WEBVTT - The Great Eyeball War, Part 2 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.840 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:14.440 Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.120 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:18.520 And this is going to be part two of a 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:23.279 two part episode about the attention economy and the technosphere, 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.840 the war for your eyeballs and the fact that we 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.440 live in a technological economy that in which platforms and 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.440 apps and devices are constantly trying to suck in your 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:39.120 attention and they're succeeding. They're working so good. If you 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:41.519 have not listened to our first episode, you should go 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.559 back listen to that first. That's where we lay the 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.760 whole groundwork try to explain the problem of what's going 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.000 on with the attention economy today. But just as a 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:52.600 quick refresher, if you've already listened to the episode, to 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.200 put it back in your mind, what do we talk 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.240 about last time? We basically talked about the attention economy, 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.960 the idea that your attention, my attention, it is a depletable, 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:06.240 finite resource. And every time there is a pop up 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:09.760 on our phone, every time we obey the impulse to 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:13.000 check Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or what have you, 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.640 it is depleting not only precious time, but precious energy 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.880 and precious will. Right, it's it really matters. It's taking 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.160 us away from the things that we would like to 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.840 be doing with our time ultimately to get what we 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.240 want out of life, the things that really matter to us, 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.720 and instead putting us into these easy, habitual modes of 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:36.039 passive consumption of digitally supplied information and entertainment that that 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:39.399 ultimately we can end up feeling hollow and regretful after 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:43.479 we experience. Right, even if it's not hurting us causing 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.480 us direct harm, that those that I think there's some 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.120 evidence that it is actually hurting us in the sense 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:50.840 of what we talked about with by constantly interrupting us. 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.200 It's lowering our cognitive performance, making us less smart by 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.280 constantly pulling us out of focus on tasks and interrupting 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.400 us all the time, and just having us always aware 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.080 of like the interruption, threat of a new message or 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.040 notification or something. So it might actually be harming us. 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.520 But even if it's not harming us, it's causing us 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.680 to voluntarily spend our time and attention in ways that 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.360 are not what we want out of life, and we 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.120 end up feeling regretful, and in a way we are 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:24.520 victims of shock, future shock, Future Shock, tell me about 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.280 future shock? Yes, well, okay, so listen. Long time listeners 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:30.160 to the show might remember that we we had a 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:34.040 two parter years and years ago about the about future shock, 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:38.959 Alvin Toffler, Alvin Toffler's nineteen seventy book and just general 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.359 idea of future shock. Also, there is a wonderful, I 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:48.720 think nineteen seventy two TV documentary about the Cooper Cronenberg. Yes, 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.800 it has kind of a twilight Zony Cronenbergie vibe, and 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:55.520 it's narrated by Orson Wells. It's a it's a little overwrought, 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.239 as you might imagine, but it's still very good. It's 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:00.320 it's all on YouTube. You should be able to find it. 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.400 So I've never actually read this book. I know it's 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.079 a classic work of futurism, uh, and I should read 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:06.959 it at some point, but I haven't read it. So Robert, 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.040 can you explain to me the idea of future shock? Alright? 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.680 So the book itself, which is still a fine read, 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.440 even though it is again in the decades old book 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:17.680 at this point, but it touched on a number of 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:23.840 contemporary and looming aspects of technological advancement, including over choice, 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:29.280 pressure to keep up with the latest technology, rapidly expanding knowledge, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:36.200 information overload, computer fueled society, temporary consumer culture, young new 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:41.280 transient lifestyles, instant intimacy, as well as more sort of 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.760 sci fi ideas you might say, such as cyborgs, modular bodies, 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.600 and prosthetics. Okay, but how's this come into the idea 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:52.120 of the attention economy. Did Toffler actually predict that we 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:55.040 would be in this situation of being surrounded by by 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:59.240 machines that's so efficiently drained away our attention? He did? 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.480 He did, in fact, so I want to read a 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:06.000 passage here from future Shock. For while we tend to 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:09.720 focus on only one situation at a time, the increased 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:14.200 rate at which situations flow past us vastly complicates the 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:18.279 entire structure of life, multiplying the number of roles we 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.040 must play and the number of choices we are forced 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.559 to make. This, in turn, accounts for the choking sense 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:29.240 of complexity about contemporary life. Moreover, the speeded up flow 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:33.479 through of situations demands much more work from the complex 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:37.000 focusing mechanisms by which we shift our attention from one 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:40.520 situation to another. There is more switching back and forth, 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.120 less time for extended, peaceful attention to one problem or 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:47.880 situation at a time. This is what lies behind the 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.839 vague feeling noted earlier that quote things are moving faster, 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.680 they are around us and through us. So that sounds like, 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:58.839 for one thing, some recognition of a thing we mentioned 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.080 in the last episode, the ta shifting penalty, right, that 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:07.000 we're downgrading the quality of our cognition by constantly shifting 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:11.760 between focus on different tasks. But it's more than that, right, Yeah, 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:13.960 he's he He goes on in the section of the 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.720 book and says, quote all this represents the press of 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:22.159 engineered messages against his senses, and the pressure is rising. 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:25.840 In an effort to transmit even richer image producing messages 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.839 at an even faster rate. Communications people, artists, and others 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.279 consciously work to make each instant of exposure to the 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:38.320 mass media carry a heavier informational and emotional freight. I 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:40.920 want to read just one more quote here from the book, 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:44.080 because this touches on sort of again. This was like 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.599 nine late sixties that he would have been writing this, 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:48.920 Uh to to ground it but I think it's very 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.840 applicable to some of what we're discussing here today, he said. Quote. 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.440 The religious fervor and bizarre behavior of certain hippie cultists 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:01.040 may arise not merely from drug abuse, but from experimentation 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:06.479 with both sensory deprivation and bombardment. The chanting of monotonous mantras, 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:10.640 the attempt to focus the individual's attention on interior bodily 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.479 sensation to the exclusion of outside stimuli, our efforts to 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:19.040 induce the weird and sometimes hallucinatory effects of under stimulation. 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:22.000 At the other end of the scale, we note the 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:26.240 glaze stairs and numb expressionalist faces of youthful dancers at 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.480 the great rock music auditoriums, where light shows, split screen movies, 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:35.080 high decibel scream shouts and moans, grotesque costumes, and writhing 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:40.240 painted bodies create a sensory environment characterized by high input 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:45.920 and extreme unpredictability and novelty. Now, now that's a fun passage, 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.120 because there is this sort of sense of oh, the 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.320 the young hippies and their their their craziness. But but 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.760 at at heart, this idea of over and understimulation, this 0:06:54.920 --> 0:07:00.000 questing for bodily stillness in relation to this overly stimula 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:04.039 added world, I think is crucial to what we're talking 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.200 about here, and I think it kind of supports this 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:10.200 idea that that Alvin Toffler warned us. Alvin Toffler told 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:13.040 us so he warned us of this future shock. Well, 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:16.840 it makes me think about the inherent uh fallacy where 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:19.520 we would tend to assume that boy having lots of 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.760 input coming into the mind, that would essentially be an 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.880 enriching experience. Right, the more input is coming in, the 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:31.800 more stocks of information and wisdom you should be building up, right, 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.920 But I think that's not necessarily the case. In fact, 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:39.160 having many information streams coming into the mind tends to 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:44.040 instead confuse the input processing devices within the mind, and 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.760 instead of enriching the mind, it sort of just numbs 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:50.920 the mind. Yeah, like the the idea that he touches 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:55.680 on about over choice, I feel over choice, uh like crazy. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:58.160 I feel like any time that I am just casting 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.160 about on say Netflix, to see what I might be 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:03.880 interested in watching, they're just there's so many options that 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:06.120 will end up just scaling through them all and not 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:11.480 watching anything, and hopefully you have a completely unfulfilling experience. 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.320 Because I didn't actually view a movie on this this app, 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:19.400 this service, this industry that is about delivering me a movie. Now, 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.160 something I want to come back to in a minute 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:24.680 is it's interesting because that app is different than many 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:26.960 of the other things we're talking about. Many of the 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:30.360 things we're talking about demand our attention because they are 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.920 ad supported, or because they're gathering data on the user, 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.240 in which the user's attention and the times they spend 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.480 paying attention to the app is literally what's valuable to 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:45.040 the content producer or to the platform. Right. Netflix is 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.320 a different thing because it's subscription based and so you're 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.880 paying to have access to it, So like, why would 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.240 they want you to keep paying attention that that's an 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.440 interesting question. We can maybe talk about that a little 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.760 bit more. But another point about Netflix I do want 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:01.439 to make real quick is that, as we I think 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.760 said last time, we don't want to demonize all consumption 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:09.760 of information or entertainment through digital formats, right, because ultimately, 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.439 what you want when you use Netflix is to watch 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.520 a movie, and we like watching movies. Like watching a 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.719 movie is a valuable activity to me, and when it's 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.640 a movie, I like that, I that I care about Uh, 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.080 that is something that I feel like is worth doing 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:26.960 with my free time. It's something that that brings me pleasure. 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:29.000 And I'd say a similar thing for lots of the 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.480 other apps I use. I enjoy the digital content I 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.880 consume through my books apps. I enjoy the digital content 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.679 I consume through my podcast apps. But one of the 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.400 things that makes these apps a little more difficult to use, 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.840 even though we get more enjoyment out of them, is 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.840 that you have to make conscious decisions about how to 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:50.439 use them, right. You have to seek out the thing 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.160 you want. I know, I want to listen to this podcast. 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:56.160 I know I want to listen to this musical album. 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.120 I know I want to watch this movie. Whereas we 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:03.040 are served this content so much more passively and automatically 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.719 by many of these other apps that make us feel regretful, 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.000 by our social media apps and by the games that 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.440 just sort of launch and then it's an incoming stream 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:17.000 of stimulation. Does that make sense? Yeah? No, yeah, it 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.439 does make me wonder to what extent these various uh 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.520 like Alexa type products UH where you have some sort 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.600 of a smart speaker that you talk to and then 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.520 it fetches what you need. I wonder if that could 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.439 be a way to mitigate this effect in the future 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.400 where it's it's you have this robot that's essentially doing 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.319 the surfing for you. It's going to be the one 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.400 dealing with the and and and ultimately not having to 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:46.160 deal with the over choice of say a Netflix que Yeah. Absolutely, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:47.800 I mean, I think one thing we should explore in 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.439 the second episode here is the idea of how because 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.119 like I said, we don't want to just demonize technology. 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:58.000 It's not like digital platforms are inherently bad as a concept. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:01.280 It's that they have taken on this form that is 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.240 giving up, that's taking away our attention in our lives 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.400 without really giving us a lot of value, giving us 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.240 always the things we want. Though sometimes we do get 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.120 the things we want out of them, it's just that 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.760 that's not always presented in such an engrossing and addictive 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:19.800 way as the stuff we don't really ultimately want. Is So, 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.679 how to make technology work better for us to give 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.120 us what we actually want and actually care about that 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.000 that's something that matters, and it's a question we should address. 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:29.679 But I think maybe we should take a quick break, 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:31.559 and we come back from that break, we will look 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:35.520 at an essay about how these apps and devices are 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:42.360 specifically engineered to hijack our brains. Alright, we're back, so 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.600 let's get into some of the specific tricks that are 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:50.319 that are involved here, like what what are these devices doing? 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:51.880 All right? Right here, I want to turn to a 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:54.560 twenty sixteen essay by a guy we've mentioned, a guy 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:58.360 named Tristan Harris who's a former Google employee. Now he 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.520 uh found. He's one of the foul unders of this 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:03.520 movement now called Time Well Spent, which is focused on 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:06.760 exactly this issue we've been talking about over these past 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.520 couple of episodes, the idea of the attention economy and 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.800 the fact that our technological devices and apps are not 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:15.440 really giving us what we want in terms of our 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:20.120 attention investment, but they're they're nevertheless extremely powerful and harnessing 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.880 that attention. And so Harris in this essay is trying 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:26.640 to explain how it works, how they capture our attentions 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.600 so effectively, so powerfully, and how we are so powerless 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.640 to resist. So he cites the fact that he was 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:36.640 formerly a design ethicistic Google and he spent his life 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.880 studying security vulnerabilities in the human brain. Ways to trick 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.400 the brain and subvert its will without the person ever 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:48.080 realizing what's happening. In his words, quote how technology hijacks 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:52.320 are psychological vulnerabilities, and he goes on the list ten 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:56.920 ways that technology mapul manipulates and controls us invisibly. I'll 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:58.840 try to mention them all, but explain a few of 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.080 them in depth. One of them is that when you 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:06.480 have a technological platform that allows people to use it freely, 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:11.800 that platform controls the menu of options that people have 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:15.840 available to them. And yet it's still simulates the feeling 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:18.600 of having free choice, right. I mean, it's kind of 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:22.200 like asking a five year old what they want for dinner. 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:24.600 You you don't you don't let them have free range. 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:26.240 You don't say what do you want? You say, do 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.240 you want broccoli or spinach? Right? You give them the 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.480 choices that you are already prepared to make, and you 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.240 don't have a third choice that you that you are 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.680 totally not into yourself. Right, And well, that makes a 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.040 lot of sense with the child, and maybe sometimes with 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.920 certain types of bosses, but that is also how these 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.840 apps work. They have the feeling of giving us a 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:48.680 lot of choice by giving us a menu of options 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:52.600 of things to do, but also by discouraging us from 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.760 wondering why aren't I allowed to do different things that 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.280 aren't on this list? Okay, So the idea here is, 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.000 again we have an illusion of choice, but we're still 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:05.920 being herded into a few pre selected ideal choices, right, 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.120 and generally, what those pre selected ideal choices do is 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.640 keep us engaged with the apps and platforms we're using. 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:16.880 So instead of uh, instead of thinking of the open 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.840 ended question, who could I hang out with tonight? Instead, 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:22.720 the apps on your phone encourage you to think, who 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.320 are the most recent people I've been texting with that 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.800 I could pay about this and continue texting with. Or 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.040 instead of what's happening in the world an open ended question, 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.240 you could investigate lots of ways, it becomes let's see 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:41.120 what's happening on my news app feed? Keeps me engaged 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.880 with the device and with the app on it, Yes, 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.240 and which stories have been updated? And okay are they 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:48.280 going to be updated? Now? Oh? I better check it again, 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.120 see if that story has been updated once more. The 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.600 second point that Harris makes, I think is maybe the 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.960 most important point on the whole list. He he draws 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:57.320 a lot of attention to it, And I think this 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:02.520 is very important. We've discussed slow machines on the show before, yes, 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.400 we I don't think it's uh, it's unfair for us 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:07.680 to say that that we do not like slot machines. 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.760 They are these highly advanced, very smart, highly developed parasites 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:17.120 that are engineered perfectly to drain us of money by 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:22.040 appealing to our reward seeking minds. But why are slot 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.120 machines so addictive? What's the trick like? One of the 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.160 things that has pointed out in harris His essay is 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:29.680 that he cites the work of the n y U 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:34.720 professor Natasha Dao school, author of Addiction by Design, which 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:39.320 found that people get quote problematically involved with slot machines 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.480 three to four times faster than they do with other 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.400 types of gambling. So why would that be? Why are 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:50.680 slot machines so much more effective at causing problem gambling 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:54.160 behaviors than a craps table or a poker game. Well, 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:57.080 I mean, on one hand, it's certainly a farm more 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.600 mindless endeavor. Right, You're just you're just to pull on 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.000 the level, You're just essentially hitting refresh and seeing what happens. 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:05.680 Am I a winner? This time, I am a winner. 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.880 This time, there's no there's no strategy, there's no there's 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.040 certainly no card counting. It's just let me take another 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.640 go at it and see what life a k A. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.720 The machine that had been programmed to drain my money, uh, 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.280 to see what it allows to happen. Yeah, and apparently 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:25.880 the number one factor making slot machines so devilishly irresistible 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:31.600 and addictive is what's called quote intermittent variable rewards. Intermittent 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.160 variable rewards. This means that you create a circuit where 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:37.880 a simple user action, just like you're talking about pressing 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:42.360 a button, pulling a lever, reloading a page, opening an app, 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:46.720 very simple action to do, leads to a variable reward 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.560 at a variable rate. So variable reward means that when 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:54.120 you complete the user action, sometimes you get nothing, sometimes 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:56.800 you get a small reward, sometimes you get a big reward. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.440 And the variable rate means that it's not predictive will win. 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.200 These rewards will come in a sequence of actions. Yeah, 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.160 It's it's like checking Twitter, for instance. Yeah, I refresh, 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:09.119 and who knows what I'll get. Maybe I'll get to 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.120 have a notification. Yeah, and somebody at mention, Yes, somebody's 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.080 talking to me or about me, or my favorite comedian 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.359 has a funny statement to make. There's a new trailer 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.040 for a movie I want, or oh, nuclear war, it 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.560 could be it could be anything right, or the message inbox, 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.760 likes on a post or a tweet, the matches on 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:32.040 a dating app. It's all intermittent variable rewards. You keep refreshing, 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.280 you keep checking, hoping that there will be some reward, 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.920 and sometimes there is. Sometimes there's something that's a little 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:42.320 bit socially gratifying, sometimes there's something that's a lot socially gratifying. 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.560 Sometimes there's nothing. There's nothing. A lot of times there's nothing. 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:48.280 And when there is nothing, that actually really keeps you 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:52.200 checking it once you keeps you searching that next reward. 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:56.520 So the intermittent variable rewards matrix is an extremely powerful 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.359 exploit on the human mind. It's a it's a known 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.359 vulnerable pity, and most tech devices like phones and stuff 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:07.200 and the most used apps are making use of intermittent 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.600 variable rewards. Now, Harris mentions that this kind of thing 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.840 doesn't have to be an intentional design at first, like 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.480 apps could land on these strategies by accident. They didn't. 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:20.280 They didn't have to say let's make it a slot 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.679 machine from the beginning, But once it works like a 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:27.320 slot machine, they realize that that's very effective and maximizing 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:31.719 time on site or user engagement or repeated pickups throughout 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.879 the day. Yeah, it's kind of a parallel evolution type situation, 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.159 right where this particular form moves the fastest through water. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.320 This is the design that has been selected. Okay. A 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:45.200 third point Harris makes is that these apps encourage us 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:48.600 to think, what if I miss something important? Well, we 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:50.200 have a bit little bit of a fear of missing 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:52.959 out and all of that, but also, yeah, I do 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:54.960 want to know if there's nuclear war. I'm not I'm 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:57.359 not exactly sure why. There may not be much that 0:18:57.400 --> 0:18:59.760 I can do, but it's gonna be something. It's it's 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.919 an important event, and I need to know that it 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:07.160 has happened. Another thing, he mentions our desire for social approval. 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:10.240 They really play on this, like, we are largely social 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:15.439 creatures with socially shaped brains, and we're highly motivated by 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:20.040 feelings of social inclusion and approval and avoiding feelings of 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:24.000 social exclusion and disapproval. So when somebody thinks to quote 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:28.560 mention you on Facebook. You've seen this, uh this capability, right, 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.280 you can tag a person's name and a post on Facebook. 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:35.400 This feels intensely rewarding to people. But I got mentioned 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.439 it was me, I'm I'm what this person was thinking about? Right, 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:40.920 and then you click and you see, oh wait, they 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:45.600 tagged everybody, yeah and so. But unfortunately, these mentions, as 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.080 rewarding as they feel, they don't spring forth directly from 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:53.280 people's social relationships. You'll notice that Facebook tries to get 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.439 people to do this. It tries to make you mention 0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:00.080 other Facebook users as often as possible, suggesting they be 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:03.159 tagged in photos, suggesting they be named and tagged in 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.040 the post you're making, and so forth. Also, have you 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:10.080 ever noticed how the Facebook news feed algorithm favors prominent 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.359 and repeated display of posts that have comments saying the 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:18.560 word congratulations. I have not noticed this. Tried this sometimes, 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:22.240 like if somebody posts something that has no congratulatory content, 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:27.080 nothing worth congratulating in it, just start commenting congratulations on it. 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:30.199 I think that this moves that post up in the 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:33.359 news feed and more people see it. And because they 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.800 want to get people engaging with some kind of chain 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.000 of social approval, which keeps people glued to the app 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.240 see this is this is probably one of those situations 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:43.199 where I would have assumed it had more to do 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:47.159 with my attention, the idea that I'm more inclined to 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:50.520 notice when somebody else has been congratulated on something, and 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.520 that may go in like negative or positive directions, right 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.400 because it could be somebody that I deeply care about them, 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:58.600 or it's you know, or it's me, and of course 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:01.399 I'm invested in them getting congratulate relations or I'm I'm 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:04.040 I have this kind of bitter feeling where it's like, ah, 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:05.840 then look at that they got a new puppy dog 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:07.720 and the getting all these congratulations about it. I don't 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.760 have a puppy dog. Well, either way, you're engaged, aren't you. 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:14.760 But I don't know if that's the case. I really 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:17.200 strongly think that's the case. That's not a point Harris 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.400 makes about congratulations. That was just something I think I've observed, 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:23.040 But I wonder I really do see it seeming to 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:25.879 get highlighted and moved up. Sometimes Facebook will even like 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:30.200 bold the word congratulations in the comments as they display 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.960 on your news feed. Another point Harris mentions is playing 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:39.600 upon our feeling of responsibility for social reciprocity. Somebody followed you, 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:43.120 better follow them back. Somebody wrote you a LinkedIn recommendation, 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:46.920 Better write one for them. Here's a really devious iteration 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:50.040 of this. Why did Facebook start doing that thing in 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.680 Facebook Messenger where it tells the sender that the message 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:57.040 has been seen. Oh yeah, that's that's It's like they're 0:21:57.080 --> 0:21:59.639 just trying to get you in trouble for for dragging 0:21:59.640 --> 0:22:02.960 your feet. It puts pressure on the recipient of a 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.440 message to respond. You can't pretend you haven't read the message. 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.080 It tells them you saw it, so now you really 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:11.680 need to spend some time in the app composing a response, 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:14.359 or or it's something like in a chat where it's 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:17.000 saying Joe is typing a response and oh, one what 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:19.159 he's chatting. Oh he's really been going at this for 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:21.120 a while. This must be great, and then he never 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:23.640 sends it and he's like, oh, what was it? What 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:27.000 was this epic poem that Joe was composing. I can't 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:30.439 remember where I saw this cartoon, but it was hilarious 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:32.560 where I probably just saw it on some social media 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:35.800 feed anonymously in the middle of the ether, but it 0:22:35.880 --> 0:22:40.920