Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

141 | Zeynep Tufekci on Information and Attention in a Networked World

Apr 5, 2021

Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist and author, explores the impact of technology on society, especially through social media. She discusses the challenges of information overload and the dangers of filter bubbles that shape public discourse. Tufekci highlights the role of algorithms in directing our attention and the complexities of censorship in the digital age. She also critiques responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, advocating for better communication strategies and the importance of navigating misinformation in times of crisis.

01:17:58

Episode guests

Zeynep Tufekci

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Episode notes

Intro

2min

Navigating the Information Overload

18min

Navigating Information Overload: The Value of Attention

3min

Censorship and Information Manipulation in the Digital Age

14min

Skepticism, Conspiracy Theories, and the Quest for Truth

6min

Navigating Scientific Misinformation

9min

Reevaluating Pandemic Responses and Institutional Accountability

3min

Pandemic Lessons: Missteps and Insights

25min

Embracing Uncertainty and Building Trust

2min

In a world flooded with information, everybody necessarily makes choices about what we pay attention to. This basic fact can be manipulated in any number of ways, from advertisers micro-targeting specific groups to repressive governments flooding social media with misinformation, or for that matter well-meaning people passing along news from sketchy sources. Zeynep Tufekci is a sociologist who studies the flow of information and its impact on society, especially through social media. She has provided insightful analyses of protest movements, online privacy, and the Covid-19 pandemic. We talk about how technology has been shaping the information space we all inhabit.

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Zeynep Tufekci received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas-Austin. She is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and will be a Visiting Professor at the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security at Columbia University. She is the author of Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American, The Atlantic, and elsewhere, and she publishes the Insight newsletter on Substack.

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