aging by the minute
I... I am 62 years old, getting older every minute, the more this conversation goes on...The Social Dilemma · 2020 — Chapter 12 of 14 · 2'35" · C1
The Civil War Interview, Explained: willful ignorance
One speaker, 62, admits the subject scares him to death. Asked what worries them most, a speaker answers "civil war," then lists climate, democracy and the economy as probabilities. Under it all sits a harder question: can anyone tell real danger from "overreacting to a situation" they don't fully understand?
What happens
In an interview, a 62-year-old speaker jokes about getting older and says he may be gone before any of this comes true. Later, a speaker asked what worries them most answers civil war, then lists climate change, failing democracies and a ruined global economy as the likely next twenty years.
Listen for
all this shitthankful for itoverreact to somethingwillful ignorance
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Now
Phrase of the scene
willful ignorance
chosen unawareness
The speaker lists a path to collapse and blames not plain ignorance but the choice not to look.
The report failed because of willful ignorance of the safety data.
Also in this scene
- all this shit
this whole mess
- thankful for it
glad about it
- overreact to something
respond too strongly to something
- view it as existential
treat as a matter of survival
- wake up from the matrix
see through a constructed reality
Everything marked in this scene
26 notes across 27 lines
the longer this talk continues
I... I am 62 years old, getting older every minute, the more this conversation goes on...long dead
I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, and I'll probably be thankful for it, when all this shit comes to fruition.become reality
I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, and I'll probably be thankful for it, when all this shit comes to fruition.Keep and as a faint n and stress dead and gone.
I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, and I'll probably be thankful for it, when all this shit comes to fruition.mess; crap — Vulgar and informal; keep it for close company.
I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, and I'll probably be thankful for it, when all this shit comes to fruition.going to — Everyday speech only, not formal writing.
I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, and I'll probably be thankful for it, when all this shit comes to fruition.terrify someone a hyperbolic way to say it terrifies me
Because... Because I think that this scares me to death.share the same view
Do... Do you... Do you see it the same way?respond too strongly to something
After admitting his fear, he checks whether he is overreacting to something he does not fully understand.
Or am I overreacting to a situation that I don't know enough about?be informed enough about
Or am I overreacting to a situation that I don't know enough about?the nearest timeframe
I think, in the... in the shortest time horizon...the existing state of affairs
If we go down the current status quo for, let's say, another 20 years...parenthetical aside: The aside softens the estimate: the number is an example, not a precise forecast.
If we go down the current status quo for, let's say, another 20 years...chosen unawareness
The speaker lists a path to collapse and blames not plain ignorance but the choice not to look.
we probably destroy our civilization through willful ignorance.rise to the challenge of
We probably fail to meet the challenge of climate change.result clause: Here so that introduces the result of degrading democracies, not a purpose.
We probably degrade the world's democracies so that they fall into some sort of bizarre autocratic dysfunction.treat as a matter of survival
After a long list of probably, the speaker pauses and says he really does see it as existential, with heavier emphasis.
You know, I... I really do view it as existential.relative clause: The that-clause defines people, and what it was like is what they knew.
Is this the last generation of people that are gonna know what it was like before this illusion took place?Blur what it was and lift like.
Is this the last generation of people that are gonna know what it was like before this illusion took place?see through a constructed reality
Using the matrix as a metaphor, the speaker asks how anyone can wake up from a reality they do not know they are in.
Like, how do you wake up from the matrix when you don't know you're in the matrix?bleak, hopeless talk
The speaker knows their talk sounds like one-sided doom and gloom, so they name that impression before turning the argument.
one-sided doom and gloom.jump ahead to now borrowed from video playback, meaning jump to the present
The idea that, fast-forward to today, and teens would be getting depressed when they don't have enough likes, or it could be leading to political polarization was nowhere on our radar.not considered at all
The speaker recalls building the like button to spread positivity and never expecting teen depression or political polarization.
The idea that, fast-forward to today, and teens would be getting depressed when they don't have enough likes, or it could be leading to political polarization was nowhere on our radar.political division into extremes
The idea that, fast-forward to today, and teens would be getting depressed when they don't have enough likes, or it could be leading to political polarization was nowhere on our radar.Link on our smoothly and put weight on radar.
The idea that, fast-forward to today, and teens would be getting depressed when they don't have enough likes, or it could be leading to political polarization was nowhere on our radar.The Civil War Interview, explained
What's really going on
What sounds like an interview answer is really a confession of helplessness. The speaker measures the danger against his own lifespan — "I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, and I'll probably be thankful for it" — which turns a policy warning into something personal: he may not have to live through it. Then he checks himself, asking whether he is "overreacting to a situation" he doesn't know enough about, and the scene leaves that question standing. The talk then flips to the like button: built so the team could "spread positivity and love," now tied to teen depression and political polarization, something that was "nowhere on our radar." The gap between intent and outcome is the real subject here.
Theme
PhilosophyThe scene argues a civilization can end through willful ignorance, and asks how anyone wakes up from a reality they cannot see.
PowerPeople who built the like button describe consequences they never intended, and admit the outcome was nowhere on our radar.
Listen for
- dead and gone — Keep and as a faint n and stress dead and gone.
- what it was like — Blur what it was and lift like.
- on our radar — Link on our smoothly and put weight on radar.
I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, and I'll probably be thankful for it, when all this shit comes to fruition.He expects to be dead before the worst arrives and says he may be grateful for that — the prediction is measured against his own remaining years.
Like, how do you wake up from the matrix when you don't know you're in the matrix?A Matrix reference: if the illusion is all you have ever known, nothing inside it tells you there is anything to wake up from.
we probably destroy our civilization through willful ignorance.The collapse he predicts is not a surprise disaster but a choice not to look at what is already visible.
Is this the last generation of people that are gonna know what it was like before this illusion took place?He wonders whether the people alive now will be the last to remember a life before this illusion took hold.
The idea that, fast-forward to today, and teens would be getting depressed when they don't have enough likes, or it could be leading to political polarization was nowhere on our radar.The like button's builders say the effects now tied to it were never considered — not rejected, simply not imagined.
Questions about this scene
Why does he say he would be thankful to be dead?
Because he expects the worst to arrive after his lifetime: "I'm probably gonna be dead and gone, and I'll probably be thankful for it, when all this shit comes to fruition." Being gone early would spare him from seeing it.
Does he think he might be exaggerating?
He doesn't settle it. He asks, "Do you see it the same way? Or am I overreacting to a situation that I don't know enough about?" — the question is left open in the scene.
Why is civil war the first answer given?
The answer comes with "in the shortest time horizon": civil war is named as the nearest danger, before the longer list of climate change, degraded democracies and a ruined global economy.
What was the like button supposed to do?
According to the line, the team's "entire motivation was, 'Can we spread positivity and love in the world?'" Teen depression over too few likes and political polarization were nowhere on our radar.
The Social Dilemma · 14 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 13put the genie back in the bottleInterviewees Call for Regulation
Chapter 1rakes in moneyYou Are the Product
Chapter 2human futuresSurveillance Capitalism Explained
Chapter 3dial up the adsTech Insiders Explain the Growth Dials
Chapter 4fall prey toPinterest President Can't Put Phone Down
Chapter 5let the record showBen Takes the One-Week Phone Bet
Chapter 6conflateWhy Social Media Harms Teens
Chapter 7a mind of its ownAIs Plot Ben's Resurrection
Chapter 8reckon withThe Wikipedia Analogy
Chapter 9tilt the floorFake News Spreads Faster Than Truth
Chapter 10weaponizing social mediaFacebook Weaponized in Myanmar
Chapter 11digital FrankensteinsSpeaker Reframes the Tech Threat
Watching · Chapter 12willful ignoranceThe Civil War Interview
Chapter 13put the genie back in the bottleInterviewees Call for Regulation
Chapter 14set in stoneTech Insiders Explain What Went WrongChapter 12 of 14 · about 6 min to go