look Up

1:13:49 – The Maybe Story

1:17:22 – Biden State of the Union

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