Dr. Laurie Santos

And it means we're kind of building more tools. to do just that. I had the musician David Byrne on my podcast. Talking heads. Talking heads, David Byrne, who cares a lot about these issues. He wrote this really cool article called Eliminating the Human, where he made the claim that pretty much every technological invention of the last 20 years has been...

And it means we're kind of building more tools. to do just that. I had the musician David Byrne on my podcast. Talking heads. Talking heads, David Byrne, who cares a lot about these issues. He wrote this really cool article called Eliminating the Human, where he made the claim that pretty much every technological invention of the last 20 years has been...

you know, dealing with actual people is kind of frictiony, so let's just get rid of them, right? We'll, you know, have Uber or Lyft or a car company where I don't have to talk to the driver, I just plug it into the phone. We don't have to have a conversation, we go away, right? We have music and streaming mechanisms.

you know, dealing with actual people is kind of frictiony, so let's just get rid of them, right? We'll, you know, have Uber or Lyft or a car company where I don't have to talk to the driver, I just plug it into the phone. We don't have to have a conversation, we go away, right? We have music and streaming mechanisms.

you know, dealing with actual people is kind of frictiony, so let's just get rid of them, right? We'll, you know, have Uber or Lyft or a car company where I don't have to talk to the driver, I just plug it into the phone. We don't have to have a conversation, we go away, right? We have music and streaming mechanisms.

I don't know, Andrew, you're like my age, so you probably remember that you used to have to go into a record store to flip through CDs or tapes even, if you're really old school, to figure out music. And often when you do that, you'd run into humans or talk to the cashier guy or somebody would see you flicking through like, oh, you like talking heads? I like talking heads.

I don't know, Andrew, you're like my age, so you probably remember that you used to have to go into a record store to flip through CDs or tapes even, if you're really old school, to figure out music. And often when you do that, you'd run into humans or talk to the cashier guy or somebody would see you flicking through like, oh, you like talking heads? I like talking heads.

I don't know, Andrew, you're like my age, so you probably remember that you used to have to go into a record store to flip through CDs or tapes even, if you're really old school, to figure out music. And often when you do that, you'd run into humans or talk to the cashier guy or somebody would see you flicking through like, oh, you like talking heads? I like talking heads.

Now we just go to an algorithm, right? From food delivery apps to kind of education, right? I have an online course where students don't have to sit in a real classroom with other students. They could watch it directly. So many of our technological innovations are assuming that what we want to get rid of is the friction part. That's what we're kind of motivated to get rid of.

Now we just go to an algorithm, right? From food delivery apps to kind of education, right? I have an online course where students don't have to sit in a real classroom with other students. They could watch it directly. So many of our technological innovations are assuming that what we want to get rid of is the friction part. That's what we're kind of motivated to get rid of.

Now we just go to an algorithm, right? From food delivery apps to kind of education, right? I have an online course where students don't have to sit in a real classroom with other students. They could watch it directly. So many of our technological innovations are assuming that what we want to get rid of is the friction part. That's what we're kind of motivated to get rid of.

But ultimately, we're getting rid of the human in these interactions. And our primate brains are left with the little NutraSweet dribbles of connection when what we really need is something in real life and in real time.

But ultimately, we're getting rid of the human in these interactions. And our primate brains are left with the little NutraSweet dribbles of connection when what we really need is something in real life and in real time.

But ultimately, we're getting rid of the human in these interactions. And our primate brains are left with the little NutraSweet dribbles of connection when what we really need is something in real life and in real time.

Yeah. I mean, the diabolical part is It's having a real consequence for our happiness. It's certainly having a real consequence for loneliness. You look at rates of loneliness in young people who've grown up with these technologies and you see things like, you know, young people today report being lonely at rates of like 70, 75%, right? More people are lonely, extremely lonely than not right now.

Yeah. I mean, the diabolical part is It's having a real consequence for our happiness. It's certainly having a real consequence for loneliness. You look at rates of loneliness in young people who've grown up with these technologies and you see things like, you know, young people today report being lonely at rates of like 70, 75%, right? More people are lonely, extremely lonely than not right now.

Yeah. I mean, the diabolical part is It's having a real consequence for our happiness. It's certainly having a real consequence for loneliness. You look at rates of loneliness in young people who've grown up with these technologies and you see things like, you know, young people today report being lonely at rates of like 70, 75%, right? More people are lonely, extremely lonely than not right now.

I mean, your point is well taken, right? If anything, they grow up lonely. So if they're self-reporting being lonely now, it might be even worse than it might be kind of getting worse over time. Yeah. And so, I mean, it's all self-report data, right? So people, you know, on a scale of one to 10, how lonely are you feeling? But the fact that 75% of people are saying, yeah, I feel extremely lonely.

I mean, your point is well taken, right? If anything, they grow up lonely. So if they're self-reporting being lonely now, it might be even worse than it might be kind of getting worse over time. Yeah. And so, I mean, it's all self-report data, right? So people, you know, on a scale of one to 10, how lonely are you feeling? But the fact that 75% of people are saying, yeah, I feel extremely lonely.

I mean, your point is well taken, right? If anything, they grow up lonely. So if they're self-reporting being lonely now, it might be even worse than it might be kind of getting worse over time. Yeah. And so, I mean, it's all self-report data, right? So people, you know, on a scale of one to 10, how lonely are you feeling? But the fact that 75% of people are saying, yeah, I feel extremely lonely.