NEW EPISODE of #YourUndividedAttention: "Mr. Harris [Zooms] to Washington"
On April 27, I testified for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on how social media algorithms rewire society, alongside policy leads for FB, Twitter, YouTube.
↘️Listen here: bit.ly/3bhBndD
In this episode, @aza and I reflect on what was different since I last testified to the Senate in 2019, challenge the "we fixed it" arguments of tech platforms, share what I wish I'd said in the hearing, and tactical solutions like Amplification Transparency & Liability:
My goal was to transform the conversation:
Fixing social media isn't about filtering out a greater % of "bad content" but fixing a broken "Engagement Model" that profits from turning American society into a narcissistic cacophony that prevent us from solving ANY of our problems
Will Digital Autocratic societies or Digital Open societies lead the 21st century?
Digital Autocratic societies like China are using A.I. and digitization to create stronger and more oppressive autocratic societies– an "Orwellian" societal brain implant to run their country.
By contrast, Digital Open Societies like the U.S. are *not* using A.I. to make better, healthier open societies.
Open societies like the U.S., Europe are allowing market forces between tech companies to degrade open societies into total dysfunction– a "Huxleyan" brain implant🤯
Our task is for Digital Open Societies to figure out how to consciously employ public interest A.I. and digitization to make better, healthier open societies – not dysfunctional ones.
We either figure that out or China rules the 21st century:
Moreover, we should notice that Digital Autocratic societies like China and Russia are *actively* using the openness of democracies like the United States against themselves, waging remote-control information warfare:
spectator.co.uk/article/how-ch…
There are reasons to feel hopeful — lawmakers @BenSasse @ChrisCoons get that the fundamental business & design of social media platforms is behind the derangement of our society & brought the tech companies back to this question more than ever.
Listen: bit.ly/3bhBndD
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