How Cookies Divided a Nation Transcript
Curt Dalton (00:00.942)
Everybody this is Curt. I thought I'd take on a question of a lot of people asking on when and how this country got so divided as we're seeing coming up to an election of Harris verse Trump and I would actually make the argument it happened on October 13th 1994. What happened that day? The first Internet cookie was created by some group at net Netscape and what a cookie did was able to track Internet users and to know what they liked and what they didn't like what their preferences
This later developed into the affinity algorithm that Facebook, Google and other platforms have made billions of dollars on showing you information that you like, know and thought you could trust. So I'm looking up on the point, even when people my age growing up, there used to be one piece of content. You'd both read it, say from the New York Times or somewhere else, and then you could debate it, talk about it. You would see your point of view, other people's points of view, and you would debate one topic.
With cookies, people were able and companies were able to track you and find out what political persuasion you were, what your income was, where you lived, where you like to shop, clicks that you like to look at, content you looked at. And what happened is we got to a point where people only saw things they liked that agreed with their point of view. So fast forward to present day, if you're a Trump supporter, you're going to see pro -Trump news and videos. If you're a Biden supporter or a Harris supporter,
you're gonna see liberal democratic points of view. You no longer see points of view from the other side because these platforms realize that the more you see things that you like, you're gonna stay on that platform longer. You're gonna feel better about that platform. You're say, I like this platform and tell my friends. But what they created was you could be in the same lunchroom or the same workspace and you're on your phone or your computer.
seeing all pro -Trump things and being like, look, people look through to me, look at all these pro -Trump articles. And your coworker could be sitting across from the table, seeing the exact same thing on their Facebook and their Google, only it's pro -Biden, pro -Harris. And they're saying, look, it's a reinforcing cycle. I'm only seeing pro -Harris, pro -Biden stuff. So with cookies, we lost the ability to see the other side's point of view. We lost seeing things that don't agree with us articles.
Curt Dalton (02:21.24)
Facebook, Google, these platforms realized you spend more money and happier you are and seeing things that you like that you feel like you're on the right side of something. So you could get up from that lunch room and say, look, I'm right. I'm a pro Trump supporter. Look at all these positive Trump articles. And the person sitting right next to you can say, no, I'm a pro Biden or pro Harris person. I'm seeing only stuff that reaffirms my opinion. And so we have this great divide because we're very much entitled and empowered now.
that everyone out there agrees with us. There's only two sides because I've only seen things that I like and want to see on my feeds and you've only seen things that you like and want to see. So how can it be wrong when everything in my feed says I'm right? And this affinity algorithm was originally created to sell you things. They want to know what you wanted to buy, how you shopped. But now it's become
contextualize down to your device ID. They know everything about you as far as if you're using your what kind of even smartphone you have, where you live, how much money you make, where you like to shop, what things you like to click on, what things you don't like to click on. And that created a point where there's no longer a mutual discussion in the middle about an article. We don't both see the same article anymore. As Google will even have on their drop down menu.
You can change your search results. See standard search results catered to you. They know if you type in Donald Trump and let's say you're a pro -Trump supporter, you want to see a lot of positive things. You'll be happier with Google seeing that. If you're a Biden -Harris supporter, you do the same on the other side. If you don't see what you like or things that are opposite your point of view, you are then going to say, I don't like Google, they're liberal, or I don't like Facebook because they're too right wing
And then of course we blame Musk and Zuckerberg and these people for, you know, sub, you know, trying to subvert the American culture. But in reality, it was a cookie created to track you so that they could make money off you and they could know your habits and be the happier you are seeing things that you agree with and affirm your opinion. The more money you'll spend, the more time you'll be on Google, the more time you'll be on Facebook. So you're like this place. People are just like me when in reality, the person sitting next to you is seeing just the opposite, what they agree
Curt Dalton (04:32.526)
And hence we have this great schism now where people no longer respect each other's opinion and debate the issues. It's an us first, them mentality, because all I've seen for the last 10 years are things telling me that I'm right.
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