Chaos Factory

Even the mainstream news has fallen under the spell cast by the social media witch. When being first counts more than being right, there will always be casualties.

Google, Facebook and Twitter claim to be turning a new page in digital privacy. The evidence before us suggests otherwise.

What are large-scale social contagion experiments, and how do they hide them from us? What are their purpose, and is there a danger in this type of manipulation? The horrifying statistics over the past several years say yes, there most certainly is.

Keeping people engaged and coming back again and again is the business model of the internet's tech giants. How they do that is less about persuasion through entertainment or mere utility than it is about hidden manipulation by taking advantage of human psychological vulnerabilities. They do this very successfully and usually without our awareness.

Technological innovations have brought many improvements, but there are always trade-offs. Advancements in tech threaten our labor force, our livelihoods, our privacy, our peace of mind, even our way of life. Many of the pioneers of this technology now warn us that the fabric of our society is being torn apart by it. "If you feed the beast, that beast will destroy you."

A look back on the chaos of 2020. With all the distractions and crises, we may be missing the biggest threat of all.