Jaron Lanier, a pioneering computer scientist and visual artist, dives into the complex world of social media. He critiques the psychological manipulation embedded within tech business models and the adverse societal effects of social platforms. Lanier humorously discusses mental health challenges exacerbated by social media, particularly during elections. He emphasizes the importance of community-driven solutions and suggests a shift towards smaller, meaningful interactions online. The conversation highlights AI's role, advocating for transparency and authentic connections in a digital age.
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insights INSIGHT
Social Media's Perverse Incentives
Social media's business model perversely promotes the worst of human nature.
It creates a behavior modification regime, making people vain, contentious, and paranoid.
insights INSIGHT
Fake Socialism, Fake Capitalism
Early internet companies adopted a contradictory business model.
They presented a fake socialist user experience with fake capitalism on the backend.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Skinner's Network Experiment
B.F. Skinner's experiment networking midwestern universities aimed to engineer a perfect society through behavior modification algorithms.
This approach mirrors attempts by authoritarian regimes to control behavior and thinking.
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10 Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
Jaron Lanier
In this book, Jaron Lanier presents ten compelling arguments for why individuals should consider deleting their social media accounts. He discusses how social media can undermine truth, destroy empathy, make users unhappy, and disrupt economic dignity and political discourse. Lanier also introduces the concept of the 'BUMMER' machine, which describes how social media services modify user behavior for profit. The book encourages readers to be more mindful of their social media use and its broader societal implications.
Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson
Published in 1992, 'Snow Crash' is a science fiction novel by Neal Stephenson that delves into a future where the United States has fragmented into corporate city-states and the internet has evolved into a virtual reality called the Metaverse. The story follows Hiro Protagonist, a pizza delivery driver and part-time hacker, and Y.T., a teenage skateboard courier, as they navigate a complex world threatened by a mysterious computer virus and a powerful drug known as Snow Crash. The novel explores themes of history, linguistics, anthropology, and computer science, and is noted for its prescient vision of the metaverse and its influence on Silicon Valley innovators[2][3][5].
The Human Use of Human Beings
Norbert Wiener
Published in 1950 and revised in 1954, 'The Human Use of Human Beings' argues for the benefits of automation to society, analyzing the meaning of productive communication and discussing ways for humans and machines to cooperate. Wiener emphasizes the potential for machines to amplify human power, release people from manual labor, and enable more creative pursuits. He also explores the risks of dehumanization and subordination and offers suggestions on how to avoid these risks, advocating for the use of machines to increase leisure and enrich spiritual life rather than solely for profits[5][4][1].
You are not a gadget
A Manifesto
Jaron Lanier
Informed by Lanier’s experience and expertise as a computer scientist, *You Are Not a Gadget* discusses the technical and cultural problems that have unwittingly risen from programming choices—such as the nature of user identity—that were “locked-in” at the birth of digital media. The book considers what a future based on current design philosophies will bring, with a focus on the proliferation of social networks, cloud-based data storage systems, and Web 2.0 designs that elevate the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over individual intelligence and wisdom. Lanier advocates for a more humanistic and humane future where individual creativity is celebrated over the collective efforts of the ‘hive mind’.
Jaron Lanier is an American computer scientist, visual artist, computer philosophy writer, technologist, futurist, and composer of contemporary classical music. He is considered a founder of the field of virtual reality.
Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@francisjfoster) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians.
TRIGGERnometry 
