WEBVTT - Monetizing Our Demise 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.800 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wika EPI Daily with 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:19.520 me your Girl Danielle Moody recording not so live but 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.360 from the Brooklyn Bunker. Folks, let me tell you something 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:29.720 that this Facebook story has really been getting to me, 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:35.680 getting to me in ways that I didn't anticipate being 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:40.239 this kind of angry. But the reality is this right 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:48.360 once again thanks to someone's better angels, thanks to Francis Hagen, 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:53.720 the thirty seventy year old former Facebook product manager. Francis Hagen, 0:00:54.720 --> 0:01:01.360 because of her integrity, because of her morality, because of 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.959 her desire to see our democracy as well as other 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:12.560 democracies around the world continue to flourish, she did an 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:19.319 amazing thing. She came in as a caped crusader and 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:26.560 divulged documents that we had all had a hunch about. Right. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:30.959 We all pretty much kind of knew right that Facebook 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:35.000 and social media have been in a lot of ways 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:38.399 really bad for our society. It started out as a 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:42.440 way to connect people. The whole idea of social media 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:45.600 was to have people be more social, to connect to 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.960 folks that you no longer live by or go to 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.440 school with, or family members that live in different countries 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.160 or across you know, around the world in different spaces. 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:58.520 It was an opportunity for us to kind of take 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:03.160 you know, the the tangible photo album, right that we 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:05.720 all used to put together or you know, maybe I'm 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.400 naming my age, but the tangible photo album and be 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.160 able to share that in real time with people that 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:15.920 you care about. Well, that was the intent, right, But 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:18.639 what do they say about intentions? The road to hell 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:21.320 was paved with them. And that is exactly where we 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:26.040 are in our current makeup of the Facebook world that 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.960 we are living in. Is that what began as the 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:34.520 intention of Mark Zuckerberg and others to be able to 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:39.280 connect to other folks on their campus has now morphed 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.920 into the ability for the Proud Boys and you know, 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:47.080 the Boogoloo Boys and different hate groups to be able 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.920 to unite. It has turned into a tool for bullies 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:57.000 to be able to harass and taunt people. Right. And 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:02.959 what we are learning about, particularly what Francis Hoggan has 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:07.200 laid out for us, is the toxic effect that again 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:12.920 we knew right before Facebook, before Instagram, what did we have. 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:17.800 We had actual magazines and what were we taught about 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.160 those magazines that the images that were being projected back 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:26.079 two young girls, right, was distorting their images of themselves. 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.880 We knew this, We've known this for decades. So of course, 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:35.560 when you are able now to just continually scroll and 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:43.040 see images of these perfected, quote unquote bodies, right, these edited, photoshopped, 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.280 enhanced bodies, then of course you're going to look at 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.400 yourself in the mirror and say, oh my god, I'm 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.440 not worthy, right, Or you're going to post a picture 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.520 and maybe you don't get as many likes as your friend, right, 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:01.280 And so what does that do well? According to CNN Business, 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.960 who picked up some of the key moments of francis 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:09.440 testimony in front of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee, here are 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:14.560 some of the things that she said. I am here 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:19.760 today because I believe that Facebook's products harm children, stoke division, 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.240 and weaken our democracy. These were a part of her 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:27.720 opening remarks. The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:32.039 and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:37.679 they have put their astronomical profits before people. Congressional action 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:42.000 is needed. They won't solve this crisis without your help. 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:46.839 And here's the thing is that this is a crisis 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.680 of their own making, but much in the same way 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.200 that they have been able to take action to remove 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:58.120 child pornography and child pornography groups and images from Facebook. 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.760 Tell me why they weren't able to the same thing 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:05.000 with white supremacy right, tell me why they weren't able 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.440 to do the same thing with misinformation about voting and 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:13.240 misinformation about COVID. Well, what the whistleblower air is out 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:17.159 for the rest of us is that hate and fear 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:21.680 are what get people to stay on the platform. That 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.520 even though these girls seventeen percent of girls are developing 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:29.400 eating disorders and thirteen point five percent have horrible images 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.120 of themselves, even though these stats based on Facebook's own 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:39.600 internal research, is there that what they have also learned 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:45.480 is that though the platform is proving to be toxic 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:49.560 and making people feel bad about themselves, guess what, they 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:53.560 can't stop. It's like a drug and they just keep 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:58.720 scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. So when Miss Hagan says 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:03.080 they won't solve this crisis without your help, no, it's 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.440 not about their help. It's about their fucking mandate. It's 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:08.960 about they won't solve this problem because they have no 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:14.600 incentive to do so. Right, the incentive here is to 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:18.800 make billions and billions upon billions of dollars, more money 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.000 than you'll ever be able to spend in a fucking lifetime. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:27.279 Right earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg, according to many reports, 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:31.600 with the five hour outage across multiple platforms that are 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:38.200 owned by Facebook, lost between six and seven billion dollars 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:44.480 himself six and seven billion dollars he lost. Can you imagine? 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.560 I just like, take that fucking in for a minute, 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.000 Mark Zuckerberg lost in the five hours that these platforms 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:58.560 were down, more than some country's GDP. But we don't 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.320 want to talk about the wealth tax. We don't want 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:06.240 to talk about how big is too fucking big? Right. 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:10.280 We got into a financial crisis in the early aughts 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.400 because we said, oh, the banks are too big to fail, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.040 we can't let them shut down. What about the people? 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:20.240 But we did nothing to restore the wealth that was 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:24.080 lost to the millions of people that lost homes because 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.160 of the predatory lending practices, and nobody went to jail. 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:36.000 So it is not that this behemoth of Facebook needs 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:41.120 the help of Congress. It's that without the intervention, without 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.920 the regulation, without the mandates, they're going to continue to 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:51.160 grow out of control. Millions of people, small businesses, individuals 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:56.440 run their lives their businesses through Facebook's ads and Instagram ads. 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:00.840 It's the reason why Stephanie Rule on ms NBC said, 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:05.040 you know what you have to ask yourself when you 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:09.440 are not paying for a service, Recognize that you are 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:13.480 the product all of your information, all of your data, 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.400 your phone numbers, You're this everything that we have done. 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:21.080 We have literally handed over our lives to Facebook, and 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.920 they have optimized their algorithms in order to be able 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:29.880 to market to us in a way that we don't 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:34.320 even know if what we like we actually like or 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:39.440 is it because we've seen it seventeen times? Right? Is 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:43.400 the news that I'm getting actual news? Or have they 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.199 just decided to feed me the bubble that they believe 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.200 that I'm most comfortable in? And so what does that 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:53.080 mean if I'm a person that believes that in verktimine right, 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.560 or whatever the fuck that horse hormone is that everybody 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.760 seems to be using in the Midwest, the circles that 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:02.840 I run in tell me that that is the safest 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.080 thing and the best thing to use. And I'm just 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:13.280 getting projected back images from inside my own bubble, right, 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.560 then what does that mean for my safety? And while 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.840 being one of the questions that I asked, as we're 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.400 learning more information, as more information is becoming available, and 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:28.720 after this testimony on Capitol Hill, the question that I asked, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.360 and I will have some lawyers on in the coming 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:37.640 weeks that will hopefully unpack this for us. But here's 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.440 a thought, And once again, I'm not a lawyer, but 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:47.600 I said this. The documents Francis Hagen released confirmed what 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.840 we already knew about Facebook, including their role in spreading hate. 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:56.040 If the papers reveal that the disillusion of the Civic 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.960 Facebook group right, the one that was supposed to be 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:04.079 monitor ring misinformation about voting on all of these things, 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:07.360 all of these social ills, if that group was dissolved 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.000 post twenty twenty election because they felt like, oh, well, 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:13.480 we did our part, we did our very minimal, low 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:19.600 fucking lift. And they show that the Civic Facebook group 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.920 right that was responsible for reporting and kind of having 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.679 eyes on the situation with regard to voting and misinformation 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:30.920 and with regard to these white supremacist groups, if they 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:35.160 shut down and then went back to their old algorithm, 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:40.200 allowing their platform to become a convening for the insurrection? 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:51.120 Then are they can Facebook be held criminally liable because 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.880 it was not then an accident? And that's the point. 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:59.800 That is what is so important here about Francis's testimony 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:04.120 is that what she has unearthed is what we all 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:09.360 assumed but had no evidence to prove, which is that 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.840 Facebook knows exactly what the fuck they are doing. They 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:17.599 know exactly what is toxic, they know exactly what is dangerous. 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:24.040 But they are choosing to monetize people's pain and monetize 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:29.000 the demise of our democracy above all else because it 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.880 does not, in this instance or pretty much fucking ever 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:37.600 pay to do good. But what also gets me, folks, 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:42.120 is that if it wasn't for this whistleblower, we would 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:46.240 be none the wiser. And so we are basing right, 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:51.720 We are basing the health and well being of our democracy, 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.360 right of our cultural climate, on a few people that 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:59.120 decide to do good. Well, what happens when nobody decides 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.800 to do good? What happens when tribalism fully wins over? 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.680 Are we just fucked then? Because we have put together 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:12.520 no guardrails, no safety measures. We are not handing out 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.400 sentencing for the insurrectionists that would make us believe that 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:21.400 another attack isn't on the horizon because there's nothing. What 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.079 they're going to say, Oh, well, maybe you know, this 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.680 is worth the forty five days in jail, This is 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:32.679 worth the slap on the wrist, if I believe, because 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:36.840 I'm being fed this line of thinking that I'm the 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.240 true patriot and everybody else's the enemy. If I believe that, 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.480 and that is being reinforced through these algorithms that are 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:50.360 coming to me, isn't someone somewhere fucking responsible for this? 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.480 And I'm not taking away like this is not this 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:58.320 is not me deciding then that, oh everyone has been 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:02.839 duped and so to avail them of personal responsibility. No, No, 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:07.160 But there was a network that was in place from 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.440 the donors who got these buses and put people up 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:14.600 in hotels. Right. There was the right wing media that 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:19.040 was amping people up and telling them what to do. Right. 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:23.760 There's a manifesto that was put out that Donald Trump 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.520 decided to follow to a t in order to conduct 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.120 this coup. And then he had this tool, this technology, 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.679 both Twitter and Facebook to be able to do it. 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:43.960 Eighty million fucking people. And so if Facebook knowingly decided, well, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.679 you know, we're losing money because God forbid, right the 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.160 billions upon billions that they make, It's just not enough. 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:57.920 And that is the disgusting aspect of capitalism. There is 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:03.240 never enough, right. They'll just keep consuming and doing and 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:10.280 consuming and doing until somebody stops them. So essentially, what 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:15.880 this whistleblower has laid out is what she believes and 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.480 what she had said in her testimony. She is doing 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:25.080 this at great personal risk because she believes quote, we 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.920 still have time to act, but must act now. Well, 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.440 what's terrifying to me is that I don't think that 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:35.080 our government actually knows how to act. We can't decide 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.880 what Facebook actually is, and we don't have laws that 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.440 are in place or in development of how one regulates 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:48.520 an algorithm versus an actual tangible entity. Coming up next, 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.800 dear friends, is my conversation with our friend, our in 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.720 house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel to unpack this very issue 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.680 and whether or not the harms that have been done 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.800 are just too far gone for us to be able 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:08.280 to do anything about it. Hey, friends, as always, I 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.720 am excited every single Wednesday when we get to sit 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:15.160 down with our friend, our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:20.440 Metzel to go through the latest in our global health pandemic, 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:24.400 the latest in the multiple pandemics that we are living through. Jonathan, 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:28.280 you know, I think that we've kind of reached a 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.080 place where we don't know if I like what I 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.280 like or because somebody is telling me that I should 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.720 like it. And I think that that is you know, 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:43.200 that's part of the problem of being in and like 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:45.480 I think, I forget who said it, but they said 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.840 it this week. Oh it was Stephanie Rule on MSNBC. 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:52.760 When you're on a platform that is free, right, you 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.320 have to recognize that if you're not paying for something, 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.920 then you are the product, right, And that is what 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:02.680 we are learning with the revelation through you know, through 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:06.680 Facebook and you know their outages this week across you know, 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.600 multiple platforms, billions of people. But it's recognizing that, you know, 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:13.960 am I clicking on this thing because I like it, 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.560 because I want it, or because somebody has created an 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:21.280 algorithm that is enticing me? And what does that mean? 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:24.400 If I am an addict? Right? If I if I 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.720 am somebody who you know is an addict, is a 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:29.480 gambling addict, you know, an alcoholic or what have you 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.120 like you can literally target to people, and so it's 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.560 really important to begin to cross a reference and to 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:40.400 kind of, I think, unplug and go back to what 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.880 you were doing, you know, pre which was picking up 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:46.240 a paper and decid I mean that you were going 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.880 to read it going you know, reading it reading a 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.080 magazine because like you've decided to pick it up. I 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.680 think that you know, it is the question that we 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.480 all need to be asking ourselves, like why do I 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.400 feel the way that I do? Why why has my 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.280 opinion been formed in a certain way? And if we're 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:07.040 working to get people out of these bubbles, right, like 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.720 these tribal bubbles that you and I have talked about 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.600 so many times, you know, how do you even begin 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.040 to do that? Right? How do you even be able 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.760 to break in to the bubble that's been created around them? 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:23.320 And it's interesting because it's you can just see even 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:25.840 and as you describe it, the kind of vicious cycle here, right, 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:30.280 which is you have a pre existing ideology, your liberal 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:35.680 or your conservative, your libertarian, your Raylian, your whatever you are, 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.919 and then and then the news is formatted to reaffirm 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:44.119 your belief, so then you gravitate toward that news that 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.640 news makes an emotional sense to you because of your 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.600 existing ideology, and then when you read the article, it 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.600 doesn't challenge that, it reaffirms that, you know, liberals suck 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.040 or conservative suck, and then you in your mind generalize, oh, 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.720 all liberals suck or all whoever suck, and then it's 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:04.160 a feedback because then you share that article and stuff 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:08.280 like that. And so we're in this thing where, especially 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.639 in a time like a pandemic, where we don't know 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:12.960 all the answers. I mean, we thought vaccines did one thing, 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:17.520 they do something else. Masks now cloth masks are bad whatever. 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:21.520 Like that's the way humanity understands a pandemic is like 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:26.400 our knowledge evolves. But when knowledge is changing important life 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.000 or death information is changing, then these kind of bubbles, 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.840 these ideological bubbles. It's just it's a perfect storm. Like 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.800 no wonder Facebook made so much money because it's a 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:41.639 perfect storm of hunger, attention, anxiety, all those kind of things. 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:43.480 You know. But I want to I want to ask 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:47.840 this though, because I you know, I don't think and 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:51.439 again I'm existing inside of the bubble that you and 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:57.240 I share, right as progressives, as as democrats. Right, I 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:01.879 don't get messaging that tells me to hate conservatives. I 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:07.080 don't get messaging that is directed towards how terrible you know, 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.000 conservatives are white evangelical Christians like any I don't get 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.679 messaging like that, do you? Because I think that the 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.200 messaging that is to I would argue that the messaging 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.800 that is targeted towards people who are Democrats, who are 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:26.840 you know, who are more aligned with the intent around 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.359 the values of our country. That like, we're not trying 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:35.560 to hate other people, and that's not that's not our clickbait, right, 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.160 but but it's actually a kind of visual sample biased 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:40.879 kind of how this works. So even if you're not, 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.439 you're not getting a message that says something horrible like 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:47.640 Mitch McConnell is holding up the infrastructure bill. Who would 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:51.080 possibly say that, um, you know, but but but but 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.720 what you get is so like I was on a 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:58.080 plane this morning. There was one guy who was determined 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:01.520 to be a nostril patriot. He needed his nose out, 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:04.560 and that kept telling this dude, put your frigging nose 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:06.880 under your mask for everybody else, and then he'd pull 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.600 it back down something like that. Now there were maybe 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.080 on my flight this morning. I don't know how many 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:15.879 people want to flight two hundred people at whatever. One 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:18.560 hundred ninety nine people had their mask on normal, and 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.240 this one guy wanted us to see the inside of 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.480 his nostrils. And so if the way the media algorithm 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:28.359 works is somebody films this guy, it goes crazy and 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:31.280 then you think all these anti mask people, they're just 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.320 pulling their nose off out on the thing, but you 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:36.359 don't see the other one hundred ninety nine people. And 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:38.159 so the way it works is by kind of a 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.679 stable giance, like you think every single person is doing this, 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:44.679 who is part of this bigger ideology, when really the 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:48.439 way things go viral is I mean again, think about it, 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:52.920 seventy two million people voted for Trump. How many two 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:57.000 thousand stormed the Capitol on January sixth, But in a way, 0:20:57.080 --> 0:20:59.360 what you think is everybody who voted for Trump must 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:00.920 have been at the see on that day. That's the 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.719 way it kind of messes with your mind. Yeah, and 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:06.840 also what it takes to go viral. And you know, conversely, 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.520 how many people marched for justice after the murder of 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:15.199 George Floyd and how many created acts of violence like 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:18.280 it was like point zero one percent. But in conservative 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:21.720 media it was like every protester is smashing plates and 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:23.880 lighting stuff on fire and stuff. So in a way 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:28.159 it works by taking out of context and totally decontextualizing 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:32.080 and creating this generalizing, generalizable ethos, and then all of 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:36.520 a sudden when it's like, oh, every protester is smashing things, 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:39.480 how could I possibly negotiate? We're so different from you. 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:42.480 And so in a way it creates this thing where 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:46.159 it's like it's like what's the literary term metonomy or 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.200 synectic key or something like that, where the part comes 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:52.720 to represent the whole. And so you think every black 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:56.080 person must be an angry protester who's going to steal 0:21:56.080 --> 0:21:59.480 stuff from CBS and all that kind of stuff, when 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.600 probably one person that maybe they were, I don't know, 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:05.159 getting paid off to do whatever. But that's what drives clicks, 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:08.280 is like you see the little thing and then you 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:10.719 generalize it. And that's the danger of this stuff is, 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:14.119 particularly because the bar is so high to go viral, 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:16.720 Like it used to be just your dog could catch 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:18.959 a frisbee, and now it's like you've got to do 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:22.960 the craziest shit in the world. But then everybody thinks like, oh, 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:25.680 every person is like that. So that's that's how that 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:31.080 this algorithm works. Yeah, And this is what the whistleblower 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:36.679 was articulating in the hearing, which is that the presumption 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:40.240 that everyone had. And I say presumption that everyone had. 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.160 But I really believe that our members of Congress are 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:46.480 inept and very fucking lazy. And I will say that 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:52.119 to say that, one, I wouldn't call my mother and 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:56.560 ask her what is the best like social media platform 0:22:56.600 --> 0:23:02.640 to use, right, because she is out of her age depth. Right. 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:06.760 But we then are sitting with a Congress where the 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:10.840 average age in the Senate is seventy two years old. 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:14.720 They understand how to regulate things that you can touch 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:18.480 and feel, and even intellectual property to some degrees. We 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:24.360 are talking about now regulating algorithms, right, which you need 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:27.840 somebody to go in and explain exact to all of us, frankly, 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:31.639 but exactly what an algorithm is. But you're more likely 0:23:32.520 --> 0:23:35.200 to be able to understand the machinations of it if 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:39.199 you're somebody that readily uses technology and has a general awareness. 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:43.200 And so I say the laziness part because we have known, 0:23:43.240 --> 0:23:46.800 we've been listening to Congress bitch about Facebook, and we've 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:49.960 all been bitching about Facebook and it growing into a 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:52.800 monopoly and gobbling up all of these companies and then 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:55.840 it goes out and three and a half billion people 0:23:55.880 --> 0:24:00.520 across the around the world can't communicate, right, And so 0:24:00.960 --> 0:24:06.400 it's it's it's this thing where we're our laws are 0:24:06.440 --> 0:24:10.040 not keeping pace with the reality that we're living in 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:13.840 and how fast technology is moving. And the fact is 0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:16.680 is that like, go ahead, Well, it's also that our 0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:20.000 legal system becomes a reflection of that system. Right. And 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:22.440 in other words, like the people who do well are 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:25.840 people like Marjorie together Green who don't do anything, but 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:28.960 they're good at they're good at manipulating that algorithm, and 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:33.160 the algorithm the ultimate result. It's great for business if 0:24:33.200 --> 0:24:36.359 people feel like we have so little in common that 0:24:36.359 --> 0:24:37.960 there's no way we're ever going to be able to 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:41.200 work together, or the other side is so morally bankrupt, 0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:44.520 there's whatever. So if you feed into that, but there's 0:24:44.640 --> 0:24:47.600 a ton of money in that, right, and so polarization 0:24:47.720 --> 0:24:50.920 is great for business. And so again you just think 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:53.960 about that happening during the pandemic. It's like the it's 0:24:54.000 --> 0:24:56.280 like it's like the perfect storm. Right, it's great for 0:24:56.320 --> 0:24:59.920 their business to be creating all this polarization, but it's 0:25:00.840 --> 0:25:03.840 you know, it's just really bad if you're trying to 0:25:03.880 --> 0:25:07.880 solve a common problem of humanity. But I don't think 0:25:07.880 --> 0:25:12.040 that that's the thing. Facebook isn't here to solve problems, right, 0:25:12.240 --> 0:25:16.560 They're here to monetize, right, and that and the reality 0:25:16.680 --> 0:25:20.440 is is that we know I mean, you can go 0:25:20.560 --> 0:25:23.720 back in history. What did they used to say about 0:25:23.800 --> 0:25:27.960 journalists and headlines? If it bleeds, it leads, that is 0:25:28.000 --> 0:25:31.680 the same reality that is true for this tech this 0:25:31.880 --> 0:25:35.639 major tech company, this utility that needs to be regulated 0:25:36.000 --> 0:25:40.360 that for them, they've just been able to use that exponentially. 0:25:40.920 --> 0:25:43.000 You know, with billions. We're not talking about, oh, the 0:25:43.040 --> 0:25:46.680 circulation of let's say The New York Times or even 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:50.280 their online subscription. We're talking about everyone in the world. 0:25:50.600 --> 0:25:54.320 And so when the whistleblower is talking about the fact 0:25:54.320 --> 0:25:57.760 that this is destroying democracies not just in this country 0:25:57.760 --> 0:26:00.760 but around the world because you are so hate and 0:26:00.840 --> 0:26:03.320 you know that you're sewing hate because it's telling you 0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:06.560 that the angrier that people are, the longer that they 0:26:06.640 --> 0:26:11.560 stay on the platform. And this was alternatively true for 0:26:11.680 --> 0:26:13.800 the young girls and the research that was done about 0:26:13.800 --> 0:26:17.200 Instagram that seventeen percent of the young girls that are 0:26:17.240 --> 0:26:21.240 on Instagram or developing eating disorders. Well, and also I 0:26:21.280 --> 0:26:24.119 feel so bad, like like, I mean, so many of 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:28.480 my students they just want information. Right, the world is changing, 0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:31.560 the economy is changing, There's all these health risks that 0:26:31.600 --> 0:26:33.960 we weren't bargaining for. So they want to know, like 0:26:34.000 --> 0:26:37.920 where can we go for information? And that's really what 0:26:37.960 --> 0:26:39.399 our class was about, and they were just saying, like 0:26:39.440 --> 0:26:41.880