Chris Hayes

Okay. This is really, I think, a key thing to think about. So before civilization, you got social attention from people that you knew that you had relationships with. There weren't really strangers. And you might be able to put your social attention on someone you don't know, like a kind of godlike figure or a mythic hero that tales were told of.

Okay. This is really, I think, a key thing to think about. So before civilization, you got social attention from people that you knew that you had relationships with. There weren't really strangers. And you might be able to put your social attention on someone you don't know, like a kind of godlike figure or a mythic hero that tales were told of.

So you can put your attention on a person you don't know. But the social attention you received was all from people that you had a relationship, a bilateral relationship with. What happens with the dawn of what we might call fame, and there's an amazing book about this that I – Leo Braude. Yeah, Leo Braude's great book. He says Alexander basically is the first famous person, and he explains why.

So you can put your attention on a person you don't know. But the social attention you received was all from people that you had a relationship, a bilateral relationship with. What happens with the dawn of what we might call fame, and there's an amazing book about this that I – Leo Braude. Yeah, Leo Braude's great book. He says Alexander basically is the first famous person, and he explains why.

So you can put your attention on a person you don't know. But the social attention you received was all from people that you had a relationship, a bilateral relationship with. What happens with the dawn of what we might call fame, and there's an amazing book about this that I – Leo Braude. Yeah, Leo Braude's great book. He says Alexander basically is the first famous person, and he explains why.

But fame is the experience of receiving social attention from people you do not know and at scale. Now, this is a very strange experience. And the reason I know this is because I happen to live it. And so in the sort of progression of civilization, you start to have famous people. And more and more people can be famous with the dawn of industrial media, movie stars, pop stars, all this stuff.

But fame is the experience of receiving social attention from people you do not know and at scale. Now, this is a very strange experience. And the reason I know this is because I happen to live it. And so in the sort of progression of civilization, you start to have famous people. And more and more people can be famous with the dawn of industrial media, movie stars, pop stars, all this stuff.

But fame is the experience of receiving social attention from people you do not know and at scale. Now, this is a very strange experience. And the reason I know this is because I happen to live it. And so in the sort of progression of civilization, you start to have famous people. And more and more people can be famous with the dawn of industrial media, movie stars, pop stars, all this stuff.

But it's still a very, very, very tiny percentage of people that can be known by strangers, that can have social attention being paid to them by strangers. That just generally doesn't happen for most people. And most people –

But it's still a very, very, very tiny percentage of people that can be known by strangers, that can have social attention being paid to them by strangers. That just generally doesn't happen for most people. And most people –

But it's still a very, very, very tiny percentage of people that can be known by strangers, that can have social attention being paid to them by strangers. That just generally doesn't happen for most people. And most people –

are going to have received social attention from people they have relationships, and they might put their social attention on all sorts of public figures, the president or celebrities or other people, but they're not getting it from people they don't know. It just is a very tiny sliver of humans that can have that experience.

are going to have received social attention from people they have relationships, and they might put their social attention on all sorts of public figures, the president or celebrities or other people, but they're not getting it from people they don't know. It just is a very tiny sliver of humans that can have that experience.

are going to have received social attention from people they have relationships, and they might put their social attention on all sorts of public figures, the president or celebrities or other people, but they're not getting it from people they don't know. It just is a very tiny sliver of humans that can have that experience.

And now it is utterly democratized for everyone for the first time in human history. I mean, it's genuinely new, genuinely a break, has not happened before. Anyone can have... enormous social attention from oceans of strangers on them. You can have a viral moment online. You can cultivate a following.

And now it is utterly democratized for everyone for the first time in human history. I mean, it's genuinely new, genuinely a break, has not happened before. Anyone can have... enormous social attention from oceans of strangers on them. You can have a viral moment online. You can cultivate a following.

And now it is utterly democratized for everyone for the first time in human history. I mean, it's genuinely new, genuinely a break, has not happened before. Anyone can have... enormous social attention from oceans of strangers on them. You can have a viral moment online. You can cultivate a following.

This experience of social attention from strangers, precisely because it is so at odds, I think, with our inheritance, is weird and alienating. And there's a bunch of ways it is. One of the ways it's alienating is that... We are conditioned to care what the people we love think about us. We're conditioned to care if we've hurt someone that we have a relationship with.

This experience of social attention from strangers, precisely because it is so at odds, I think, with our inheritance, is weird and alienating. And there's a bunch of ways it is. One of the ways it's alienating is that... We are conditioned to care what the people we love think about us. We're conditioned to care if we've hurt someone that we have a relationship with.

This experience of social attention from strangers, precisely because it is so at odds, I think, with our inheritance, is weird and alienating. And there's a bunch of ways it is. One of the ways it's alienating is that... We are conditioned to care what the people we love think about us. We're conditioned to care if we've hurt someone that we have a relationship with.