DeepSummary
In this episode, Sam Harris speaks with Cal Newport about our use of information technology and the cult of productivity. They discuss the state of social media, with Newport arguing that social media platforms like Twitter are more akin to entertainment products curating outrage rather than digital town squares fostering free speech. Newport explains his concept of 'pseudo-productivity' and how the integration of computers into knowledge work has led to burnout as visible activity becomes a flawed proxy for productivity.
They examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on remote work, with Newport suggesting that the sudden shift to working from home pushed many workers past the breaking point of unsustainable workloads and fueled movements like 'quiet quitting.' Newport then outlines the principles of his 'slow productivity' approach, centered on doing fewer things, working at a natural pace, and obsessing over quality - drawing on historical examples like Jane Austen.
The conversation also touches on topics like the 'academic in exile' effect, free speech moderation online, finding meaning in a post-scarcity world driven by AI, and the anti-work movement.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Social media platforms like Twitter function more as entertainment products curating outrage rather than digital town squares fostering open discourse.
- The office culture of 'pseudo-productivity' equating visible activity with accomplishment has become unsustainable in the digital age of infinite tasking.
- Newport advocates for 'slow productivity' focused on doing fewer things deliberately, working at a natural pace, and obsessing over quality.
- The COVID-19 pandemic and shift to remote work exacerbated existing strains on knowledge workers, fueling backlash movements like 'quiet quitting.'
- Social media dynamics incentivize outrageous commentary for algorithmic amplification, worsening societal polarization around facts.
- Studying the work habits of autonomous historical figures can yield universal productivity principles applicable to modern work.
- Constantly being subject to public commentary and criticism enabled by social media takes a significant psychological toll.
- The integration of personal computing fragmented workloads and overwhelmed the traditional 'pseudo-productivity' office model.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “I mean, it has made me increasingly worried that we have politically, certainly in the aftermath of COVID rendered ourselves almost ungovernable in how we talk about, or attempt to have a conversation about what used to be the world of facts.“ by Sam Harris
- “You're auditioning. You're auditioning. When you comment on someone's tweet, you're auditioning for the algorithm, this sort of cybernetic amplification effect. So everyone tries to one up each other.“ by Cal Newport
- “I said, this is why these people are important, because they had all the freedom in the world to figure out what works. So if we look at what they settled on, they're probably uncovering some useful, universal principles about the best way of creating valuable things using the human brain.“ by Cal Newport
Entities
Person
Company
Book
Product
Episode Information
Making Sense with Sam Harris
Sam Harris
4/15/24
Sam Harris speaks with Cal Newport about our use of information technology and the cult of productivity. They discuss the state of social media, the "academic-in-exile effect," free speech and moderation, the effect of the pandemic on knowledge work, slow productivity, the example of Jane Austen, managing up in an organization, defragmenting one's work life, doing fewer things, reasonable deadlines, trading money for time, finding meaning in a post-scarcity world, the anti-work movement, the effects of artificial intelligence on knowledge work, and other topics.
If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.
Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in life. That’s why Sam Harris created the Waking Up app. From rational mindfulness practice to lessons on some of life’s most important topics, join Sam as he demystifies the practice of meditation and explores the theory behind it.