Techno-Social Engineering: Why the Future May Not Be Human, TikTok's Powerful ForYou Algorithm, & More

Edition 19 | The grftf Newsletter

Hey friends -

In late 2022, I wrote the piece Will the Future Be Human? I discussed whether humans were becoming more like machines and referenced a study by Professor Brett Frischmann, Human-Focused Turing Tests: A Framework for Judging Nudging and Techno-Social Engineering of Human Beings.

This week on The grftf Podcast, I was lucky enough to chat with Brett about this study and his book (co-authored with Evan Selinger) Re-engineering Humanity. 

The impact of technology on our core humanity is something intelligent people do not take lightly. This edition focuses on this topic and hopefully gets you thinking about ways to expand and grow as a human amid the algorithm-driven onslaught of social media that has taken over our daily lives.

Things to consider as you dive into this edition:

• As we increasingly depend on technology, how is it changing us? 

• In the interaction between humans and technology, who is adapting to whom? 

• Is the technology being built for humans, or are we being changed to fit into tech systems?  

• As time passes, will we become more like robots or the AI models we use? 

• Over the next 30 years, as we increasingly interact with technology, who or what will we become?

Please comment and let me know what you think, how you feel, and ways to improve this newsletter.

Cheers!

Misha

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What you’re getting this week:

• The grftf Podcast Ep 19 | Will Humans Become Machines in the Future? — Professor Brett Frischmann

• Human-Focused Turing Tests: A Framework for Judging Nudging and Techno-Social Engineering of Human Beings

• Book: Re-Engineering Humanity

• Peak Techno-Social Engineering: TikTok’s Algorithm

• How TikTok’s Algorithm Figures You Out | WSJ

• Past edition feature: Will the Future Be Human

• A Poll

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Latest from The grftf Podcast

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Ep 19 | Will Humans Become Machines in the Future? — Professor Brett Frischmann

In this episode, Professor Brett Frischmann and I discuss how technology is re-engineering humanity. We cover a wide range of topics including, the current techno-social landscape, how techno-social engineering works, the Human Focused Turing Test, how user interface design decisions shape what we want and what we think we want, why engineering the world for happiness is a bad idea, how to detect if you’re becoming a machine, and more. This episode will change everything you think you know about yourself.

Here’s what you’re getting:

00:00 Rethinking the Turing Test: A New Perspective

02:51 Introducing Brett Frischmann

06:08 Brett's Diverse Academic Journey

20:19 The Human Impact of Techno-Social Engineering

25:05 Reverse Turing Test: Evaluating Human & Machine Similarities

28:11 The Dangers and Potentials of Techno-Social Engineering

37:18 Challenging the Notion of Engineered Happiness

47:53 The Role of Technology in Shaping Human Preferences

51:13 Understanding Nudging in the Digital Age

53:20 The Influence of Digital Environments on Behavior

54:22 The Pitfalls of E-Contracting and Digital Agreements

56:33 The Evolution of Contract Law in the Digital Age

59:03 The Power Dynamics of Digital Contracting

01:00:05 Reconfiguring Society Through Techno-Social Systems

01:00:32 Challenging the Dominance of Big Tech

01:02:43 The Role of Large Language Models in Shaping Humanity

01:09:19 The Importance of Commons in a Techno-Social World

01:25:38 Building a Future: Governance, Commons, and Technological Balance

01:40:02 Final Thoughts and Future Directions

Join us here on YouTube ↓

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And on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, & wherever you get your podcasts.

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Share this newsletter & help the world get ready for the future.

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Book: Re-Engineering Humanity | Brett Frischmann & Evan Selinger

Every day, new warnings emerge about artificial intelligence rebelling against us. All the while, a more immediate dilemma flies under the radar. Have forces been unleashed that are thrusting humanity down an ill-advised path, one that's increasingly making us behave like simple machines? In this wide-reaching, interdisciplinary book, Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger examine what's happening to our lives as society embraces big data, predictive analytics, and smart environments. They explain how the goal of designing programmable worlds goes hand in hand with engineering predictable and programmable people. LINK

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Human-Focused Turing Tests: A Framework for Judging Nudging and Techno-Social Engineering of Human Beings | Brett Frischmann

Many science fiction stories pit humans against machines. Sometimes, the machines remain tools of powerful humans that oppress everyone else; sometimes, the machines become the oppressors.

Four central themes of the broader project of which this article is a part are:

• when does technology (automated systems) replace or diminish our humanity?

• can we detect when this happens? how will we?

• what makes us human?

• when and how do humans become programmable? LINK

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Peak Techno-Social Engineering: TikTok’s Algorithm

TikTok’s fate hangs in the balance. On Wednesday, April 24, President Biden signed a bill into law that demands that the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance either sell TikTok or face a nationwide ban.

But the bill’s legislative success does not mean that TikTok is going away anytime soon. ByteDance now has at least nine months to sell the app. The new law will face legal challenges, antitrust hurdles and public backlash. And TikTok has vowed to fight back in the courts. LINK

Now back to techno-social engineering.

How does TikTok know you so well? How does its ForYou algorithm deliver such grippingly addictive content? It’s the ultimate form of techno-social engineering.

• How does TikTok's algorithm work? TikTok's algorithm takes into account factors such as shares, likes, follows, and watch history. The app tracks how long users linger over specific content, which helps the algorithm understand their interests and emotions.

• Can TikTok's algorithm learn about hidden interests? Yes, TikTok's algorithm can learn about users' hidden interests by analyzing their behavior on the app, such as pausing or re-watching videos with related hashtags or images.

• Does TikTok push users into specific rabbit holes? Yes, TikTok's algorithm aims to provide a personalized experience by curating content based on users' interests. This can sometimes lead to users getting trapped in specific rabbit holes aligned with their preferences.

• Is TikTok's algorithm more powerful than other social media platforms? TikTok's algorithm has been successful in shaping users' experiences, with a significant portion of the content seen on the app coming from its recommendation engine. This makes TikTok's algorithm potentially more influential and capable of learning users' vulnerabilities quickly. LINK

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How TikTok’s Algorithm Figures You Out | WSJ

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Past edition feature