Nine To Noon Tech: More friends, more division, super-scaled fakery
Nov 19, 2025
Mark Pesce, a tech commentator and researcher, dives into how increasing social circles since 2010 have ironically heightened polarization. He discusses cognitive overload from friendship expansion and the necessity of fostering tolerance within growing networks. Pesce also warns about deepfakes, revealing the alarming capabilities of AI in fabricating realistic documents and voices, while highlighting Brazil's innovative cryptographic receipt system as a countermeasure. The episode examines the ramifications of AI-generated cheating and even mind-captioning technologies for the speech-impaired.
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More Close Friends, More Polarization
- A Vienna study found a sharp rise in polarization and drop in tolerance between 2008 and 2010 correlated with more close social contacts.
- The average number of daily close friends doubled in that period and tracked with increased polarization.
Correlation Without Clear Mechanism
- The study shows social connectivity and polarization move in lockstep: as close contacts increase, polarization rises.
- Researchers currently have correlation but not a clear mechanism for why tolerance erodes.
Cognitive Overload Breeds Intolerance
- One hypothesis is cognitive overload: managing more close ties strains brains and promotes harsher judgments.
- Overwhelm may push people to use heuristics, producing intolerance toward others.