The Asymmetry of Power in Human Relationships

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Steve Hassan: It's important that people take responsibility for their choices. But what this might miss is the asymmetry of power, which is to say, if TikTok has a supercomputer trained on what hundreds of millions of human social primates click on it can make more and more accurate predictions about which videos will keep you watching. And so it's the degree of asymmetry between people's own agency and the system in which they're making choices within. There's a whole area of law on undue influence, which is really trying to measure the asymmetryof power in human relationships.

You’re likely familiar with the modern zombie trope: a zombie bites someone you care about and they’re transformed into a creature who wants your brain. Zombies are the perfect metaphor to explain something Tristan and Aza have been thinking about lately that they call zombie values.

In this Spotlight episode of Your Undivided Attention, we talk through some examples of how zombie values limit our thinking around tech harms. Our hope is that by the end of this episode, you'll be able to recognize the zombie values that walk amongst us, and think through how to upgrade these values to meet the realities of our modern world.

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Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_