Dystopian Futures of Technology

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The speaker contrasts the dystopian visions of George Orwell's '1984' with Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World', pointing out that technology can lead to a world where information is not limited but overwhelmed by a tsunami of information. In this scenario, control is not established through banning books but by creating a society so preoccupied with amusement that critical thinking and reading are discouraged. This is exacerbated by the attention economy and AI advancements. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding these potential futures to steer towards a desired future by changing existing incentives.

When Tristan Harris co-founded the Center for Humane Technology in 2018, he was trying to educate tech leaders and policymakers about the harms of social media.

But today, he’s sounding the alarm about a different technology — one that he says could pose an existential threat to the entire world …

Artificial intelligence.

This week on How I Built This Lab: the first of a two-episode series in which Tristan and Guy examine the serious risks posed by the rapid development and deployment of AI — and what we can do to make sure this powerful technology is used for good.

You can learn more about “The Social Dilemma,” the 2020 Emmy-winning docudrama featuring Tristan, here: https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/.

This episode was researched and produced by Alex Cheng with music by Ramtin Arablouei.

It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Neal Rauch.

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