In Episode 154 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Sinan Aral, MIT Professor and author of “The Hype Machine,” about the promise and the peril of social media.

Is social media a force for meaningful connection, collaboration, social support, and access to life-saving information? Or is it a propaganda machine that, left unchecked, will destroy democracy, civil society, and our health? Can the promise of social media be realized without the peril? Or are they inexorably linked?

This episode is the latest in a series of thoughtful conversations that we have hosted on Hidden Forces dealing with some of the more problematic issues surrounding social media and its influence on politics & society. Demetri’s conversations with Shoshana Zuboff and Rana Faroohar come most immediately to mind, but my episodes with Cal Newport on digital minimalism, Hanna Fry on artificial intelligence, and John Borthwick with whom we have explored numerous interesting philosophical questions are also very much worth revisiting for anyone interested in further exploring the topics discussed today.  

You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week’s episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.

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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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Episode Recorded on 09/04/2020