Summary of Max Fisher's The Chaos Machine

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 I visited Facebook headquarters in late 2018, and among the artwork was a two-story mural painted by a Chinese artist flown in from the Guggenheim Museum. The mural reminded me of the Chinese artist who’d been featured at the museum.

#2 In 2017, Jacob, the Indian man in charge of reviewing posts for Facebook and Instagram, noticed the posts growing more hateful, more conspiratorial, and more extreme. He felt his team’s ability to constrain this rising hate and incitement was hamstrung by the platforms’ secret rulebooks.

#3 I would go to interview Facebook officials, and they would always have thoughtful answers about how they were going to fix the problems they were facing. But when I would ask about the dangers posed by the platform itself, a mental wall would go up.

#4 Many within Facebook believe in the platform's ability to generate positive effects. The company's global-policy chief explained to me how the platform's algorithms and design deliberately shape users' experiences and incentives, but she seemed unaware that these elements are the core of the product.

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Release date

Ebook: September 19, 2022