Offline with Jon Favreau

The Neuroscience of Why We’re Susceptible to Lies, Outrage, and Fascism

Feb 18, 2024

Exploring habituation, authoritarian regimes normalization, paying to quit social media addiction, repeating lies belief, Meta's political content halt, Biden on TikTok, Selena Gomez deepfake scam, tech-induced comas impact, algorithm changes on social media, TikTok politics and deep fake scams, habituation in brain and stimuli perception, social media habituation neuroscience, political integrity post-Trump, unraveling misinformation impact, Julia Roberts empathy and Chinese perspective

01:03:23

Creator website

Episode guests

Cass Sunstein

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Habituation can mask the erosion of democracy by normalizing authoritarian regimes over time.

Dis-habituation entrepreneurs challenge societal norms to prevent further habituation to harmful behaviors.

Repetition of lies by authoritarian leaders exploits habituation to make false information seem believable.

Deep dives

The Power of Habituation in Descent into Fascism

The book discusses how habituation can make the loss of democracy difficult to notice. By comparing it to the incremental nature of Nazi Germany's descent into fascism, the author highlights how each increment of authoritarianism seemed less horrifying than if it had happened suddenly. This gradual normalization of incremental changes in society can make it harder for people to recognize the erosion of democracy and the rise of authoritarianism.

Ease of Processing Leads to Belief in Truthfulness

01:18

Introduction

3min

Exploring the Impact of Technologically Induced Comas on Social Media and Democracy

2min

The Impact of Algorithm Changes on Social Media Platforms

18min

TikTok, Political Campaigns, and Deep Fake Scams

8min

Exploring Habituation in the Brain and Perception of Stimuli

6min

The Neuroscience of Habituation in Social Media

13min

Political Integrity and Historical Reflections

5min

Unraveling Misinformation

8min

Perspectives of Julia Roberts and Chinese Individuals: Empathy and Action

7min

Cass Sunstein, Harvard professor and coauthor of the forthcoming book, Look Again, joins Offline to discuss the dangers of habituation. When things become so commonplace that they blend into the background of our everyday lives, we stop appreciating the good and identifying the bad. Jon and Cass examine how authoritarian regimes are normalized, whether you can pay people to quit their social media addictions, and why repeating lies makes them more believable. But first! Max and Jon dive into Meta’s decision to stop recommending political content on their platforms, President Biden’s foray onto TikTok, and what a recent Selena Gomez deepfake means for the future of scamming.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

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Offline with Jon Favreau

The Neuroscience of Why We’re Susceptible to Lies, Outrage, and Fascism

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Power of Habituation in Descent into Fascism

The Importance of Dis-habituation

The Role of Propaganda and Misinformation

The Habituation Effect and Social Media Addiction

Addressing Misinformation and Developing Trustworthy Messages

Ease of Processing Leads to Belief in Truthfulness

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts