How the Media Broke the World - Liv Boeree

The media's focus on sensationalism and manipulation undermines the ability to solve problems and find common ground, and the need for psycho security to protect ourselves from powerful manipulation tools on the internet is the biggest issue of this decade

Questions to inspire discussion

• How has the media's incentive structure affected information reliability?

  —The media's incentive structure has led to polarization and unreliable information, as people now seek emotional hits rather than facts, contributing to a breakdown in shared reality.

• What are the negative consequences of companies taking shortcuts?

  —Companies taking shortcuts and using cheap materials to stay competitive lead to negative consequences for the world, driven by misaligned game theoretic incentives and short-term rational decisions.

• What is the biggest issue of this decade?

  —The need for psycho security to protect ourselves from powerful manipulation tools on the internet is the biggest issue of this decade.

• How has the media's focus on sensationalism impacted society?

  —The media's focus on clickbaity and rage baity tactics has led to a negative impact on society, incentivizing the use of emotions like fear and rage to maximize impressions and encourage polarization.

• What is the speaker's view on the breakdown of shared reality?

  —The breakdown of shared reality is attributed to the media's focus on controversial topics and conflicting viewpoints, leading to a lack of agreement on important issues.

Key Insights

Media's role in polarization and emotional manipulation

• 😔 People don't tune into the news for facts, but for the emotional hit, leading to a breakdown of shared reality.
• 🔄 The competition dial has been turned up since the internet and social media, leading to a race for more sensational content.
• 😡 The media's incentive to maximize impressions encourages the triggering of rage, leading to tribal frenzy and polarization.
• 📰 The polarization of politics started before the internet, but the internet has accelerated the process.
• 📰 "The function of the media has now become entertainment, people don't tune in to find out the facts, they tune in to get the emotional hit."
• 🤔 Truth matters, and if we can't even agree on truth at a basic level, how are we going to solve any problem?
• 😡 The media is trying to turn us into politically polarized, foaming at the mouth individuals, and we need to build psychological defenses against it.
• 🚀 The release of powerful language manipulation tools to the internet is like running real-time experiments on humanity with unknown consequences.

Long-term consequences of short-term individual decisions

• 📉 Short-term rational decisions by individuals can create long-term negative consequences for the world.
• 🌍 The world's biggest problems, such as future pandemics and climate change, are a result of our inability to effectively coordinate and cooperate.
• 🧠 The biggest issue of this decade is the idea of psycho security to protect ourselves from powerful manipulation tools on the internet.
• 🧠 The need for super intelligence to better coordinate on global issues like climate change raises concerns about vulnerability to tyranny and nightmarish scenarios.

#Media

Clips

• 00:00 📰 The media's incentive structure has led to polarization and unreliable information, as people now seek emotional hits rather than facts, contributing to a breakdown in shared reality.
  • The media's incentive structure has led to polarization and unreliable information, as people now seek emotional hits rather than facts, contributing to a breakdown in shared reality.
  • A story about a cult sacrificing their children in the name of winning is used to illustrate the idea of sacrificing too much in the name of competition, and this concept is connected to modern problems by Scott Alexander in 2014.
  • Companies take shortcuts and use cheap materials to stay competitive, leading to negative consequences for the world, driven by misaligned game theoretic incentives and short-term rational decisions.
  • The media has increasingly resorted to clickbaity and rage baity tactics in order to compete for market share, leading to a negative impact on society.
  • Mainstream media is dying, and while New Media may offer a solution, it is also subject to the same flaws and attention-seeking incentives.
  • The media incentivizes the use of emotions like fear and rage to maximize impressions and encourage sharing and commenting, leading to polarization.
• 06:44 📰 The media's polarization and focus on hype over information has led to a breakdown in shared reality and coordination on important global issues.
  • The polarization and acceleration of media-generated rage and hate campaigns have been ongoing for a long time, with the internet only intensifying the process.
  • Media outlets are becoming less relevant and are biased in their reporting, leading to a breakdown of shared reality.
  • The world is facing major global issues because of the inability to effectively coordinate and cooperate, leading to problems like climate change and future pandemics.
  • The media has become polarized and focused on hype and entertainment rather than informing people, leading to a lack of shared understanding and coordination on important issues.
  • The media's focus on controversial topics and conflicting viewpoints has led to a breakdown in shared reality and a lack of agreement on basic concepts like biology.
  • People should be free to express themselves as long as they don't hurt others, but this can create tension when one person's choice conflicts with another's rights, and issues like the trans community have gained attention despite being a concept that has been around for a long time.
• 16:30 📰 The media's focus on sensationalism and manipulation undermines the ability to solve problems and find common ground, and the need for psycho security to protect ourselves from powerful manipulation tools on the internet is the biggest issue of this decade.
  • The media capitalized on a potential trigger point, inflaming issues for profit, and the speaker is interested in exploring this.
  • Truth matters and the media's focus on sensationalism and manipulation undermines the ability to solve problems and find common ground.
  • The biggest issue of this decade is the need for psycho security to protect ourselves from powerful manipulation tools on the internet, whether used for evil or for profit.
  • Our increasing use of devices, designed for profit and engagement, requires us to build psychological defenses against their negative effects without completely disconnecting.
  • AI technology has the potential to speed up and amplify both the positive and negative aspects of society, including the spread of partisan news and the use of AI by criminal enterprises.
  • Casinos addict people to slot machines with dopamine, and social media is like rudimentary AI that tailors content to our preferences, which is concerning as AI gets stronger.
• 21:54 📺 The media's impact on society and the need for regulation on AI and VI to minimize risks and prioritize human connection for greater happiness.
  • Fume is a natural, flavored air device that helps replace bad habits with fresh air and delicious flavors, providing a more comfortable and enjoyable way to break bad habits.
  • The speaker discusses the unrealistic request for a moratorium on AI, highlighting the broadness of the term and the difficulty in drawing a line.
  • Regulation on the most powerful AI models is necessary to prevent unintended consequences on humanity.
  • The integration of AI and VI into the economy poses unseen risks and big consequences, and more regulation on frontier models is needed to minimize the risk of regulatory capture.
  • Spending less time online and prioritizing human connection can lead to greater happiness and a more natural way of living.
  • Our constant use of phones has led to a decrease in meaningful interactions with others.
• 28:43 🤖 AI and social media have both positive and negative impacts, with potential unintended consequences and risks in the future, including environmental impacts, psychopathic abuse, and mass unemployment.
  • Social media and AI have both positive and negative impacts, with the potential for unintended consequences and risks in the future.
  • AI evolving at a faster rate than biology could lead to unintended consequences, such as using resources we need or creating a byproduct that harms us.
  • The increasing demand for silicon for computing is leading to potential negative impacts on the environment and society, as companies prioritize profit and open sourcing powerful models may pose safety risks.
  • There is a 1% rate of psychopaths on the planet who could potentially cause maximum damage with new technology, posing a category of risk that is difficult to protect against.
  • Mass unemployment is a concern, and there is a negativity bias in the media that focuses on risks rather than benefits.
  • AI can help solve environmental issues, drug discovery, and coordination problems, but it also presents dual use technology risks and the potential for new problems.
• 34:37 🎲 Poker is a game of math and strategy, with the best players now relying on data and AI, but still able to read human behavior to understand people in everyday life.
  • The speaker discusses how she got into poker and the role of luck and strategy in becoming a good poker player.
  • The more you play poker, the less luck matters and the best poker player is an AI that doesn't read human emotion.
  • Poker is a game of math, but in the past, the best players relied on gut feelings and intuition.
  • The game of poker has become more mathematical and data-driven, but the best players are still able to read human behavior, which can be applied to understanding people in everyday life.
  • People's reactions to fear and excitement can be similar, but observing their behavior after making a big action can help discern their true emotions in a game.
  • Mathematics in poker involves determining the best play based on the concept of ranges and the 1,326 possible combinations of two cards in Texas hold'em.
• 42:29 🎲 Think probabilistically and calculate expected value to navigate uncertain information in the modern media landscape.
  • Narrow down your opponent's range of cards while keeping your own range wide in order to extract information and give away as little as possible during a poker game.
  • Poker teaches you to be comfortable with uncertainty and to see things probabilistically, which can be applied to real life strategies.
  • Modern media has made it difficult to discern truth from fiction, but the skill of thinking probabilistically is valuable in navigating uncertain information.
  • Calculate the expected value of potential outcomes to make decisions, a skill not taught in school but highly useful in real life.
  • The speaker discusses the importance of living with uncertainty and probability, and promotes a crowdfunding website that aligns with their values of free speech and honesty.
• 47:53 🎲 Success can lead to overconfidence, poker teaches honesty and focus on process; caution against intuition, practice and exposure therapy for stress, media attention can have negative impact, need to address misaligned incentives and fix the game rather than blaming individuals.
  • Success can lead to overconfidence and a lack of humility, and poker teaches the importance of being honest with oneself and focusing on the process rather than the outcome.
  • Be cautious of over-relying on intuition and instinct in decision-making, as it can lead to emotional bias and cloud rationality.
  • Practice and exposure therapy are key to managing stress and physiological responses in high-stakes situations, and acceptance of stress is important in dealing with it.
  • The speaker discusses winning a large sum of money in a poker tournament, the negative impact of media attention, the increasing difficulty of the game due to AI and better players, and the decision to stop playing and focus on creating content.
  • Society needs to address the misaligned short-term incentives and fundamental structures of systems that are creating race to the bottom spirals within industries.
  • The focus should be on fixing the game rather than blaming individuals, and there are various factors contributing to women underperforming in poker.

------------------------------------- 1:1:19 2023-12-07T13:08:43Z