The Social Dilemma (2020)
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 89 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Jeff Orlowski
Stars: Skyler Gisondo, Kara Hayward and Vincent Kartheiser
IMDb score:
7,6 (94.779)
Releasedate: 26 January 2020
The Social Dilemma plot
"The technology that connects us also controls us."
Never before have a handful of engineering designers had so much control over the way billions of us think, act and live. Silicon Valley insiders reveal how social media platforms are reprogramming society by exposing the other side of your screen. Expert testimonials from tech whistleblowers expose our troubling situation: The services provided by Big Tech are search engines, social networks, instant information, etc. — it's just the sweets that lure us to bite. Once we get hooked and come back for more, the real merchandise they sell is their ability to influence and manipulate us.
Social Media
Actors and actresses
Ben
Cassandra
A.I.
Self
Self
Isla
Rebecca
Mom
Step-Dad
Police Officer
Reviews & comments
N00dles
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- 640 messages
- 2320 votes
It's a lot of preaching and doomsday scenarios, but I don't feel very addressed; I don't check my phone all the time, I'm not constantly distracted, I'm not very sensitive to ads (says everyone, but okay) and I'm also not a tame sheep that just blindly accepts everything that 'was on the party book'.
The manipulation of the mob and the brainwashing of large groups of people is nothing new (National Socialism, anyone?), it is now much faster and more effective.
Interesting to see how none of the people who worked for these corporations had any idea what kind of Frankenstein they built. Also striking that they all started with good intentions (and the people who still work there are also full of good intentions, thinking that they make the world a little better). The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Still, I don't want to call Facebook, Google, Twitter, Youtube or Snapchat the source of all evil. It is always the people themselves who take care of their own destruction. AI and technology are only making it happen faster and faster.
Technically, the setup of the documentary was okay; the acted scenes make it a bit more varied than a standard "talking heads" documentary, but in the end it was much of the same.
3.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
james_cameron
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- 7236 messages
- 9962 votes
Fairly interesting documentary about the dangers that lie behind the use of social media. A wide range of developers and stakeholders have their say, with the message being mainly gloomy. The scenes played are on the clumsy side, although they do bring the problem to light effectively. The interviews are a lot more convincing, at least, as long as the subject matter is not revealed too abstractly. Sporadically I was a bit lost and things passed me by.
Translated from Dutch · View original
JJ_D
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- 3836 messages
- 1363 votes
Fictional stories within documentaries? Damn it's the ultimate weakness. After all, the better documentaries are more exciting and improbable than reality as we know it. The same is true of what is told in 'The Social Dilemma': we think we know how much we are reduced to consumers, while with all kinds of social media we lose our ability to think, feel and act real socially, but the danger goes deeper: societies are being disrupted by algorithms that are amoral precisely because they are programmed merely to increase their own click rate. Help?
Yep, what you call "frightening"! Director Jeff Orlowski does not get the best of the best in front of his lens, and the argument is ultimately crystal clear. Too bad about the epic frills, the plot with which the abstract has to become concrete for the average viewer. Isn't that an embarrassing intellectual underestimation of the public?
3.25*
Translated from Dutch · View original
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