Recode Decode: "Antisocial" author Andrew Marantz

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2019

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Andrew Marantz, a staff writer at the New Yorker, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno‑Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation. He discusses the danger of designing social media platforms around emotional engagement, how people like Mike Cernovich and Milo Yiannopoulos exploited people's belief in a broad political "consensus," and technology's role in advancing hate and extremism online. Marantz also explains what he calls the culture of "big swinging brains" in Silicon Valley, and why banning people from Twitter — including President Trump — isn't a comprehensive solution. Featuring: Andrew Marantz (@andrewmarantz), staff writer at the New Yorker and author of Antisocial. Hosts: Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large More to explore: Subscribe for free to Pivot, Kara’s podcast with NYU Professor Scott Galloway that offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics. About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us. Follow Us: Newsletter: Recode Daily Twitter: @Recode and @voxdotcom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Cara Swisher, editor, large of recode.
0:04.0	You may know me as someone who thinks everyone should be kicked off Twitter, except me,
0:07.8	Chrissy Teagan, and maybe George Conway.
0:10.4	But in my spare time, I talk tech, and you're listening to recode decode from the Vox Media
0:14.4	Podcast Network.
0:15.8	Today in the red chair is Andrew Morance, a staff writer of The New Yorker who has just released
0:20.4	a very important book.
0:21.4	It's called Anti-Social Online is Extremics, Techno Utopians, and the hijacking of the American
0:27.2	conversation.
0:28.2	It's something I talk about a lot.
0:29.8	In his book, he explains how the alt-right cynically took advantage of the freedom they
0:33.8	had online, bringing extreme voices into the mainstream.
0:36.9	Andrew, this is my jam.
0:39.2	I'm so excited to have you here on recode decode.
0:41.9	So let's talk a little bit about how you got to this book.
0:44.7	I want to talk a lot about what's in the book.
0:46.6	Talk about your background a little bit, so we have some sense of how you got to this.
0:50.2	Yeah, so I started at The New Yorker in 2011 as an editor and a little bit as a writer,
0:55.7	and then I shifted more into writing.
0:57.8	And around 2014, 2015, I was seeing as a lot of people, as you were media and tech and
1:04.3	business are all kind of glomming into this one swamp of stuff and it's changing everything
1:09.0	about how we understand our world.
	...

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