From the Ted Talk by Jaron Lanier: How we need to remake the internet
Unscramble the Blue Letters
And so I can't call these things social networks anymore. I call them behavior modification erpemis.
(Applause)
And I refuse to vilify the individuals. I have dear friends at these companies, sold a company to Google, even though I think it's one of these empires. I don't think this is a mtetar of bad people who've done a bad thing. I think this is a matter of a globally tragic, astoundingly ridiculous mistake, rather than a wave of evil.
Let me give you just another layer of diaetl into how this particular mistake functions. So with behaviorism, you give the creature, whether it's a rat or a dog or a person, little treats and sometimes little punishments as feedback to what they do. So if you have an animal in a cage, it might be candy and electric shocks. But if you have a smartphone, it's not those things, it's symbolic punishment and reward. palvov, one of the early behaviorists, demonstrated the famous plrcnpiie. You could tiran a dog to silvatae just with the bell, just with the symbol. So on social networks, social punishment and social reward fotncuin as the puhnniemst and reward. And we all know the fieenlg of these things. You get this little thrill — "Somebody liked my stuff and it's being repeated." Or the punishment: "Oh my God, they don't like me, maybe somebody else is more popular, oh my God." So you have those two very common feelings, and they're deold out in such a way that you get caught in this loop. As has been plclubiy akwlcnogeded by many of the founders of the sysetm, everybody knew this is what was going on.
Open Cloze
And so I can't call these things social networks anymore. I call them behavior modification _______.
(Applause)
And I refuse to vilify the individuals. I have dear friends at these companies, sold a company to Google, even though I think it's one of these empires. I don't think this is a ______ of bad people who've done a bad thing. I think this is a matter of a globally tragic, astoundingly ridiculous mistake, rather than a wave of evil.
Let me give you just another layer of ______ into how this particular mistake functions. So with behaviorism, you give the creature, whether it's a rat or a dog or a person, little treats and sometimes little punishments as feedback to what they do. So if you have an animal in a cage, it might be candy and electric shocks. But if you have a smartphone, it's not those things, it's symbolic punishment and reward. ______, one of the early behaviorists, demonstrated the famous _________. You could _____ a dog to ________ just with the bell, just with the symbol. So on social networks, social punishment and social reward ________ as the __________ and reward. And we all know the _______ of these things. You get this little thrill — "Somebody liked my stuff and it's being repeated." Or the punishment: "Oh my God, they don't like me, maybe somebody else is more popular, oh my God." So you have those two very common feelings, and they're _____ out in such a way that you get caught in this loop. As has been ____________________ by many of the founders of the ______, everybody knew this is what was going on.
Solution
system
empires
detail
punishment
principle
doled
acknowledged
pavlov
matter
feeling
train
publicly
salivate
function
Original Text
And so I can't call these things social networks anymore. I call them behavior modification empires.
(Applause)
And I refuse to vilify the individuals. I have dear friends at these companies, sold a company to Google, even though I think it's one of these empires. I don't think this is a matter of bad people who've done a bad thing. I think this is a matter of a globally tragic, astoundingly ridiculous mistake, rather than a wave of evil.
Let me give you just another layer of detail into how this particular mistake functions. So with behaviorism, you give the creature, whether it's a rat or a dog or a person, little treats and sometimes little punishments as feedback to what they do. So if you have an animal in a cage, it might be candy and electric shocks. But if you have a smartphone, it's not those things, it's symbolic punishment and reward. Pavlov, one of the early behaviorists, demonstrated the famous principle. You could train a dog to salivate just with the bell, just with the symbol. So on social networks, social punishment and social reward function as the punishment and reward. And we all know the feeling of these things. You get this little thrill — "Somebody liked my stuff and it's being repeated." Or the punishment: "Oh my God, they don't like me, maybe somebody else is more popular, oh my God." So you have those two very common feelings, and they're doled out in such a way that you get caught in this loop. As has been publicly acknowledged by many of the founders of the system, everybody knew this is what was going on.