AI transcript
0:00:02 – Okay, business leaders, are you here to play
0:00:04 or are you playing to win?
0:00:07 If you’re in it to win, meet your next MVP.
0:00:08 NetSuite by Oracle.
0:00:10 NetSuite is your full business management system
0:00:12 in one convenient suite.
0:00:13 With NetSuite, you’re running your accounting,
0:00:15 your finance, your HR, your e-commerce,
0:00:18 and more all from your online dashboard.
0:00:20 Upgrade your playbook and make the switch to NetSuite,
0:00:23 the number one cloud ERP.
0:00:25 Get the CFO’s guide to AI and machine learning
0:00:30 at netsuite.com/vox, netsuite.com/vox.
0:00:34 – Paradise is an all new series set in a serene community
0:00:37 inhabited by some of the world’s most prominent individuals,
0:00:41 but this tranquility explodes when a shocking murder occurs
0:00:43 and a high stakes investigation unfolds,
0:00:46 starring Sterling K. Brown, James Marston,
0:00:47 and Julianne Nicholson.
0:00:50 Paradise is now streaming only on Disney Plus.
0:00:56 – On Explain It To Me, we treat every single question
0:00:59 you ask us with the utmost professionalism.
0:01:02 What was your initial reaction when you read that question?
0:01:06 – Honestly, like my gut initial reaction was like, oh, honey.
0:01:08 Like, yeah, I’m kind of like, okay, all right.
0:01:10 I’m glad you said that.
0:01:11 – There are no bad questions,
0:01:15 but there are some that are really hard to answer.
0:01:16 This week on Explain It To Me,
0:01:19 Segal Samuel tells us why those are the ones
0:01:20 she gravitates towards.
0:01:24 New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:01:33 – I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:37 America has been described as an attention economy.
0:01:39 That’s incorrect.
0:01:40 We’re an addiction economy.
0:01:45 Addiction economy, as read by George Hahn.
0:01:53 – It’s the final day of dry January.
0:01:55 I tried it, didn’t last.
0:01:59 I’m now drinking again like a Pan Am pilot in the ’70s.
0:02:03 Anyway, the 22% of US adults who abstained
0:02:06 from alcohol this month will get a personality upgrade
0:02:08 just in time for the Super Bowl.
0:02:11 Ostensibly, the Super Bowl is a contest
0:02:12 between the two best football teams,
0:02:16 but really, it’s a platform for the real economy.
0:02:18 The addiction economy.
0:02:21 As Matthew McConaughey says in the latest ad
0:02:23 from Uber Eats, quote,
0:02:25 the whole game is basically an elaborate scheme
0:02:29 to make you buy more food, unquote.
0:02:32 Super Bowl ads are a proxy for the addiction economy
0:02:35 as advertisers for the food industrial complex,
0:02:39 beer and alcohol brands, online gambling, crypto,
0:02:44 and social media platforms offer you dopa on demand.
0:02:47 But there’s a downside to gorging, no?
0:02:49 Not to worry, there will also be ads
0:02:52 from the medical pharma industrial complex
0:02:55 for products that manage some of the damage.
0:02:59 Pundits claim we live in an attention economy.
0:03:00 We don’t.
0:03:04 Attention is just a metric for addiction.
0:03:08 The addiction economy is broader, encompassing media,
0:03:13 technology, alcohol, tobacco, gaming, pharma, and healthcare.
0:03:17 The world’s most valuable resource
0:03:22 isn’t data, compute, oil, or rare earth metals.
0:03:26 It’s dopa, i.e. the fuel of the addiction economy,
0:03:30 which runs the most valuable companies in history.
0:03:34 Addiction has always been a component of capitalism.
0:03:36 Nothing rivals the power of craving
0:03:40 to manufacture demand and support irrational margins.
0:03:43 Sugar and rum were the dopa delivery systems
0:03:46 and currency of the triangle trade.
0:03:47 Later, the British East India Company
0:03:51 was the Sinaloa cartel of the 19th century,
0:03:55 producing and distributing a product China became addicted to,
0:03:56 opium.
0:03:59 At its peak in the last century,
0:04:02 big tobacco acquired customers with TV ads
0:04:04 and endorsements from doctors.
0:04:07 But the addictive ingredient, nicotine,
0:04:12 is how the industry extracts $86,000 to $195,000 per customer.
0:04:17 And costs those customers $1 million to $2 million
0:04:21 in expenditures, opportunity costs, and healthcare expenses.
0:04:24 Historically, the most valuable companies
0:04:27 turned dopa into consumption.
0:04:31 Over the last 100 years, 15 of the top 30 companies
0:04:33 by cumulative compound return
0:04:37 have been pillars of the addiction economy.
0:04:40 The compounders cluster in tobacco,
0:04:45 Altria, plus 265,528,900%.
0:04:48 The food industrial complex,
0:04:53 Coca-Cola, plus 12,372,265%.
0:05:00 Pharma, Wyeth, plus 5,702,341%.
0:05:07 And retailers, Kroger, plus 2,834,362%.
0:05:13 That sell both substances and treatments.
0:05:16 To predict which companies will be the top compounders
0:05:19 over the next century, consider this.
0:05:22 Eight of the world’s 10 most valuable businesses
0:05:25 turned dopa into attention.
0:05:29 Or make picks and shovels for these dopa merchants.
0:05:33 Given a choice, most lab rats will pick sugar
0:05:36 over cocaine, they’ll even self-administer
0:05:39 electric shocks for a sweet boost.
0:05:42 Sugar stimulates our reward system
0:05:44 20 times faster than cigarettes.
0:05:48 Food companies engineer processed foods,
0:05:50 not to maximize nutrition,
0:05:53 but to hit the so-called bliss point.
0:05:57 The exact combination of saltiness, sweetness,
0:06:01 and other tastes that make their product delicious.
0:06:03 But not so delicious that consumers feel sated
0:06:05 after a small serving.
0:06:10 In other words, their food is engineered for more,
0:06:11 not nutrition.
0:06:19 The industry profits at the expense of its customers’ health.
0:06:23 According to a 2022 meta-analysis,
0:06:27 20% of American adults are addicted to food.
0:06:32 Consumption of processed foods raises your mortality rate
0:06:35 by 25%.
0:06:38 The U.S. has a diabetes epidemic
0:06:42 and an adult obesity rate of 40%.
0:06:45 Compounding this public health crisis?
0:06:49 Food companies have a history of purchasing their competitors.
0:06:51 Diet companies.
0:06:56 In 1978, Heinz bought Weight Watchers for 72 months.
0:06:59 Bought Weight Watchers for $72 million.
0:07:04 Unilever paid $2.3 billion for Slim Fast in 2000.
0:07:10 Nestle purchased Jenny Craig in 2006 for $600 million.
0:07:14 In 2010, the private equity firm
0:07:17 that owns Cinnabon and Carvel Ice Cream
0:07:19 purchased Atkins Nutritionals.
0:07:23 Most of these diet brands were later sold.
0:07:26 These acquisitions are akin to Pablo Escobar
0:07:28 buying the Betty Ford Center.
0:07:33 McDonald’s used to brag, one billion served.
0:07:37 Considering the history of weight loss and diabetes drugs,
0:07:42 desoxy-fedrein, fen-fen, metformin, et cetera,
0:07:45 pharma might just as easily brag, billions prescribed.
0:07:50 After the food industrial complex makes people sick,
0:07:53 we hand them over to the healthcare industrial complex
0:07:57 to treat the chronic conditions of these lifelong customers.
0:08:03 GLP-1 drugs are the most effective weight loss drugs to date
0:08:05 as they make us feel fuller for longer
0:08:09 and suppress hunger cravings by modulating dopa levels.
0:08:15 About 12% of U.S. adults have now taken a GLP-1
0:08:20 and the average GLP-1 user spends 11% less
0:08:23 on food and beverages.
0:08:25 But it’s early days for GLP-1s.
0:08:29 Cost remains a barrier and only one-third
0:08:32 of employer healthcare plans covered GLP-1s
0:08:35 for non-diabetic patients looking to lose weight.
0:08:39 Anecdotally, a Bloomberg Business Week profile
0:08:40 of Bowling Green, Kentucky,
0:08:44 where 4% of the residents take GLP-1s,
0:08:47 tells us that restaurants, grocery stores,
0:08:51 healthcare providers, gyms, and clothing retailers
0:08:54 are all feeling the GLP-1 impact.
0:09:00 If 60 million of the roughly 100 million U.S. adults
0:09:03 who are obese took the drugs,
0:09:08 Goldman Sachs estimates GDP could grow by more than 1%.
0:09:13 As their full impact and second order effects play out,
0:09:16 GLP-1s will likely transform the economy.
0:09:24 Some people, smokers, use to reach for a cigarette
0:09:26 immediately after finishing a meal.
0:09:29 In the movies, they’d reach for a cigarette after sex.
0:09:32 Today, most restaurants are smoke-free,
0:09:35 but phones are ubiquitous before, during,
0:09:37 and after every meal.
0:09:41 We used to pick up a landline, Google it,
0:09:44 to reach out and touch someone.
0:09:46 Now that everyone has a cell phone,
0:09:50 we spend 70% less time with our friends
0:09:52 than we did a decade ago.
0:09:56 We’re addicted to our phones,
0:09:58 and even when we’re not seeking our fix,
0:10:01 our phones are seeking us out,
0:10:06 notifying us on average 46 times per day for adults
0:10:11 and 237 times per day for teens.
0:10:15 In college, I spent too much time smoking pot
0:10:17 and watching Planet of the Apes,
0:10:20 but when I decided to venture on campus,
0:10:23 my bong and Cornelius didn’t send me notifications.
0:10:29 The compounders here are in your pocket.
0:10:31 Sales of iPhones have made up roughly half
0:10:35 of Apple’s revenue since 2009.
0:10:38 Of late, the company has rolled out screen time tracking
0:10:41 and other anti-addiction tools.
0:10:43 Apple’s brand positioning is a bartender
0:10:45 opening an AA chapter.
0:10:49 Alphabet is incentivized to maximize screen time
0:10:53 as 76% of its revenue comes from targeting eyeballs
0:10:54 with advertising.
0:10:58 Alphabet is a niche player in the device market,
0:11:02 but its Android OS, 73% market share,
0:11:07 is the perfect gateway drug as it’s open source and free.
0:11:12 It took us 20 years to wake up to the danger of opiates
0:11:17 and about the same time for the phone, but it is happening.
0:11:21 18 states have passed laws restricting the use of phones
0:11:24 in school and roughly three quarters of schools
0:11:28 have policies restricting their use in the classroom.
0:11:31 Yonder, a firm that makes locking pouches for phones,
0:11:35 has increased sales to schools by 10X
0:11:38 since 2021 to $2.1 million.
0:11:42 When Mark Zuckerberg released a video
0:11:45 announcing the end of Facebook’s fact-checking program,
0:11:47 Jimmy Kimmel joked that Zuck was dressed
0:11:50 like a Molly dealer from Chechnya.
0:11:54 Somehow, all the other billionaire tech boys are jealous,
0:11:57 including the CEO of Metta, Mark Zuckerberg,
0:11:58 who’s been kissing Trump’s ass
0:12:00 like it’s the Blarney Stone lately.
0:12:04 Mark Zuckerberg showed up to debase himself at Mar-a-Lago
0:12:06 shortly after the election.
0:12:10 Today, he released a suspiciously Trump-friendly announcement.
0:12:12 The shoe fits.
0:12:14 The difference?
0:12:16 MDMA makes you euphoric,
0:12:19 while social media makes you anxious and depressed.
0:12:23 As my NYU colleague, Jonathan Hyde, put it,
0:12:26 the unconstrained combination of phones
0:12:28 and social media has been, quote,
0:12:31 “The largest uncontrolled experiment
0:12:36 “humanity has ever performed on its own children,” unquote.
0:12:41 So far, the results are a mental health crisis.
0:12:45 8% of teens are addicted to alcohol or drugs.
0:12:49 24% are addicted to social media.
0:12:52 Unlike other platforms,
0:12:57 TikTok is built around affinities, not the social graph.
0:13:01 If chasing likes from our friends is digital heroin,
0:13:03 TikTok’s AI is fentanyl.
0:13:06 The algorithm rapidly calibrates
0:13:08 what triggers a user’s DOPA response
0:13:11 by feeding them hundreds of videos every hour,
0:13:14 turning the user into a blissed-out zombie.
0:13:18 According to a lawsuit filed by the Kentucky Attorney General,
0:13:23 users can become addicted to TikTok within 35 minutes.
0:13:28 The same lawsuit cited TikTok’s own research,
0:13:33 which stated that, quote, “Compulsive usage interferes
0:13:35 “with essential personal responsibilities,
0:13:39 “including sufficient sleep, work in school,
0:13:43 “and connecting with loved ones,” unquote.
0:13:47 We’re hardwired for addiction.
0:13:49 We’re also wired for conflict,
0:13:51 as competing for scarce resources
0:13:55 has shaped our neurological system to swiftly detect,
0:13:58 assess, and respond to threats,
0:13:59 even before we’re aware of them.
0:14:02 As technology advances,
0:14:06 our wiring makes us more powerful and more vulnerable.
0:14:10 We produce DOPA monsters at internet speed.
0:14:13 We can wage war at a velocity and scale
0:14:16 that risks extinction in the blink of an eye.
0:14:21 Human beings evolved in small, cooperative groups
0:14:24 where loyalty meant survival.
0:14:28 This instinct makes us naturally favor in-groups,
0:14:31 our people, our nation, our ethnicity,
0:14:36 and distrust out-groups, foreigners, outsiders, the other.
0:14:40 Genocide exploits this instinct
0:14:44 by amplifying group identity and dehumanizing outsiders,
0:14:48 making mass killing seem justified or even necessary.
0:14:53 Violence repeated becomes routine.
0:14:57 What was unthinkable on Monday
0:14:59 becomes standard procedure by Friday.
0:15:04 Removing the security details of our political adversaries
0:15:07 who are under real threat from foreign enemies
0:15:11 is simply repackaged violence.
0:15:14 In sum, it’s Tuesday in America.
0:15:19 This week marked the 80th anniversary
0:15:22 of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army.
0:15:26 Our proudest moment, in my view,
0:15:30 was America’s role in arresting this genocide,
0:15:33 which represents the very worst perversion
0:15:35 of human instincts.
0:15:40 Now the U.S. risks becoming the font of this abomination.
0:15:44 The president has repeatedly said that, quote,
0:15:49 “immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country,” unquote.
0:15:53 The world’s richest man is making Nazi gestures
0:15:55 and told a far-right group in Germany, quote,
0:15:59 “It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values,
0:16:02 “and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism
0:16:05 “that dilutes everything,” unquote.
0:16:10 Our worst instincts remain static.
0:16:14 It’s our technology that’s evolving.
0:16:19 Instinct morphing into fear and demonization
0:16:23 coupled with propaganda, rail transport, and Zyklon B
0:16:26 gave rise to the largest murder site in history.
0:16:31 What might happen if these same instincts take root
0:16:34 in a nation with unprecedented industrial might
0:16:37 armed with social media and AI?
0:16:40 We need to cauterize this hate.
0:16:43 People in bots in the comments section
0:16:46 will accuse me of TDS.
0:16:48 Have at it.
0:16:53 The road to fascism is littered with accusations
0:16:55 of overreacting.
0:16:59 So color me overreacting.
0:17:04 It’s both the correct response and impossible to overreact.
0:17:08 Never forget.
0:17:13 – Life is so rich.
0:17:17 (gentle music)
0:17:19 (gentle music)
0:17:22 (gentle music)
0:17:24 you
0:00:04 or are you playing to win?
0:00:07 If you’re in it to win, meet your next MVP.
0:00:08 NetSuite by Oracle.
0:00:10 NetSuite is your full business management system
0:00:12 in one convenient suite.
0:00:13 With NetSuite, you’re running your accounting,
0:00:15 your finance, your HR, your e-commerce,
0:00:18 and more all from your online dashboard.
0:00:20 Upgrade your playbook and make the switch to NetSuite,
0:00:23 the number one cloud ERP.
0:00:25 Get the CFO’s guide to AI and machine learning
0:00:30 at netsuite.com/vox, netsuite.com/vox.
0:00:34 – Paradise is an all new series set in a serene community
0:00:37 inhabited by some of the world’s most prominent individuals,
0:00:41 but this tranquility explodes when a shocking murder occurs
0:00:43 and a high stakes investigation unfolds,
0:00:46 starring Sterling K. Brown, James Marston,
0:00:47 and Julianne Nicholson.
0:00:50 Paradise is now streaming only on Disney Plus.
0:00:56 – On Explain It To Me, we treat every single question
0:00:59 you ask us with the utmost professionalism.
0:01:02 What was your initial reaction when you read that question?
0:01:06 – Honestly, like my gut initial reaction was like, oh, honey.
0:01:08 Like, yeah, I’m kind of like, okay, all right.
0:01:10 I’m glad you said that.
0:01:11 – There are no bad questions,
0:01:15 but there are some that are really hard to answer.
0:01:16 This week on Explain It To Me,
0:01:19 Segal Samuel tells us why those are the ones
0:01:20 she gravitates towards.
0:01:24 New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:01:33 – I’m Scott Galloway, and this is No Mercy, No Malice.
0:01:37 America has been described as an attention economy.
0:01:39 That’s incorrect.
0:01:40 We’re an addiction economy.
0:01:45 Addiction economy, as read by George Hahn.
0:01:53 – It’s the final day of dry January.
0:01:55 I tried it, didn’t last.
0:01:59 I’m now drinking again like a Pan Am pilot in the ’70s.
0:02:03 Anyway, the 22% of US adults who abstained
0:02:06 from alcohol this month will get a personality upgrade
0:02:08 just in time for the Super Bowl.
0:02:11 Ostensibly, the Super Bowl is a contest
0:02:12 between the two best football teams,
0:02:16 but really, it’s a platform for the real economy.
0:02:18 The addiction economy.
0:02:21 As Matthew McConaughey says in the latest ad
0:02:23 from Uber Eats, quote,
0:02:25 the whole game is basically an elaborate scheme
0:02:29 to make you buy more food, unquote.
0:02:32 Super Bowl ads are a proxy for the addiction economy
0:02:35 as advertisers for the food industrial complex,
0:02:39 beer and alcohol brands, online gambling, crypto,
0:02:44 and social media platforms offer you dopa on demand.
0:02:47 But there’s a downside to gorging, no?
0:02:49 Not to worry, there will also be ads
0:02:52 from the medical pharma industrial complex
0:02:55 for products that manage some of the damage.
0:02:59 Pundits claim we live in an attention economy.
0:03:00 We don’t.
0:03:04 Attention is just a metric for addiction.
0:03:08 The addiction economy is broader, encompassing media,
0:03:13 technology, alcohol, tobacco, gaming, pharma, and healthcare.
0:03:17 The world’s most valuable resource
0:03:22 isn’t data, compute, oil, or rare earth metals.
0:03:26 It’s dopa, i.e. the fuel of the addiction economy,
0:03:30 which runs the most valuable companies in history.
0:03:34 Addiction has always been a component of capitalism.
0:03:36 Nothing rivals the power of craving
0:03:40 to manufacture demand and support irrational margins.
0:03:43 Sugar and rum were the dopa delivery systems
0:03:46 and currency of the triangle trade.
0:03:47 Later, the British East India Company
0:03:51 was the Sinaloa cartel of the 19th century,
0:03:55 producing and distributing a product China became addicted to,
0:03:56 opium.
0:03:59 At its peak in the last century,
0:04:02 big tobacco acquired customers with TV ads
0:04:04 and endorsements from doctors.
0:04:07 But the addictive ingredient, nicotine,
0:04:12 is how the industry extracts $86,000 to $195,000 per customer.
0:04:17 And costs those customers $1 million to $2 million
0:04:21 in expenditures, opportunity costs, and healthcare expenses.
0:04:24 Historically, the most valuable companies
0:04:27 turned dopa into consumption.
0:04:31 Over the last 100 years, 15 of the top 30 companies
0:04:33 by cumulative compound return
0:04:37 have been pillars of the addiction economy.
0:04:40 The compounders cluster in tobacco,
0:04:45 Altria, plus 265,528,900%.
0:04:48 The food industrial complex,
0:04:53 Coca-Cola, plus 12,372,265%.
0:05:00 Pharma, Wyeth, plus 5,702,341%.
0:05:07 And retailers, Kroger, plus 2,834,362%.
0:05:13 That sell both substances and treatments.
0:05:16 To predict which companies will be the top compounders
0:05:19 over the next century, consider this.
0:05:22 Eight of the world’s 10 most valuable businesses
0:05:25 turned dopa into attention.
0:05:29 Or make picks and shovels for these dopa merchants.
0:05:33 Given a choice, most lab rats will pick sugar
0:05:36 over cocaine, they’ll even self-administer
0:05:39 electric shocks for a sweet boost.
0:05:42 Sugar stimulates our reward system
0:05:44 20 times faster than cigarettes.
0:05:48 Food companies engineer processed foods,
0:05:50 not to maximize nutrition,
0:05:53 but to hit the so-called bliss point.
0:05:57 The exact combination of saltiness, sweetness,
0:06:01 and other tastes that make their product delicious.
0:06:03 But not so delicious that consumers feel sated
0:06:05 after a small serving.
0:06:10 In other words, their food is engineered for more,
0:06:11 not nutrition.
0:06:19 The industry profits at the expense of its customers’ health.
0:06:23 According to a 2022 meta-analysis,
0:06:27 20% of American adults are addicted to food.
0:06:32 Consumption of processed foods raises your mortality rate
0:06:35 by 25%.
0:06:38 The U.S. has a diabetes epidemic
0:06:42 and an adult obesity rate of 40%.
0:06:45 Compounding this public health crisis?
0:06:49 Food companies have a history of purchasing their competitors.
0:06:51 Diet companies.
0:06:56 In 1978, Heinz bought Weight Watchers for 72 months.
0:06:59 Bought Weight Watchers for $72 million.
0:07:04 Unilever paid $2.3 billion for Slim Fast in 2000.
0:07:10 Nestle purchased Jenny Craig in 2006 for $600 million.
0:07:14 In 2010, the private equity firm
0:07:17 that owns Cinnabon and Carvel Ice Cream
0:07:19 purchased Atkins Nutritionals.
0:07:23 Most of these diet brands were later sold.
0:07:26 These acquisitions are akin to Pablo Escobar
0:07:28 buying the Betty Ford Center.
0:07:33 McDonald’s used to brag, one billion served.
0:07:37 Considering the history of weight loss and diabetes drugs,
0:07:42 desoxy-fedrein, fen-fen, metformin, et cetera,
0:07:45 pharma might just as easily brag, billions prescribed.
0:07:50 After the food industrial complex makes people sick,
0:07:53 we hand them over to the healthcare industrial complex
0:07:57 to treat the chronic conditions of these lifelong customers.
0:08:03 GLP-1 drugs are the most effective weight loss drugs to date
0:08:05 as they make us feel fuller for longer
0:08:09 and suppress hunger cravings by modulating dopa levels.
0:08:15 About 12% of U.S. adults have now taken a GLP-1
0:08:20 and the average GLP-1 user spends 11% less
0:08:23 on food and beverages.
0:08:25 But it’s early days for GLP-1s.
0:08:29 Cost remains a barrier and only one-third
0:08:32 of employer healthcare plans covered GLP-1s
0:08:35 for non-diabetic patients looking to lose weight.
0:08:39 Anecdotally, a Bloomberg Business Week profile
0:08:40 of Bowling Green, Kentucky,
0:08:44 where 4% of the residents take GLP-1s,
0:08:47 tells us that restaurants, grocery stores,
0:08:51 healthcare providers, gyms, and clothing retailers
0:08:54 are all feeling the GLP-1 impact.
0:09:00 If 60 million of the roughly 100 million U.S. adults
0:09:03 who are obese took the drugs,
0:09:08 Goldman Sachs estimates GDP could grow by more than 1%.
0:09:13 As their full impact and second order effects play out,
0:09:16 GLP-1s will likely transform the economy.
0:09:24 Some people, smokers, use to reach for a cigarette
0:09:26 immediately after finishing a meal.
0:09:29 In the movies, they’d reach for a cigarette after sex.
0:09:32 Today, most restaurants are smoke-free,
0:09:35 but phones are ubiquitous before, during,
0:09:37 and after every meal.
0:09:41 We used to pick up a landline, Google it,
0:09:44 to reach out and touch someone.
0:09:46 Now that everyone has a cell phone,
0:09:50 we spend 70% less time with our friends
0:09:52 than we did a decade ago.
0:09:56 We’re addicted to our phones,
0:09:58 and even when we’re not seeking our fix,
0:10:01 our phones are seeking us out,
0:10:06 notifying us on average 46 times per day for adults
0:10:11 and 237 times per day for teens.
0:10:15 In college, I spent too much time smoking pot
0:10:17 and watching Planet of the Apes,
0:10:20 but when I decided to venture on campus,
0:10:23 my bong and Cornelius didn’t send me notifications.
0:10:29 The compounders here are in your pocket.
0:10:31 Sales of iPhones have made up roughly half
0:10:35 of Apple’s revenue since 2009.
0:10:38 Of late, the company has rolled out screen time tracking
0:10:41 and other anti-addiction tools.
0:10:43 Apple’s brand positioning is a bartender
0:10:45 opening an AA chapter.
0:10:49 Alphabet is incentivized to maximize screen time
0:10:53 as 76% of its revenue comes from targeting eyeballs
0:10:54 with advertising.
0:10:58 Alphabet is a niche player in the device market,
0:11:02 but its Android OS, 73% market share,
0:11:07 is the perfect gateway drug as it’s open source and free.
0:11:12 It took us 20 years to wake up to the danger of opiates
0:11:17 and about the same time for the phone, but it is happening.
0:11:21 18 states have passed laws restricting the use of phones
0:11:24 in school and roughly three quarters of schools
0:11:28 have policies restricting their use in the classroom.
0:11:31 Yonder, a firm that makes locking pouches for phones,
0:11:35 has increased sales to schools by 10X
0:11:38 since 2021 to $2.1 million.
0:11:42 When Mark Zuckerberg released a video
0:11:45 announcing the end of Facebook’s fact-checking program,
0:11:47 Jimmy Kimmel joked that Zuck was dressed
0:11:50 like a Molly dealer from Chechnya.
0:11:54 Somehow, all the other billionaire tech boys are jealous,
0:11:57 including the CEO of Metta, Mark Zuckerberg,
0:11:58 who’s been kissing Trump’s ass
0:12:00 like it’s the Blarney Stone lately.
0:12:04 Mark Zuckerberg showed up to debase himself at Mar-a-Lago
0:12:06 shortly after the election.
0:12:10 Today, he released a suspiciously Trump-friendly announcement.
0:12:12 The shoe fits.
0:12:14 The difference?
0:12:16 MDMA makes you euphoric,
0:12:19 while social media makes you anxious and depressed.
0:12:23 As my NYU colleague, Jonathan Hyde, put it,
0:12:26 the unconstrained combination of phones
0:12:28 and social media has been, quote,
0:12:31 “The largest uncontrolled experiment
0:12:36 “humanity has ever performed on its own children,” unquote.
0:12:41 So far, the results are a mental health crisis.
0:12:45 8% of teens are addicted to alcohol or drugs.
0:12:49 24% are addicted to social media.
0:12:52 Unlike other platforms,
0:12:57 TikTok is built around affinities, not the social graph.
0:13:01 If chasing likes from our friends is digital heroin,
0:13:03 TikTok’s AI is fentanyl.
0:13:06 The algorithm rapidly calibrates
0:13:08 what triggers a user’s DOPA response
0:13:11 by feeding them hundreds of videos every hour,
0:13:14 turning the user into a blissed-out zombie.
0:13:18 According to a lawsuit filed by the Kentucky Attorney General,
0:13:23 users can become addicted to TikTok within 35 minutes.
0:13:28 The same lawsuit cited TikTok’s own research,
0:13:33 which stated that, quote, “Compulsive usage interferes
0:13:35 “with essential personal responsibilities,
0:13:39 “including sufficient sleep, work in school,
0:13:43 “and connecting with loved ones,” unquote.
0:13:47 We’re hardwired for addiction.
0:13:49 We’re also wired for conflict,
0:13:51 as competing for scarce resources
0:13:55 has shaped our neurological system to swiftly detect,
0:13:58 assess, and respond to threats,
0:13:59 even before we’re aware of them.
0:14:02 As technology advances,
0:14:06 our wiring makes us more powerful and more vulnerable.
0:14:10 We produce DOPA monsters at internet speed.
0:14:13 We can wage war at a velocity and scale
0:14:16 that risks extinction in the blink of an eye.
0:14:21 Human beings evolved in small, cooperative groups
0:14:24 where loyalty meant survival.
0:14:28 This instinct makes us naturally favor in-groups,
0:14:31 our people, our nation, our ethnicity,
0:14:36 and distrust out-groups, foreigners, outsiders, the other.
0:14:40 Genocide exploits this instinct
0:14:44 by amplifying group identity and dehumanizing outsiders,
0:14:48 making mass killing seem justified or even necessary.
0:14:53 Violence repeated becomes routine.
0:14:57 What was unthinkable on Monday
0:14:59 becomes standard procedure by Friday.
0:15:04 Removing the security details of our political adversaries
0:15:07 who are under real threat from foreign enemies
0:15:11 is simply repackaged violence.
0:15:14 In sum, it’s Tuesday in America.
0:15:19 This week marked the 80th anniversary
0:15:22 of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army.
0:15:26 Our proudest moment, in my view,
0:15:30 was America’s role in arresting this genocide,
0:15:33 which represents the very worst perversion
0:15:35 of human instincts.
0:15:40 Now the U.S. risks becoming the font of this abomination.
0:15:44 The president has repeatedly said that, quote,
0:15:49 “immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country,” unquote.
0:15:53 The world’s richest man is making Nazi gestures
0:15:55 and told a far-right group in Germany, quote,
0:15:59 “It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values,
0:16:02 “and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism
0:16:05 “that dilutes everything,” unquote.
0:16:10 Our worst instincts remain static.
0:16:14 It’s our technology that’s evolving.
0:16:19 Instinct morphing into fear and demonization
0:16:23 coupled with propaganda, rail transport, and Zyklon B
0:16:26 gave rise to the largest murder site in history.
0:16:31 What might happen if these same instincts take root
0:16:34 in a nation with unprecedented industrial might
0:16:37 armed with social media and AI?
0:16:40 We need to cauterize this hate.
0:16:43 People in bots in the comments section
0:16:46 will accuse me of TDS.
0:16:48 Have at it.
0:16:53 The road to fascism is littered with accusations
0:16:55 of overreacting.
0:16:59 So color me overreacting.
0:17:04 It’s both the correct response and impossible to overreact.
0:17:08 Never forget.
0:17:13 – Life is so rich.
0:17:17 (gentle music)
0:17:19 (gentle music)
0:17:22 (gentle music)
0:17:24 you
As read by George Hahn.
Addiction Economy
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