Tristan Harris

If everybody who's in power –

who governs technology, if all the world's leaders saw that little narrative of all the things that could happen to change how this technology was designed,

And they agreed.

I think people would be radically in support of those moves.

We're seeing already, again, the book The Anxious Generation has just mobilized parents and schools across the world because everyone is facing this.

Every household is facing this.

And it would be possible if everybody watching this sent that clip to the 10 most powerful people that they know and then asked them to send it to the 10 most powerful people that they know.

I mean, I think sometimes I say it's like your role is not to solve the whole problem, but to be part of the collective immune system of humanity against this bad future that nobody wants.

And if you can help spread those antibodies by spreading that clarity about both this is a bad path and there are interventions that get us on a better path, if everybody did that, not just for themselves and changing how I use technology, but reaching up and out for how everybody uses the technology, that would be possible.

And for AI?

Well, obviously I can come with, you know, obviously I've re-architected the entire economic system and I'm ready to, no, I'm kidding.

I hear Sam Altman has room in his bunker.

And the reason why is because they don't have a good answer for where this all goes, if they have this particular conversation.

They can distract and talk about all the amazing benefits, which are all real, by the way.

Because social media did give us many benefits, but at the cost of systemic polarization, breakdown of shared reality, and the most anxious and depressed generation in history, that systemic effect is not worth anything.

It's not, again, no social media.

It's a differently designed social media that doesn't have the externalities.

What is the problem?

We have private profit and then public harm.

The harm lands on the balance sheet of society.