“If we are not careful, we will end up with downgraded humans misusing upgraded computers to wreak havoc on themselves and on the world”
– Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.
It is Suicide Prevention Week, and you will probably see the Netflix full feature, The Social Dilemma, pop up in related search results.
But the 1hr 34 mins film directed by Jeff Orlowski, starring Night at the Museum actor, Skyler Gisondo, really does deserve your time.
A veritable ensemble of tech experts – Google and Twitter former execs like Tristan Harris, Kayra Hayward, and Jaron Lanier are amongst the dramatis personae – come together with experiences and analogies to convince you on why you need to shut down social networking in order to engage with the reality of its dangerous underbelly. Or at the very least, work for its regulation.
Our world and our children, as these experts unanimously conclude, are at risk. Elections are manipulated over Facebook posts and shares. Self-perceptions are influenced by likes and views. A fallacy is enforced by tweets and YouTube opinion videos until everyone calls it logic. Society is diced and segmented into different echo chambers.
The strategies used by the tech organizations to keep their financial gains churning are, as former design ethicist at Google, Tristan Harris, says, manipulative. They are programmed to progress an unchecked level of addiction that is deeply unethical and damaging the way we perceive things and eventually, the truth.
“Only two organizations call their customers ‘users’ – illegal drugs and software”
You can watch the Social Dilemma here.
Please share your thoughts in our comment section.
Runtime: 1:33:41
Ratings: 4.8 Stars (Google audience rating summary), 85% (Rotten Tomatoes), 7.6/10 (IMDb)
Producer: Larissa Rhodes
Director: Jeff Orlowski
Starring: Tristan Harris, Skyler Gisondo, Jaron Lanier, Kara Hayward, Tim Kendall