Listen now | We're running out of time—how far will we go to do the right thing? Joseph Merz founded the Merz Institute to combat the climate crisis, gathering some of the world’s best scientists to establish what is going wrong and how to fix it. He says the answer is behavioural change—and they’re developing a programme that would manipulate mass behaviour on a subconscious level using the same techniques as the advertising industry.
Apr 1, 2022·edited Apr 1, 2022Liked by Rachel Donald
Interesting talk. There were several points in the discussion where I think Joseph sort of sidestepped the ethical concerns about what he is proposing and you could hear him struggling with it. It seems dangerous to me to use a tool that we know has caused great damage to society to get large groups of people to start thinking in "the right way". Who decides what is the right way, and what happens if the people managing the campaigns themselves are captured by perverse incentives?
I'd rather see people being given the psychological tools to avoid being unduly influenced by advertising, to question the narratives that tempt us into over-consumption. I'd also like to know what Tristan Harris & people at the Center for Humane Technology would make of Joseph's ideas.
Interesting talk. There were several points in the discussion where I think Joseph sort of sidestepped the ethical concerns about what he is proposing and you could hear him struggling with it. It seems dangerous to me to use a tool that we know has caused great damage to society to get large groups of people to start thinking in "the right way". Who decides what is the right way, and what happens if the people managing the campaigns themselves are captured by perverse incentives?
I'd rather see people being given the psychological tools to avoid being unduly influenced by advertising, to question the narratives that tempt us into over-consumption. I'd also like to know what Tristan Harris & people at the Center for Humane Technology would make of Joseph's ideas.
Well done Rachel and Godspeed to Joseph.
I wrote a brief review of your podcast here:
https://un-denial.com/2022/04/01/sidestepping-genetic-reality-denial-by-manipulating-behavior-for-overshoot-harm-reduction/
Super interesting talk.
It sounds like Joseph has travelled down a lot of similar thought paths as myself, not easy, not fun.