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The Chaos Machine

The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World

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The Chaos Machine

By: Max Fisher
Narrated by: Peter Ganim
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About this listen

How social media is hacking our minds, our societies and the world—and what we can do about it.

The Chaos Machine is the story of how the world was driven mad by social media. The election of populists like Trump and Bolsonaro; strife and genocide in countries like Myanmar, the rampant spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories as deadly as the pandemic itself, all of these are products of a breakdown in our social and political lives, a breakdown driven by the apps, companies and algorithms that compete constantly for our attention.

Max Fisher is a leading New York Times technology reporter whose work has covered the way that social media sites—driven increasingly by artificial intelligence rather than human ingenuity—push users towards more and more extreme positions, deepening the divisions in society in pursuit of greater engagement and profit. With extraordinary access to the most powerful players in Silicon Valley, and with testimonies from around the world of the havoc being wreaked by our online selves, The Chaos Machine shows us how we got to this uniquely perilous moment—and how we might get out of it.

©2022 Max Fisher (P)2022 Hachette Audio Content Creation & Social Media Media Studies Social Media Social Sciences Technology Silicon Valley

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All stars
Most relevant  
Chilling and well researched description of how and why social media companies are changing our societies

Clear explanation on what social media companies do and why they do it

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Everything in here is both unsurprising and utterly shocking. A version of this story should be on every high school syllabus.

Please Read

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The key premise is that maximisation of profit by our social media platforms necessarily incentivises FB, Google , Reddit , Twitter to win over customer attention via their platforms. The greater is extremity of the content the platform is surreptitiously creating radical groups
including Q’anon , anti semitism , and militant fascism across the globe. The 6th January insurrection , the mass killings in Myanmar and Sri Lanka and the anti vax movement are a direct outcome of the structure and algorithms;
The only way to beat it to turn it all off or conspiracy theories will continue to flourish with dire consequences.
These are not theoretical propositions but a well researched empirical investigation interviewing tens of credible whistleblowers.
FRIGHTENING.

A frightening exposition of big tech as an unwitting accomplice of populism

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We're been run by things we don't understand and don't know how they work and they are destroying liberal democracy

Real talk

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I listened on x1.3 speed as I couldn’t bear the narrator. This hampered my enjoyment a little bit it was absolutely fascinating and a terrifying insight into the power of Facebook and Google.

Fascinating and scary let down by dull, slow narration.

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Having heard Max Fisher on podcasts, it's a pity he didn't narrate here. Too important a story to be let down by such a picky point.

Narration takes away from story

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This is the most fascinating insight into the evils of social media that I could ever come across.
It’s made me rethink my entire relationship with the internet.

Disturbing, depressing and brilliant.

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I've realized how misused the social media are and why I see so many radicalised people there.

Eye-opening work to make our future better

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This is a very good history and analysis of how social media companies have manipulated their users for profit. However, without fail, the message that comes through is that all the problems are on the right. In recent years the biggest problem on social media has been the behaviour of woke activists and the rise of cancel culture, a topic on which very interesting debates can be held, and conclusions drawn, concerning the behaviour of social media companies. None of this is mentioned, but then again, the author is an investigative reporter for the NYT so I guess that is to be expected. That said, it is definitely worth a listen.

Begins well then veers off leftwards

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