#1334 Your Life Will Have Been What You Paid Attention To (Attention Economy)
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 February 2020
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 2/5/2020
Today we take a look at the past, present and future of behavior modification from worms to pigeons to prisoners, and finally, internet users.
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SHOW NOTES
Kai and Amanda talk with several experts about how humans are persuaded and the modern psychology of persuasion.
Ch. 2: Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff Part 1 - You Are Not So Smart - Air Date 1-13-19
Douglas Rushkoff explains why we should revolt against the algorithms so we can get back to our essential human messiness.
Ch. 3: Yuval Noah Harari and Tristan Harris - Wired Magazine - Air Date 12-3-18
Discussing the unsettling fact that humans have far less agency over their thoughts and actions as we desperately want to believe
Ch. 4: Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff Part 2 - You Are Not So Smart - Air Date 1-13-19
Douglas Rushkoff explains why we should revolt against the algorithms so we can get back to our essential human messiness.
Kai and Amanda talk with several experts about how humans are persuaded and the modern psychology of persuasion.
Ch. 6: Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff Part 3 - You Are Not So Smart - Air Date 1-13-19
Douglas Rushkoff explains why we should revolt against the algorithms so we can get back to our essential human messiness.
Ch. 7: Buying Attention - Hidden Brain - Air Date 1-1-18
In the internet age, viral stories and fake news have grown more powerful - algorithms give us exactly what pushes our buttons, and gave Trump his power.
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 8: Iowa caucus - Alan from Connecticut
Ch. 9: The positive uses of anger - Chris from San Diego
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 10: Final comments on my neoliberal nightmare of a day
Limerick of the day from @Limerick_News
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Astrisx - Bodytonic
- Swapping Tubes - Studio J
- Wingspan - Bayou Birds
- Thannoid - Bodytonic
- Entrap - Darby
- PolyCoat - The Cabinetmaker
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award winning best of the left podcast in which we shall |
| 0:06.8 | learn about the past, present, and future of behavior modification from worms and pigeons |
| 0:13.9 | to prisoners and then finally all of us, internet users. |
| 0:18.4 | Stick around at the end of the show for a little background story of how this episode |
| 0:23.0 | came to be made which turned out to be like some sort of snake eating its own tail sort |
| 0:29.9 | of situation. |
| 0:30.9 | It comes today from the steaks. |
| 0:34.0 | You are not so smart, wired magazine, and hidden brain. |
| 0:38.0 | Larry, how would you define behavior modification? |
| 0:47.4 | Well, it sounds like a no brainer. |
| 0:49.9 | If you think about it, a person is behaving in a particular way and you would like to |
| 0:54.0 | modify it, you'd like to change it, behavior will change. |
| 0:57.4 | And basically these are done through rewards and punishments. |
| 1:00.2 | In a sense, this is what McConnell was doing when he was training worms. |
| 1:10.0 | You might remember this from our last episode. |
| 1:13.1 | After he did the simple conditioning which paired light with a shock, he then would put |
| 1:18.0 | them in a maze and the worms would slither along and they had to go either left or right |
| 1:23.0 | and you would basically use rewards and punishments to try to get the animal to behave one way |
| 1:28.9 | rather than another. |
| 1:30.5 | This is different than pairing a shock with a light and then watching to see how the |
| 1:35.4 | animal reacts. |
| 1:37.0 | The key here is how the behavior changes when you give the animal a punishment or a reward. |
... |
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