Aza Raskin, co-founder of the Center For Humane Technology and president of Earth Species Project, discusses the ethical use of technology, AI's impact on society, communication with non-human species, and the need for governments to rethink technology. He explores the unintended consequences of the attention economy and the challenges of enhancing human forecasting abilities to navigate the AI future.
Read more
AI Summary
Highlights
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
Negative consequences of technology design with unintended consequences
Need for ethical governance in AI development to prevent unforeseen harms
Deep dives
Challenges of Designing Infinite Scroll
Aza Raskin, a tech pioneer, reflects on creating infinite scroll, initially aimed at enhancing user experience but later led to negative consequences in social media. He highlights how positive intentions can be overshadowed by perverse incentives in technology, exemplifying the dangers of unintended consequences in design and the responsibility that comes with inventing new technologies.
Addressing Attention Economy in Social Media
Aza Raskin discusses the attention economy's impact on social media, emphasizing that prioritizing reactive content leads to polarization, outrage, and societal challenges. He advocates for industry-wide changes encouraging companies to limit scrolling time for users to foster a healthier and less divisive online environment, calling for systemic solutions to address the negative impacts of social media.
Utilizing Delay Techniques for Breaking Addiction
Aza Raskin shares a personal strategy using random delays while scrolling on social media platforms to combat addictive behaviors. By introducing slowdowns in user experience, he successfully overcame his addiction to continuous scrolling, suggesting a simple yet effective method to break addictive patterns and promote mindful technology use.
AI Governance and Responsible Technology
Aza Raskin explores the growing influence of AI and the need for ethical governance. He proposes reallocating a portion of computing resources for anticipating and mitigating potential AI harms, emphasizing the importance of aligning technological advancements with responsible frameworks to prevent unforeseen consequences and ensure the beneficial and safe development of AI.
Years ago, Aza Raskin invented the infinite scroll – and yes, he regrets it. Today, Aza is the co-founder of the Center For Humane Technology and the Earth Species Project. Aza’s work focuses on creating and advocating for ethical technology that benefits collective well-being. For his latest project, he’s looking beyond humanity, using artificial intelligence to decode whale communication and see what lessons we might learn from the animal world. In this expansive conversation, Adam and Aza discuss ways to improve social media, how communicating with other species could change our world, and why everyone – including our governments – needs to upgrade our thinking about an AI world. Transcripts for ReThinking are available at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode