The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media
Rewired Our Minds and Our World | Hardcover

Max Fisher

Little, Brown and Company

Social Science / Sociology - Social Theory / Business & Economics / Industries - Computers & Information Technology / Psychology / Social Psychology

Published Sep 6, 2022

"We all have a vague sense that social media is bad for our
minds, for our children, and for our democracies. But the truth
is that its reach and impact run far deeper than we have
understood.

"Building on years of international reporting, Max Fisher tells
the gripping and galling inside story of how Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, and other social network preyed on psychological
frailties to create the algorithms that drive everyday users to
extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions. As Fisher
demonstrates, the companies' founding tenets, combined with a
blinkered focus on maximizing engagement, have led to a
destabilized world for everyone.

"Traversing the planet, Fisher tracks the ubiquity of hate
speech and its spillover into violence, ills that first
festered in far-off locales, to their dark culmination in
America during the pandemic, the 2020 election, and the Capitol
Insurrection.

"Through it all, the social-media giants refused to intervene
in any meaningful way, claiming to champion free speech when in
fact what they most prized were limitless profits. The result,
as Fisher shows, is a cultural shift toward a world in which
people are polarized not by beliefs based on facts, but by
misinformation, outrage, and fear.

"His narrative is about more than the villains, however. Fisher
also weaves together the stories of the heroic outsiders and
Silicon Valley defectors who raised the alarm and revealed what
was happening behind the closed doors of Big Tech. Both
panoramic and intimate, The Chaos Machine is the definitive
account of the meteoric rise and troubled legacy of the tech
titans, as well as a rousing and hopeful call to arrest the
havoc wreaked on our minds and our world before it's too late.

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
* Origin: Ogg's Dovenet Point (723:320/1.9)
� Synchronet � CAPCITY2 * capcity2.synchro.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/Rlogin/HTTP

-=> Ogg wrote to All <=-

Og> The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media
Og> Rewired Our Minds and Our World | Hardcover

Og> Max Fisher

Og> Little, Brown and Company

Og> Social Science / Sociology - Social Theory / Business & Economics /
Og> Industries - Computers & Information Technology / Psychology / Social
Og> Psychology

Og> Published Sep 6, 2022

Og> "We all have a vague sense that social media is bad for our
Og> minds, for our children, and for our democracies. But the truth
Og> is that its reach and impact run far deeper than we have
Og> understood.

This can't be emphasized enough, but quitting social networks designed
by behaviorists to keep you hooked are addicting by design. I wonder
what it will take for the masses to move away from them?

.... Meaningless in the absence of time. What never was is never again.
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
� Synchronet � .: realitycheckbbs.org :: scientia potentia est :.

Re: Re: book: the chaos machine
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Ogg on Mon Mar 06 2023 06:53 am

> Og> is that its reach and impact run far deeper than we have
> Og> understood.
>
> This can't be emphasized enough, but quitting social networks designed
> by behaviorists to keep you hooked are addicting by design. I wonder
> what it will take for the masses to move away from them?
>

women are attention whores and people are narcasists.
they will only move to the next one.
---
■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Ogg on Mon Mar 06 2023 06:53 am

> Subject: Re: book: the chaos machine
> @MSGID: <64062635.5230.dove.dove-int@realitycheckbbs.org>
> @REPLY: <6404F99E.5389.dove-int@capitolcityonline.net>
> @TZ: 41e0
> -=> Ogg wrote to All <=-
>
> Og> The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media
> Og> Rewired Our Minds and Our World | Hardcover
>
> Og> Max Fisher
>
> Og> Little, Brown and Company
>
> Og> Social Science / Sociology - Social Theory / Business & Economics /
> Og> Industries - Computers & Information Technology / Psychology / Social
> Og> Psychology
>
> Og> Published Sep 6, 2022
>
> Og> "We all have a vague sense that social media is bad for our
> Og> minds, for our children, and for our democracies. But the truth
> Og> is that its reach and impact run far deeper than we have
> Og> understood.
>
> This can't be emphasized enough, but quitting social networks designed
> by behaviorists to keep you hooked are addicting by design. I wonder
> what it will take for the masses to move away from them?
>
>
>
> ... Meaningless in the absence of time. What never was is never again.

I've known some social media folk who used to be heavy Facebook users ditch
it in favor of other platforms during the last election. I have no idea if
they are happy with whatever platform they moved to. I haven't created
accounts on other sites to track their activity.

---
■ Synchronet ■ The Cave BBS - Since 1992 - cavebbs.homeip.net

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: Moondog to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue Mar 07 2023 07:27 am

Mo> I've known some social media folk who used to be heavy Facebook users
Mo> ditch it in favor of other platforms during the last election. I have no
Mo> idea if they are happy with whatever platform they moved to. I haven't
Mo> created accounts on other sites to track their activity.

It seems to me there isn't really a good popular alternative to Facebook. Instagram only allows you to post photos, and Twitter only allows you to post short text posts, etc.. There are other social media sites similar to Facebook but they aren't really popular anymore (MySpace, Orkut, etc.).

Nightfox

---
■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: Nightfox to Moondog on Tue Mar 07 2023 09:50 am

> Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
> By: Moondog to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue Mar 07 2023 07:27 am
>
> Mo> I've known some social media folk who used to be heavy Facebook users
> Mo> ditch it in favor of other platforms during the last election. I have
> Mo> no idea if they are happy with whatever platform they moved to. I
> Mo> haven't created accounts on other sites to track their activity.
>
> It seems to me there isn't really a good popular alternative to Facebook.

Reddit maybe?

> Instagram only allows you to post photos,

Replies to posts can be text and discussion do sometimes happen in that form.

> and Twitter only allows you to
> post short text posts, etc.. There are other social media sites similar to
> Facebook but they aren't really popular anymore (MySpace, Orkut, etc.).

Mastadon. I intend to start using Mastadon more for my "modern" social media "needs" and look into Synchronet integration.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #122:
Synchronet v2.30a (DOS & OS/2) was released on 5-30-97, 20 months after v2.20b
Norco, CA WX: 55.5°F, 51.0% humidity, 5 mph S wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
---
■ Synchronet ■ Vertrauen ■ Home of Synchronet ■ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Tue Mar 07 2023 11:16 am

>> It seems to me there isn't really a good popular alternative to
>> Facebook.

DM> Reddit maybe?

Perhaps. Often I check Reddit to see what my contacts there have posted; I haven't used Reddit as long as Facebook, but it does look like you can follow people on Reddit too.

>> Instagram only allows you to post photos,

DM> Replies to posts can be text and discussion do sometimes happen in that
DM> form.

Yeah, though Instagram still seems limiting to me. I like that Facebook lets you post text, links, photos, etc. in the initial post.

>> post short text posts, etc.. There are other social media sites
>> similar to Facebook but they aren't really popular anymore (MySpace,
>> Orkut, etc.).

DM> Mastadon. I intend to start using Mastadon more for my "modern" social
DM> media "needs" and look into Synchronet integration.

I'm not familiar with Mastadon. I might have to check it out.

My use of a social media site like Facebook mainly depends on how many of my friends & family use it. If I don't know anyone who uses it, I'm not likely to use it either. Sites like Reddit seem a bit different though - I use Reddit mainly for news & information & help with various things.

Nightfox

---
■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: Nightfox to Moondog on Tue Mar 07 2023 09:50 am

>
> It seems to me there isn't really a good popular alternative to Facebook.
> Instagram only allows you to post photos, and Twitter only allows you to
> post short text posts, etc.. There are other social media sites similar to

you can post comments on instagram. and you can also use more text in twitter and post pics.

there's also tons of sites that do the same thing as fb.
do we NEED an alternative?

there's other ways to keep in touch with 'friends'
---
■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Tue Mar 07 2023 11:16 am

>
> > It seems to me there isn't really a good popular alternative to Facebook.
>
> Reddit maybe?

reddit isnt really the same format. it also is old and has a lot of echo chambers.

> > Instagram only allows you to post photos,
>
> Replies to posts can be text and discussion do sometimes happen in that
> form.

on instagram all posts have comments pretty much.
unless they are just personal posts that nobody follows.

>
> Mastadon. I intend to start using Mastadon more for my "modern" social media
> "needs" and look into Synchronet integration.

i heard that pedophiles really flocked to mastadon.

i prefer groups in telegram. you can do live chat or post pics and videos. and you can have groups and chats.
---
■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Tue Mar 07 2023 11:16 am

> Reddit maybe?
>
> > Instagram only allows you to post photos,

I am not sure Reddit is an alternative to Facebook, but I read some material
not long ago suggesting Reddit is eating other social media alive.

Long story short, when you look at the usage cures of most social media, you
recognize the same pattern that products that go obsolete go through:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/DiffusionOfInnovation
..png/220px-DiffusionOfInnovation.png

I can't find the original material, but I remember Twitter broke its death
descent and spiked recently. Meanwhile Reddit was still in a healthy state.
Most everything else was in the begining of its dying stage.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken

---
■ Synchronet ■ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: Digital Man to Nightfox on Tue Mar 07 2023 11:16 am

> Mastadon. I intend to start using Mastadon more for my "modern" social media
> "needs" and look into Synchronet integration.

Mastadon appears to be more of a Twitter environment.

BBSs could replace Facebook if we had some tweaks like:

1. Virtually unlimited nodes similiar to a webserver
2. Support for true graphics/video like png, jpg, gif, etc
3. True GUI environment for Client and Server
4. Server probably operating under Linux exclusively
5. Rather than a massive data center, use distributed BBSs

There's more to it, I'm sure. But you could do this!

Cheers,
Dennis

---
■ Synchronet ■ Vertrauen ■ Home of Synchronet ■ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: Re: book: the chaos machi
By: Airmailman to Digital Man on Mon Mar 20 2023 05:43:53

Ai> BBSs could replace Facebook if we had some tweaks like:

Ai> 1. Virtually unlimited nodes similiar to a webserver
Ai> 2. Support for true graphics/video like png, jpg, gif, etc
Ai> 3. True GUI environment for Client and Server
Ai> 4. Server probably operating under Linux exclusively
Ai> 5. Rather than a massive data center, use distributed BBSs

Ai> There's more to it, I'm sure. But you could do this!

Yes YOU could. So when can we expect a release from you?
Regards,
HusTler

....If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

---
■ Synchronet ■ Chaotic Bliss BBS - cbliss.synchro.net