On this episode Erik is joined by Antonio Garcia Martinez (@antoniogm), author of Chaos Monkeys, and Parker Thompson (@pt), partner at AngelList. Parker is a returning fan-favorite. Erik describes Antonio’s Chaos Monkeys as half Michael Lewis of Silicon Valley and half Hunter S. Thompson. It's a great read.

Parker and Antonio debate whether the corrosion of discourse and the rise of fake news are a result of specific features of social media, like the News Feed, or whether they are a result of humans being interconnected instantly via smartphones. Antonio argues that WhatsApp is “the perfect foil to Facebook” but that it is still a distribution platform for fake news.

They discuss why two people can see the same high-quality video of the same event, but still draw opposing conclusions on who was the “victim” and who was the “perpetrator.” They discuss the need for media literacy, the difference between media and journalism, and how Twitter and Facebook might be fixed.

They talk about the change in sentiment about social media on the left and the right through the years, starting with the election of Obama, through the Arab Spring, to Trump. They also discuss moral relativism between the US's political parties and the dichotomy of Bay Area political views.

The three close with a discussion about the religious instinct that seems to be an innate part of the human psyche, even if it doesn’t always manifest via organized religions. They talk about new manifestations of religion in today’s social movements and talk about the crazy fact that there are actual “religious startups” that pitch new churches to "VCs."

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Political Ideology Diagram Mentioned By Parker

https://twitter.com/hamandcheese/status/991408394941665285

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Books and Articles Mentioned In This Episode

The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel Boorstin

The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium by Martin Gurri

Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman

Seven Types of Atheism by John Ray

Marshall McLuhan’s Playboy Interview in 1969: https://www.nextnature.net/2009/12/the-playboy-interview-marshall-mcluhan/

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Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global and is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg. Colin Campbell is our audio engineer and the show is produced by Brett Bolkowy.

Social Media, Journalism, and New Religions with Antonio Garcia Martinez and Parker Thompson

Village Global Podcast