Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing

Chris Hayes

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
1008 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

It could be of either valence and everything in between. In a world that increasingly values attention over all else, what you get is you unlock the universe of negative attention and its power. Because if all that matters is attention, then negative attention is just as good as positive attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

It could be of either valence and everything in between. In a world that increasingly values attention over all else, what you get is you unlock the universe of negative attention and its power. Because if all that matters is attention, then negative attention is just as good as positive attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

Now, most of us are conditioned to not like negative attention, but there's a certain set of people who either through a sort of So intellectual understanding, sometimes this happens, you'll read interviews with creators who are like, oh, yeah, once I started trolling, I got more views. So like part of it is the algorithms select for negative attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

Now, most of us are conditioned to not like negative attention, but there's a certain set of people who either through a sort of So intellectual understanding, sometimes this happens, you'll read interviews with creators who are like, oh, yeah, once I started trolling, I got more views. So like part of it is the algorithms select for negative attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

Now, most of us are conditioned to not like negative attention, but there's a certain set of people who either through a sort of So intellectual understanding, sometimes this happens, you'll read interviews with creators who are like, oh, yeah, once I started trolling, I got more views. So like part of it is the algorithms select for negative attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

But part of it, I think, is just a deep brokenness in their personality. And I think this is true of both Donald Trump and Elon Musk to seek out negative attention because it's attention. And this creates a kind of troll politics writ large. And I think we're sort of watching, in some ways, the Musk era supplant the Trump era, if that makes sense.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

But part of it, I think, is just a deep brokenness in their personality. And I think this is true of both Donald Trump and Elon Musk to seek out negative attention because it's attention. And this creates a kind of troll politics writ large. And I think we're sort of watching, in some ways, the Musk era supplant the Trump era, if that makes sense.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

But part of it, I think, is just a deep brokenness in their personality. And I think this is true of both Donald Trump and Elon Musk to seek out negative attention because it's attention. And this creates a kind of troll politics writ large. And I think we're sort of watching, in some ways, the Musk era supplant the Trump era, if that makes sense.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

So most politicians, they want positive attention. And if they can't get positive attention, they want no attention. And then underneath that, negative attention, right? So it's like you want people to like you and know your name or you want to stay out of the news, right? And what Trump realizes that, no, it doesn't matter whether it's positive or negative as long as you're getting attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

So most politicians, they want positive attention. And if they can't get positive attention, they want no attention. And then underneath that, negative attention, right? So it's like you want people to like you and know your name or you want to stay out of the news, right? And what Trump realizes that, no, it doesn't matter whether it's positive or negative as long as you're getting attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

So most politicians, they want positive attention. And if they can't get positive attention, they want no attention. And then underneath that, negative attention, right? So it's like you want people to like you and know your name or you want to stay out of the news, right? And what Trump realizes that, no, it doesn't matter whether it's positive or negative as long as you're getting attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

Musk has now taken this insight to actually having captured a platform that he purchased where he is now operationalizing this at scale. So it's like the higher synthesis of the insight of Trump. He's understood that attention is the most valuable resource. And this is true in monetary terms. I mean, look at what's happened in this. I actually get wrong in the book because I can't.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

Musk has now taken this insight to actually having captured a platform that he purchased where he is now operationalizing this at scale. So it's like the higher synthesis of the insight of Trump. He's understood that attention is the most valuable resource. And this is true in monetary terms. I mean, look at what's happened in this. I actually get wrong in the book because I can't.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

Musk has now taken this insight to actually having captured a platform that he purchased where he is now operationalizing this at scale. So it's like the higher synthesis of the insight of Trump. He's understood that attention is the most valuable resource. And this is true in monetary terms. I mean, look at what's happened in this. I actually get wrong in the book because I can't.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

I was writing it too early. Look what happened. He buys Twitter, okay? He buys it for $44 billion. So he gets it so he could be the main character on this. He so obsessively pursues this attention that it destroys the actual value of the entity. So lighting $25 billion on fire, right? All in this sort of broken pursuit of attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

I was writing it too early. Look what happened. He buys Twitter, okay? He buys it for $44 billion. So he gets it so he could be the main character on this. He so obsessively pursues this attention that it destroys the actual value of the entity. So lighting $25 billion on fire, right? All in this sort of broken pursuit of attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

I was writing it too early. Look what happened. He buys Twitter, okay? He buys it for $44 billion. So he gets it so he could be the main character on this. He so obsessively pursues this attention that it destroys the actual value of the entity. So lighting $25 billion on fire, right? All in this sort of broken pursuit of attention.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

But then using this attention and using the platform, he helps elect a president who puts him essentially at the seat of power, right? that produces an enormous boon in his personal wealth because people are like, oh, now he is close to power. And it has netted him hundreds of billions of dollars in his personal value. And it's the most incredible allegory for the entire attention age.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

But then using this attention and using the platform, he helps elect a president who puts him essentially at the seat of power, right? that produces an enormous boon in his personal wealth because people are like, oh, now he is close to power. And it has netted him hundreds of billions of dollars in his personal value. And it's the most incredible allegory for the entire attention age.

Radio Atlantic
The War for Your Attention

But then using this attention and using the platform, he helps elect a president who puts him essentially at the seat of power, right? that produces an enormous boon in his personal wealth because people are like, oh, now he is close to power. And it has netted him hundreds of billions of dollars in his personal value. And it's the most incredible allegory for the entire attention age.