Lex Fridman & Jonathan Haidt: The Techno Monk & The Social Scientist

<p>First, we apologise sincerely for the delayed-release. Matt and Chris have been busy beavers splicing together this decoding which proved particular gruelling for all sorts of uninteresting (but on-theme) technical reasons. </p><p>But finally, the wait is over and the long-anticipated episode on AI-aficionado and popular podcast host, Lex Fridman, is here. Although as the title indicates this accidentally turned into a joint decoding episode of his guest, the 'heterodox' social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt. </p><p>Lex is an interesting character and as such, for the decoding, two rather different pieces of content were selected: 1) a day-in-the-life video dairy and 2) one of his characteristic long-form interviews (with Haidt discussing social media). The format of a day-in-the-life video is perhaps inescapably cringey but it did give some unique insight into Lex's techno-monk lifestyle and his ongoing fascination/discovery of just how bad the Nazis &amp; Hitler were. His interview with Haidt on the other hand was more substantial and covers a lot of tech-related issues that are genuinely complex and subject to an ongoing debate.</p><p>Jonathan Haidt is a famous and well-regarded academic but also something of a controversial figure online in part because of his involvement in the dreaded 'culture wars'. In particular, Haidt co-wrote the influential book 'The Codding of the American Mind', founded 'Heterodox Academy', and is a vocal critic of 'wokism' and certain aspects of social media. We take a look at his arguments and try to discern whether he is a nuanced social scientist offering prescient warnings or a boomer shaking his fist at the kids these days? </p><p>Join us and find out!</p><p><strong><u>Links</u></strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://youtu.be/0m3hGZvD-0s" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>A Day in My Life - Lex Fridman</u></a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0un-l1L8Zw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jonathan Haidt: The Case Against Social Media | Lex Fridman Podcast&nbsp;#291</a></li><li><a href="https://www.fourbeers.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Two Psychologists, Four Beers: Episode 89: What's Wrong with Social Media?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid - The Atlantic</a></li><li><a href="https://ora.ox.ac.uk/catalog/uuid:5d844350-a359-47d3-b10c-4bfb93ce613b/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&amp;safe_filename=Orben-and-Przybylski-Nature-Human-Behaviour-AAM.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Orben &amp; Przybylski (2019): The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0839-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Response from Twenge, Haidt, Joiner, &amp; Campbell (2020)</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0840-y" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Response to the Response by Orben &amp; Przybylski (2020)</a></li><li><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-JhlVG829LVOJVViPkmciBulGUyXr0h0zA4XkjpQ7Ws/edit" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Haidt, J., &amp; Bentov, Y. (ongoing). <em>Free play and mental health: A collaborative review</em>. Google Doc.</a></li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/C_Kavanagh/status/1156190752986161152?s=20&amp;t=RGv3Ny8zlmOVlz24qbwAbA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chris' Tweet review of The Coddling of the American Mind</a></li></ul><br />