Does the News Do Us Any Good?

Alain de Botton asks: what is it that we're really looking for when we watch or read the news - and is it doing us any good?
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[@dannycrowley9630]

de Button's longer talks are worth 100 of the school of life 5 min videos.

[@cynthiajoy3780]

Facts

[@3_m_1_7]

Powerful introductory argument by de Botton: there are two ways of concealing tractional knowledge - censorship and flooding.

[@robsweeney1995]

Set playback speed to .75 and it sounds like he's speaking at a normal pace

[@bicycleutopia]

he doesnt talk fast -- you think and process slow...

[@hauweiguy9587]

thanks

[@johnvoidec5170]

I watch everything at 2x speed. You get used to it

[@BIOH2NO3]

For an ESL thats a good idea. Tks.

[@ambivertical]

Incredibly informative and insightful as to how we as news consumers think/act as a whole, and the system that distributes news today. Thank you for sharing.

[@fikujez]

That was literally the best, most informative talk I have ever heard.

[@Pathrissia]

I think schools need passionate philosophers with all around knowledge 😍

[@Dazzletoad]

At one point I think he breathed, however, I'm skeptical.

[@bradhorner]

He has the hallmark of an excellent didgeridoo player. it requires breathing out of the sides as you play. Not easy.

[@Dazzletoad]

Haha xD

[@TraceyBThomas]

interestingly, he does physiological breathing research.

[@chrisknight9682]

He doesn't trust your ability to keep paying attention. He obviously has good grounds for this .

[@ragemsaid8697]

Dazzletoad astonishing observation

[@infinitewonders479]

Thanks for the slow down suggestion (Rob Sween). At .75 it is so much easier to follow.

[@justgivemethetruth954]

I am sick of the News, sick of the Government, sick of Corporations, sick of Rich People telling me how great they are - how much do they know - and what we all need to do to make them richer. What a messed up system ... if it is even a system.

[@words247]

I, too, see this as absolutely brilliant. Very insightful. Thank you!

[@akkonburike]

RSA and TED are no exception... these formats are *voided* of struggle, misery or conflict. The ubiquitous _we_, _us_, _our_, _together_ already shows the absence of (genuine) conflict and thus information... its like they're pretending to be a happy family, but seemingly happy families always reminded me at MAD magazine's psycho families.

[@thegreaterconundrum]

I love the character development we get from skeptical yellow scarf in the front row there

[@JonnysToyRobot]

this is brilliant

[@taalibalexander891]

Fantastic exercise in obscuring the truth.

[@FriendlyHugo]

This is a trimmed version of RSA Replay - Does The News Do Us Any Good? - which is un-cut, with full Q&A session at the end. For an example of a cut, they cut 8 seconds at 0:28 on this video (see 2:08 on the long video to see that those 8 seconds can be considered "waffling"). By the time they're at 22:07 on this video, they're at 30:39 on the long video. And then the Q&A is heavily trimmed. So: if you're pressed for time, watch this trimmed one. I'm thus sure they did an excellent job. :)

[@richardmabe4186]

I don't watch the news, here today gone tomorrow it changes little.

[@ptjenno]

One of my favourite philosophers

[@adrianaadnan7704]

Alain de botton is amazing

[@burpe1]

Charles Dickens did a good job at bringing sad themes and presenting them in a way that would target the wider audience and people who wouldn’t care for themes as such because they don’t make part of it.

[@Ryndika]

You are free to not flood yourself with stupid irrelevant "scandals"

[@wondermanwillmaestro7187]

This was so interesting! Brilliantly presented too

[@hauweiguy9587]

When he started talking about photos, it reminded me of a photo taken of Obama sternly looking down at Putin when they were standing face to face and a photo of trump and putin with trump having a silly smile on his face. The expression 'picture speaks a 1000 words' came to mind.

[@KNagendran]

Can he speak any faster? Fascinating stuff as usual from Alain de Button.

[@siddharthbhavsar91]

He is a great philosopher for sure, but an even better essayist.

[@naimrahman1578]

A comment to tell the algorithm that this is important.

[@Memento_Mori_Music]

Did someone call me?

[@nickboldan7833]

Excellent points about building connections to what you're presenting (through art), the significance of archetypes in the news, the need for "good celebrities" (i.e. public role models), and looking within ourselves more than looking to flashy headlines for how we will handle our day and our lives. Now, of course some news is very important, and I do believe that one should keep oneself informed from multiple perspectives (don't just blankly follow The New York Times - try understanding the viewpoints of The Wall Street Journal on a certain issue you find important), but it is also true that in this day and age we are simply being overloaded with more news than we can handle. This leads to feeling lost sometimes, since you're being pulled from so many directions. It's important to have a guiding compass, and let the news be one small factor in how you live.

[@niory]

Loved it and watched it twice !

[@jbisntme]

For me , the "news" today is nothing more than a business. The 24hr. news cycle by cable television and the digital age has done nothing more than give the average viewer "information overload". The question is what is important for ME to know ? Like anything else news should be taken in moderation. Or not at all. One should be aware of the events of the day. But since most news is of the pessimistic variety it can lead one to view the world in a very negative light. There was a time when a half hour a day with Walter Chronkite was more than enough. It was just "to catch up on things ", and then I could get back to my life. Or not. Depending on how much what I was informed about effects me personally. ( I'm a great fan of Mr. Botton, but I do wish he would stop talking as if he was on speed or feels like he has to compact years of ideas into 20 minutes.)

[@sharonmassey2923]

“And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter, - we need never read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?” Henry David Thoreau

[@JulieRohloff]

Too much news about the news... (Fox news reporting about CNN for example)

[@l.e.shelly564]

great stuff . loved his books.

[@camlibrary1702]

I love him!!!!

[@juanfranciscosanda6780]

I could hear him for ages

[@kimlima2113]

I don't really grasp the deeper end of that approach. Imagine a world, where every journalist could grasp his or her audience for the really important topics. Wouldn't there be an overflow on "important information"? How could an ordinary person cope with life and worry about all the important stuff in the world at the same time? Moreover, there are topics not even the experts do fully understand and opinions are usually divided in the world of experts. And: What is important to whom? A housing crisis in northern England would be terrible for the people, but does anybody really think the Peruvian or Sub-Saharan African audience would deem the topic "important" (in relation to their problems)? How to deal with all those questions? On top of that, the question of importance seem philosophical itself and must be answered to decide what is important. Or am i mistaken? Please feel free to enlighten me and my limited view.

[@UrbanomicInteriors]

I think it's about spending your time and attention learning about the things that you are personally interest in, instead of consuming what is being shoved down your throat by news feeds and TV's. In the past year I have watched/listened to hundreds of hours of information on ancient architecture, esoteric wisdom, physics, psychology and theraputic healing modalities for mental health in lieu of the news. I can say, I see the world VERY differently than I used to, and I feel more in control of my personal power.

[@chrisy.7501]

2:50 In my experience most people cares much about space and earth as much as they used to obsess with celebrities' body during childhood. Anyway greatest speech.

[@CommonUnity]

no it does not. The news makes my mum sad and miserable, daily

[@Tschoo]

He seems quite stressed in his speech - maybe tight timelimit. For a more relaxed version visit the schooloflife channel.

[@Bagman451]

Tons of interesting ideas, can definitely tell he's a bit eccentric since the topics tend scatter around -- but, I've always loved that. I found it interesting how he mentioned the "few bad eggs" notion. Do you think people get grasped into narrative-style stories with traditional protagonists and antagonists? In reality, "evil" cannot be said to be localized or embodied in any given person, or groups of persons, as much as in the past. It is very much systemic, and this makes combating things difficult. One reason I've seen that people focus on a few bad individuals as the cause is simply because its easier to cope with. Otherwise, it asks of everyday people with jobs, relationships, and life stresses to gain an education on par with a doctorate (i.e. 8+ years) to properly inquire, diagnose, and put forth solutions for important issues. It's simply an impossible expectation for most -- one can't will into existence time, energy, and resources -- and I'm betting people aren't willing to take someone's word instead, especially if things feel as if they're going south. If the systemic issues become so great that the masses can't understand them, my worry is that starting anew is a relatively more-valid option for those people. It replaced uncertainty with certainty, even if the new structure might be terrible, since people now understand and have more control over issues. Or, that is where I'm leaning towards when I see people protest desperately with great intentions in naive manners. Even if some [x] person new the answers, to incorporate that answer into a solution involving people unfamiliar with the content is asking them to be irrational for the sake of good: "Trust me".

[@KoolT]

And he's helping Ukraine. God bless him.

[@gwarlow]

Hello viewers. Do yourselves a favour and set the playback speed at .75x You’re welcome. ;-)

[@wiffleone]

4 ways people are controlled: news, religion, sports, work

[@Stealthsuit07]

Holding the power to account, huh? The media HAS the power in our society. Depending on how an electoral candidate is presented(not to mention covered at all) that candidate gets votes. Depending on how criminals are portrayed court cases can become outrages or go by unnoticed. And so on. Regarding the stuff about reading below the line, I don't at all think it's a good solution to completely ignore the area "below the line", meaning comments such as my own I assume. In my opinion, the things common people have to say about news often holds more value than the news itself. That being said, people need to learn not to take anonymous internet messages at face value, and not be so inclined to take offense when someone says something they take exception to. As long as it isn't actual threats I don't really think "hate" should be censored or ignored. The comparison to a journal doesn't really hold water, since people know that their comments will be published. But certainly, people tend to exaggerate based on their feelings for the moment. If you consider that, it isn't hard to read between the lines.

[@UrbanomicInteriors]

WE the the POWER when we are intentional about how we spend our time and attention. If everyone in the world watched 1 hour of documentaries a day instead of the news imagine how quickly the world would change.

[@djn48]

@@UrbanomicInteriors Bam, you nailed it. We can only hope that the world you describe isn't too far away... And a suggestion for anyone reading this: Adam Curtis documentaries, particularly "The Century of the Self".

[@vinayaktripathi8883]

this talk was good in the first 5 mintues but scrambled later on. There were good points but not a clear picture that could be formed from them. But the bias point was really good and important. That we need good bias in place of no bias.

[@k53n14]

I would recommend reading The Truth by Terry Pratchett in order to get more ideas and thoughts about news.

[@Greg-xs5py]

The problem with a little bias in the media is that a very small group's bias, relative to the rest of the population, has a major influence over the rest of the population. This can lead to elitism, which, under certain circumstances, can be good but often becomes corrupt.

[@nazarbaaztv7570]

Good to listen the similar ideas and more as i am focusing on my book, the same way: a few lines : By the diversification of technology, practical definition of capitalism has also emerged differently. Now it means the incorporation of anything into business. Capitalists take people as machines and products for revenue generation and not the human beings. People can, not only generate revenue but also after a little more influence and training can become the indirect potential monetizing resources. For instance, media personalities can be taken as the active elements of revenue generation when it comes to controlling the news, current affairs, influencing the public opinion by directing people’s emotions with onstage and on air discussions, criticism, idea generation and imposing a certain belief on them. Simply stating, through propaganda by media, any social goal can be achieved.

[@user-ur9bv6wi2j]

Great 👍

[@carollollol]

Why did it end so suddenly? is there a part two?

[@beanbag136]

listening to this in 2018 and there is now wifi on airplanes (21:50)

[@fon75]

Amazing talk! A little correction: Elon Musk did not found or develop Paypal. He muscled in on a competitor.

[@slavikarg]

Main question on any news reading should be. How that affects me? If the answer is: "In no way". Then the news article is irrelevant to us and reading it would be a waste of time. Unless its entertaining, like kitties.

[@kiwanoish]

Also, people should really start treating the news more like you would treat any scientist. As a start, demand references. How hard would it be to just flash a little box with a number when statements are being made, and then say 'see our webpage for references', or just dedicate 1 page in the newspaper to references. This would take minimum effort, yet make it much easier for researching the credability of a story. Cooking shows always include a reference to the recipie on their webpage, it wouldn't be incredibly hard to do a similar thing for the news and its sources. Make researching the news easy for your viewers/readers.

[@justgivemethetruth954]

9:54 .... thoughts on tragedy and what purpose it serves - as agents of civilization. How can they know this so well and simply thousands of years ago and we seem completely blind to it today?

[@j.manueldominguez8946]

The School of Live

[@walden3]

There is too much information, sugar coated or not. There are 9000 bills introduced into the US Congress, each year. You going to read each of them? Write your own? The industries and special interests write the laws and their employees, the people they give donations to, vote the way they are told.

[@SpaceCattttt]

Put it this way: If there were no news at all, we'd be screwed.

[@shawnburnham1]

I had to slow it down to x.75.

[@livercat8817]

Watch news if you want to go crazy

[@kiwanoish]

Even though I think there were alot of sensible things in there, I think the last thing the news today needs is dramatizing stories to appeal to our feelings and empathy, which you almost seem to advocate to some degree in the beginning (in the right way of course, whatever that is). The news should get back to dealing with facts not feelings. The #1 reason I've gotten less interested of mainstream news is that out of the 10 questions I have after I heard/read the headline, perhaps 1 gets answered, and then I get a sad story obviously just to get me interested, but which give me no information at all about what (and why) happened, which just makes me really annoyed. Alot of the problems you highlight, seem to me to come from things that you at the same time almost advocate. I know this is not precisely fair, and that there were alot of opportunities for misunderstandings there, and you probably have a well thought through argument, but that's how it sounded to me. Also, what is good bias? Who decides? Everyone? Well, then I would call that no bias. Not literally of course, but the news should not try to be good biased, it should try to avoid bias yet acknowledge, be aware and open about the one it has.

[@Randall_Kildare]

666th like... woot woot! I's left alone my mind was blank I needed time to think ot get the memories from my mind what did I see? can I believe that what I saw that night was real and not just fantasy?

[@Shadowfax2348]

hell yeah

[@cvan7681]

Just more "entertainment" to show us ads and sell us stuff. No useful information in 30 second sound bytes and a bit of video. We haven't watched "The News" in 30 years.

[@sbaran6933]

"Too much news, kills the news "

[@ruslannabiev2399]

Stop seeking closure, just stop, it’s a waste of time people. Own who you are already goddamn it.

[@BLUEGENE13]

he talks about how it's really silly to think that people would talk about information that is merely important, and to make things better we have to make important information more popularized and attractive, that's all well and nice but you could of just went one more step and skipped this whole thing and realized 'that hey maybe people still won't do anything once they have the easy to swallow popular important information' and that is indeed mostly the case.

[@ChristinaAaliyah]

5:38

[@dianajoyce9482]

5:05: look up the etymology of the word 'celebrity'...

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

It’s all lies, panic, and fear.

[@MrJay_White]

isnt the point of having news freely available a cornerstone of how democracy functions, since you cant have a functional democracy without informed electorate?

[@MrJay_White]

Haley Walters true. though online news sources giving the msm competition can help in that regard. providing they arent vapid nonsense like gawker.

[@oasisneko1]

Bias is an error of perception....

[@bajan13ken]

I would watch his "new news" shows :) Actually, wasn't Sixty Minutes sort of like this, before they got sued into near oblivion?

[@Ouchimoo]

Hmm. Is that what happened?

[@fboileau1]

ok but occupy had ideas, i was there

[@shawnburnham1]

genius

[@oolala53]

What happens in the news was explained very well in the book New Body, New Mind published in 1989. It seems like everything the authors warned against are still happening.

[@th6218]

👏👌

[@TomRauhe]

I love him, but he is deeply and seriously wrong that we care about people who are different from us. If we cared, news agencies would jump on any mass killing in Africa. But they know we don't, so they don't. This has been psychologically proven over and over and over again. We have to ACTIVELY take action and care about people unlike us, that's where NGOs and their employees come from.

[@chrislangton6446]

Very interesting presentation except that the earth is cooling not warming

[@ameagher2]

+Chris Langton. So that's why the polar ice-caps are melting ... very interesting.

[@chrislangton6446]

ameagher2 Says who? They have been warning about this BS for 20 years and yet the temp has hardly altered. And where is all the flooding. A nobel prize winning scientist explains how there has been a .03 degree alteration in temp since temp have been recorded.

[@divergentlanding4601]

Media, "news " giving us anxiety, and anxiety leading us to constant stress, and stress lead us to cancer and cancer - is death - Don't let media kill you! hahaha

[@rogerpope6057]

The news now is double speek

[@danremenyi1179]

If de Botton could speak at half his speed he would be 10 times more effective.

[@skiphoffenflaven8004]

I disagree, greatly. Things really are that bad, overall.

[@daPawlak]

what does RSA stands for?

[@tttemma]

"Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce"

[@daPawlak]

glad to amuse you

[@dkiande]

They already have wifi on planes now

[@BettinaAscaino]

There’s this ad they always show me on videos and the woman says: “the more you meditate, the less likely you are to make a mistake”. I always think: so the more you meditate, the less you learn. The more you meditate, the more delusional you become about being always right and being superman. Just had to tell someone lol

[@sharonmassey2923]

The more you meditate, the clearer your thinking becomes, the more you can adopt the attitude of "don't sweat the small stuff", the less sleep you need, the more you lose the superficial priorities of society and the more you develop what's really important to you, the less concerned you are about gaining the good opinion of others and the less you care about the bad ones, and the less likely you are to make a mistake. I could expand on that. Twenty minutes first thing in the morning before your mind fills up with unhelpful crap, and which helps you stay "clean" the rest of the day, which also saves you time. Check out my "go to" clip, monotonous and hypnotic - kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3fYq3x-YpKoaJo Get comfortable, headphones, experiment for a week and see what you notice.

[@BettinaAscaino]

Sharon Massey that was very sweet and kind of you to do. I was venting on my comment, but do understand. She was trying to sell me something insistently when Im trying to watch videos :)

[@sharonmassey2923]

@@BettinaAscaino For some reason, I didn't clue in that you were talking about here and now, probably because I downloaded an adblocker 3 or 4 years ago, and it doesn't cross my mind. If I'd clued in, I would have just told you this: Free at the Chrome store, maybe other places, lots of choices, picked UBlock Origin for no particular reason. Too many choices, I guess. Will change your YT life! Enjoy!

[@BettinaAscaino]

Sharon Massey thank you! So what’s the point of YT Premium? They advertise it to me “ad free”

[@sharonmassey2923]

@@BettinaAscaino No clue! I kept waiting to get busted, but nothing ever happened. I'm sure lots of people are doing this.

[@darrylprojectile]

My 9 year old tried to tell me this was interesting. Nice try mate, off to bed with ya.

[@revhead5420]

ever seen a news presenter that looks like IT hasn't missed a meal !!

[@timblackburn1593]

Pop Philosophy Can't Say Propaganda

[@pakalupapito1528]

anyone else watched in 0.75 speed?

[@Mateo-et3wl]

1.5x. Grow a pair!

[@KJ-pu8dw]

I don’t watch the news. All biased crap. Get on with your own life. If you can help people’s in a tragedy then help them, don’t just read and listen about it !

[@one-seventh]

What humbug and claptrap.

[@shortcutDJ]

Elon is single now

[@MikeRLloyd73]

Shortcut I thought he was dating Grimes...

[@evolv76]

Not so good. Zero ideological insight , nothing about various media politics also nothing obout groups of interest inside media structure or general media market goals. No corelation between information and a power in this paradigm.

[@nazarbaaztv7570]

no insight someone does have

[@qqueuenstein5616]

His whining about "News Media" content conflates mainstream (legacy) media delivery with the world's media consumption as a whole. There has never been much of a true distinction between entertainment and news. News is information. Yes we are flooded. There is an endless amount of information available to any self efficaciously inclined human with an ability to focus and filter information. Your news is not my news.