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The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World Audiobook
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(4.50) - 2 listener ratings
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The debut of a New York Times investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist: a gripping narrative that fuses research, exclusive interviews, and on-the-ground reporting to capture the full inside story of Big Tech’s monomaniacal race to drive engagement—and profits—at all costs.
We all have a vague sense that social media is bad for us, for our children, and for our democracies. But what exactly is it about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms that causes this creeping feeling of unease? Max Fisher, using years of his own international reporting for the New York Times, tells the inside story of how the social networks fundamentally altered the world, detailing the roots of their ideology, their race to maximize engagement, and the resulting algorithms that drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions.
Taking the reader from deep inside Silicon Valley to the far reaches of Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Brazil, Max Fisher unfolds the definitive account of how the social-media harms that sometimes began in forgotten pockets of the world saw their dark culmination in American through the pandemic, the 2020 election, and Capitol Insurrection. The result is an intimately detailed account of the consequences of the polarization that social media incubates: the cancellations, the omnipotence of hate speech, and the spillover into real-world violence. Fisher weaves together the stories of dozens of alarmed outsiders and Silicon Valley defectors to reveal the true human cost at the heart of social media.
The Chaos Machine is a fresh, excoriating, and definitive narrative of the rise and legacy of the social-media giants. Delivering both astounding stories and hard-hitting reporting, Fisher captures the tangible havoc wreaked upon our minds and our world by the titans of the tech industry.
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"The history of social media and how it has controlled the world is mind blowing. And quite frightening! "
— JulieTD (5 out of 5 stars)
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“The way the book connects the dots is utterly convincing and should obliterate any doubts about the significance of algorithmic intervention in human affairs.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Well-researched and thoroughly unnerving…Fisher’s lucid, clear explanations and convincing arguments are bound to leave readers questioning their own use of social media.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“A scathing account of the manifold ills wrought by social media… here’s no shortage of books lamenting the evils of social media, but what’s impressive here is how Fisher brings it all together.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“An often riveting, disturbing examination of the social media labyrinth and the companies that created it.”
— Kirkus Reviews
Awards
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A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
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A #1 Amazon bestseller
The Chaos Machine Listener Reviews
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gimmie, 11/2/2023
About Max Fisher
Max Fisher is a reporter and columnist for the international desk of the New York Times. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and a coauthor of a column called “The Interpreter,” which uses social science and other tools to explain global trends and major world events. Fisher has a master’s degree in international studies from Johns Hopkins University and previously covered international affairs at The Atlantic and the Washington Post. He lives in Washington DC.
About Peter Ganim
Peter Ganim, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is an American actor who has appeared on stage, on television, and in film. He has performed voice-over work since 1994.