References from Netflix’s “The Social Dilemma”

The Netflix original documentary, The Social Dilemma, refers to many books written by the people interviewed and includes video clips that were taken from elsewhere. We searched for a list of these books and videos, but couldn’t find one. So we decided to compile one ourselves!

Quotes

• “Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.” — Sophocles
• “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.”
• “It’s the gradual, slight, imperceptible change in your behavior and perception that is the product.” — Jaron Lanier
• “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Arthur C. Clarke
• “There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software.” — Edward Tufte
• “Whether it is to be Utopia or Oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment…” — Buckminster Fuller
• “Algorithms Are Opinions Embedded in Code” — Cathy O’Neil

Books

We recommend reading or listening to any books on Libby or other free library apps, in order to support your local library.

• Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier
• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
• Automating Humanity by Joe Toscano
• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
• Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil

Videos, External Links, and General Information

• Tristan Harris — Center for Humane Technology
• Douglas Rushkoff— a media theorist/writer, many of the interviewees refer to his ideas
• Tristan Harris Ted Talk (2017)— How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day
• Tristan Harris Ted Talk (2014) — How better tech could protect us from distraction
• Tristan Harris’ internal presentation at Google
• BJ Fogg: Individuals Must Change Habits for Better Health
• Chamath Palihapitiya — how we put Facebook on the path to 1 billion users
• Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and CEO, Social Capital, on Money as an Instrument of Change
• Sean Parker interview on Axios
• Chicago Anti-Trust Tech Conference
• Truman Show “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented”
• Political Polarization in the American Public
• The shift in the American public’s political values: Political Polarization, 1994–2017
• Maria Ressa CNN interview
• Mark Zuckerberg: “I’m really sorry that this happened”
• How Russia used Facebook, Twitter & Google to influence 2016 election
• Marco Rubio CNN townhall
• Senator Flake delivers address at NH Institute of Politics
• Mark Zuckerberg: We Need To Rely On And Build AI Tools To Help Flag Certain Content
• Congress holds hearing on use of persuasive technology on the internet
• Steve Jobs, “Computers are like a bicycle for our minds.”

Tips from the Interviewees

• Uninstall apps that waste your time
• Voice your true opinions on and about the platforms themselves
• Turn off notifications that aren’t important!!!
• Use Google alternatives that do not store your history (such as Qwant or DuckDuckGo)
• Never accept a video recommended to you by YouTube
• Install Chrome extensions to remove recommendations
• Fact-check before you share, consider the source, and do the extra research
• Remember that you vote with your clicks
• Make sure you get lots of different kinds of information, and follow people you disagree with in order to expose yourself to different points of view
• Avoid giving devices to your children
• Avoid social media as much as possible
• Keep all devices out of the bedroom by a fixed time every night
• No social media until high school
• Work out a time budget with your children
• Get off social media altogether

Feedback

Our hope is that this post will become popular and future documentary creators will begin listing their sources on their website to empower the viewers. But until then, feel free to:

• Give us feedback
• Request references from other documentaries

We would love to create a thoughtful community with a focus on self-growth and self-improvement. We’d welcome suggestions on how to do that!