Social Media: The Algo Wants to Fool You, Beat the Algo

Questioner: Acharya ji, now I wanted to backtrack to one of the talks that you had where you sort of were referring to social media and just the impact that it has on the youth. So and how it sort of offers us a limited window into reality and also paints us just a glimpse and not the entire picture. You know, sometimes I myself find myself in the clutches of this narrow digital sphere where every sort of post and update seems to shape my perception of the world even though consciously I am aware that it's curated to serve someone else's interests. So as I navigate my own path and strive for authenticity according to you, how can I learn to distinguish the genuinely uplifting influences of social media from those that are merely conditioned to restrict me or manipulate the way I see life.

Acharya Prashant: Just as you choose the right company for yourself in the physical world. Similarly, you choose who to associate with or follow in the virtual world. The rules are much the same. What is this fellow after? What does he want to bring to me and why? You see, social media algorithms are written to give you more of what you already are. They are designed to appease you. They are designed to reinforce what you already believe in. And in this way, they destroy you. So just as in choosing the right company, you do not want to choose someone who will keep giving you more of yourself.

You need to have a taste for bitter facts for the truth even if it hurts. Similarly on social media you you you choose who to be with. In fact, if we were a more conscious society, we would probably want to have some kind of regulation on the algorithms because it's not a virtual reality anymore. People are spending more time with the screens than with human beings. It's it's an entire society in itself. It's like being in a nation populated with virtual figures. So we need to figure out what is being served to a particular person and how the interest of the social media company lies in maximizing your screen time so that you can be shown the maximum number of advertisements. That's how they make their money, right? But in maximizing your screen time, is your weakness being maximized? and that will have a great bearing on what becomes of our species because

Unlike other species, we are not just our bodies. We are conscious people, we are more mental than physical beings.

If the mind itself gets influenced and corrupted, then it's as if the entire species has been changed for the worse. Right? So you have to ask if this were a real life person sitting in front of me, how would I relate to him? What questions would I ask her? How would I try to decode his agenda and penetrate and see what he or she wants from me? Does this person have any underlying principle? And there would always be a principle. And if you're attentive enough, you could decipher that principle. If you find the principle sublime enough, then be with that person. Otherwise, simply block or even report. just that the algorithms are not trained to take these reports too seriously. That too is a thing. If the most popular content is blocked just because people report it, then what would happen to the screen time? Well, anyway, our job is to first of all protect ourselves

Questioner: Because these algorithms are so skewed to what you know we personally want. How do you think social media is like being such a great thing for globalization and spreading information across so many different people? But how can we make sure that we're engaging with ideas that aren't just the ones that our algorithm is suggesting to us or is there really no way to work around the algorithm?

Acharya Prashant: No, please first of all understand you'll have to fight the algorithm. You said spreading information globally. The algorithm is designed to maximize, spread, and popularize the lowest kind of influence, the lowest common denominator. That's what the algorithm is designed to propagate. In fact, when you said why is there such a terrible rise in conflict all over the world, one could enumerate even these algorithms as one of the reasons. The average thinking capacity of this planet actually seems to have gone down. I think it's called the Flynn effect or something. Okay, the IQ levels themselves are declining but please do check the facts. I'm not very sure of that.

Because we say you know now I get global exposure because I have an account on Instagram or something. No sir, not everybody who has an account there gets global exposure. You need to have a particular kind of content to get global exposure and that is the lowest common denominator that gets propagated. Great content in fact has come to suffer. It has been crowded out. If you have really good content then you might actually need to pay huge amounts to Instagram to popularize it. But if you come up with something that is like that takes cringe to another level of meaning, then you might find you are an international star overnight.

Yes, social media does popularize, does globalize. The question is what? What? Not the things that would elevate human consciousness but the things that would debase you. Why? Because biologically in the evolutionary sense we are animals. No? And the first instinct is towards very primitive kinds of pleasures. Even even the greatest of intellectuals, you might find them struggling to manage their diabetes. Why I have a sweet tooth, a weakness, a fondness for sugar. You see, he's a great intellectual. Yet the jungle within, the animal within is still very powerful.

He cannot contain his carnal instincts. Carnal instinct is not just about trying for unlimited sex. If you know you are diabetic and still cannot resist consuming sugar and carb, you are still an animal. No, that that's not a judgment in the moral sense. That's a reflection to bring out a particular fact. So, that's who we are. You see how how difficult it is to send a child to school and how much effort it takes to keep a child engaged in school. Whereas how easy it is to make a child bunk school, play truant.

Anything that raises you is difficult. Anything that debases you is very easy.

That's what these algorithms work on. You'll have to fight the algo.

Questioner: I mean you're very big on social media yourself and as a spiritual, you know and motivational speaker how do you think like having spiritual and motivational speakers on social media have shaped the trajectory of, you know just general education of the public and do you think it's the right way to be teaching spiritual education?

Acharya Prashant: I ensured I am big on social media at the cost of going bankrupt. What do you think the algos took me there? No, they didn't. The algorithms did whatever they could to stop me and they are doing that to this date. But one has to fight where the battle is. If the battle is being the battle for minds, the battle for spirits, if that is being fought on social media, that's where I have to be. I cannot keep on wielding my sword somewhere by the side of a tranquil river when a battle is being fought somewhere else. Mind you, it was extremely difficult. That's why I said you'll have to fight the algo. We fought the algo. We are still fighting it daily. There's just no way any of these apps give us any kind of traction. At least in a relative sense, we fight for every single view. We pay for every single view.

The algorithm, no, even if you happen to be a subscriber, the algorithm won't bring my content to you. Now, there is AI, right? The algorithm very well knows that this content is meant to take people off these apps. If you watch me sufficiently long on Instagram, it's possible you might delete Instagram itself. So why would Instagram want you to watch me? So we bribe our way to your senses. You'll have to fight. But there is great fun in it. And it's not as if you'll really go bankrupt and starve. I'm in fact overweight. So it's not that you'll really starve. So there is great joy in fighting a real and tough battle. And as a young person, you should be up for it.

Question: Thank you so much for that. Yeah, definitely. I think that's something that we all would keep in mind as well, particularly because so many of us are on social media for so long. but I also wanted to ask more about, you know, as an individual grows during their lifespan as you said that now the life expectancy has risen up, we should take more time to educate ourselves so that we can make more informed decisions which is more ideal for the world as well. I was wondering when we grew up especially in countries such as India where I am originally from as well. A lot of us take preachings from our surroundings from our parents and we are perhaps as you said the truths that they tell us comes from their centers and their personal interests as well. Not that they are wishing ill on us or anything of that sort. but what I'm trying to really get to is that when you grow to a particular age How do you grow your own personal sense of truth that you know kind of aligns with the universal truth and get off the uh the surrounding and the atmosphere that you've been put in uh since you've grown for so long?

Acharya Prashant: You need to read a lot. There have been real well-wishers who have loved you much more than any relatives including parents ever can. just that since we are not related to them by flesh and blood so we don't honor them enough. You need to read a lot and that would totally liberate your perspective. We are fortunate to be at a point in human history where there is enough and so beautiful accumulated literature and you don't have to read everything if you are attentive and smart. a few books here a few books there selected curated reading obviously continuous reading it's not a course that you can get over within 6 months. it's a thing that you carry on with your entire lifetime and if that remains with you you won't be misled. This is one of the fallacies. Just give me a minute. If it is, you know our parents are there and then you are very careful to add the caveat not that they wish us ill. You see, intentions don't matter. Intentions don't matter. Awareness does.

I might wish someone well but if I do not know the very definition of wellness I'll end up inflicting harm. And that's what most parents do. Face it, please. You see, as young people, we'll be parents one day, maybe soon. So, let's know this very well that just by the dent of becoming a father or a mother, you don't get qualified to render advice. And it's not even advice often. It becomes in India especially in the global south actually it takes the shape of compulsory directions. that too with a strong emotional undertone. If you don't do what you want to do then there is emotional disruption. No no you must know first. First of all, you must learn from all your well-wishers. Yes, parents might be well-wishers, but there have been several others. Let there be an affinity beyond blood with the giants of mankind. It was not for nothing that they left behind their love, their advice for you. These are precious gifts. Accept them.

Questioner: Yeah.I like this also very relatable. I don't know if you noticed, but I brought up my dad a lot because my dad and I have these conversations all the time and it's very easy to disagree with him. And I was wondering because earlier you were talking about finding those close-knits of people that you influence. but sometimes family is not always and then you were saying, you know, if there's someone you can't influence, move on. But family is not always someone you can move on from influencing that because someone is very closely associated with. So how do you balance not necessarily convincing but having discussions and agreeing to disagree but also you know putting facts first like how do you do all that in a family situation with people you necessarily can't really let go of.

Questioner: I'd like to add to this where I feel like a lot of times especially when you're brought up in like a South Asian household you are bought up in a way that you need to respect parents like it's a it's a byproduct of that upbringing that it it is understood and expected of you to respect them in a way that or revert them in a way that or like it's it's it's an outset expectation. So how do we manage that while also bringing this point home. like this is.

Acharya Prashant: if I don't have anything of much value to give to you sitting here. As somebody who is consuming your time as somebody who is positioning himself at least as a bit of an authority. If I know I don't have anything of much value to give to you and yet I desire to command your respect, who am I to you? A well-wisher or an exploiter?

Questioner: But with parents, the thing is that you are very emotionally attached to them. The idea of them being in a position to exploit you never really strikes because you're almost certain that they would never be.

Acharya Prashant: see It's not about a person. It's about a principle. It's not that your particular parents or her parents or my parents are to be faulted. It's a principle. It's not about those persons. You know, we start visualizing faces, particular faces and then it becomes difficult. It's a principle. It's a principle that governs each one of us. Someone who has not bothered to deliberately, consciously, effortfully cultivate her consciousness will be in no position to offer any good, meaningful, useful advice to anybody. And respect is not something cheap. It has to be earned. It is not something that you get just because you produced a baby and then you want the baby too. It's a very South Asian thing by the way you have to respect me. Why ?

I mean why you had carnal interaction with a man or a woman and out of that I was born where is the question of respect in this not that I want to disrespect you but I want to respect you for the right reasons Just because I owe my DNA to you, that's not a good enough reason for me to respect you. Let me owe the purity of my consciousness to you and then I will definitely respect you. Let childbearing and child raising be a challenge. Otherwise, it's very animalistic. Even animals, all kinds of mammals, they bear kids the same process humans do. Just that they spare their kids the burden of respect. You don't find a cow demanding respect from the calf. Whereas the process is much the same. Please see that. What is this respect?

Respect is a social construct. Respect is a power tool. Respect is a thing of authority. Respect is hierarchical. The real spiritual thing is not respect but love.

I seriously dislike it when people offer respect. There is this thing called shat shat naman which in my vocabulary is an insult. They don't understand what I'm saying. Why is he so averse to respect? Because I want you to learn love rather than respect. Usually respect is used just as a substitute and I am a poor one for respect for love. When there is no love then you want to have respect. Please respect me. The real person does not want somebody else to respect him. Yes you if you want to offer something to the other than in her own interest you might want them to understand you.

To want to be understood is one thing. To want to be respected is a totally different thing. As a parent, you are fully entitled to want to be understood. You know, as a parent, you are probably offering something valuable to your kid. That's fine. You want your kid to understand what you're giving or saying. That's all right. But you are saying no that's naman that thought that's not right bow down touch feet surrender even without understanding. no no why do you need to respect me I would be very happy if when we conclude you say you could connect with me you could relate with me. There was a certain understanding that would be so joyful. Instead of that if you say you know salutations, obesians and that happens in India. We roll at your feet sir. What kind of perversity is that?

Questioner: Acharya ji we'll move on to the next question and this will be the last question for the session. I was hearing your talk with the untriggered podcast channel, the YouTube podcast channel and there you described fear and the idea of fear as almost a central disease, a force that stems from dependency on things beyond our control, almost shattering our sense of self when those things fall. As someone who's still navigating these uncertainties of life and striving for growth in all aspects, I sometimes wonder should our goal be to eradicate fear completely or is there a way to harness it constructively that it helps us or proves to be a cat list of grades? In my experience uh a certain amount of fear I mean the terminology could be changed but a certain amount of fear pushes me to uh take calculated risks and innovate yet it also holds me back at times if unchecked. So in your opinion how do you suggest we strike the balance between cultivating fearlessness and also using our natural inclination of a sense of fear as a tool for improvement and forming a deeper understanding of us and the world around us.

Acharya Prashant: You see fear and caution are different things in very different centers. Fear is always unconscious. It just arises without you ever knowing where it is arising from. In fact, you know of it after it has arisen. The entire process of its initiation and development remains unknown to you. You only experience its result and the result is quite physical. You know when there is fear you sometimes even start trembling or sweating. Fear is an unconscious thing. If it is unconscious How will you harness it? To harness something you have to be conscious enough to harness it. No? By harnessing you you mean utilizing commanding. there is something that I want to leverage to put good use to. If I want to leverage something, if I want to use something constructively, then I have to be in a conscious state. No, when I am in a conscious state, then I can use something. Let's say this is fear. Let's say this is fear. The model you are coming from is this fear and can I not utilize fear for a good purpose? The problem is if this is fear then you'll be necessarily unconscious and if you're unconscious how you'll utilize this or this or anything. So fear is not objective. Fear is subjective in the sense that it comes from a particular state of the subject the experiencer.

Caution is a different thing. Caution is a different thing. To be cautious is to know the probabilities. Very simply put, to be cautious is to have a nice degree, a nice faculty for risk assessment. What is the risk? A measure of unpredictability. Right? So when you know what you are getting into is not very probable, then you know that the need for caution is to the extent of 70%. Or some derivative of it. That's it. Another thing you're not afraid. You are just in knowledge of the fact. That's caution. I know if I do this then there is a 70% chance of hurt or or or or loss or whatever. That's caution. And when you are cautious then you may still consciously decide to proceed with an action where the odds are against you. That's all right because you're conscious. You are doing it deliberately, consciously, willingly.

Fear deprives you of these things. Fear will not allow you to work deliberately, consciously. Fear will make you impulsive. Fear will make you work from a center that you have no idea of. It's a very primitive center. It's coming from the jungle. It's coming from our evolutionary past.

You'll not even know what you have done. Therefore, there is this old Sufi saying that says that be afraid of the person who is afraid. Why? Because that person can do anything without even willing to do that thing. The one who is afraid is unconscious. Therefore, you should stay away. If you find someone who is very afraid, then that person is dangerous because that person is out of his mind or her mind. Now that person can do anything. The fellow will not even know what he's getting into. Therefore, when there is fear, ask yourself where is it coming from? We are not we are we are not being judgmental about it. We are not talking of suppressing it. We are not saying oh fear is a bad thing or fear is an ailment, fear is a disease.

We are saying fear is a very natural condition. It's endemic. In our species, we all experience fear. Just that when it comes, we must know what is happening. Doesn't it feel good to be in the know? Doesn't it feel good? You might be in a bad situation, but if you know your situation, it doesn't feel all that bad. Have you experienced that? Have you experienced that? Yeah. Whereas you might be in a very ordinary situation, something very commonplace, but if you do not know what's happening, uh you might feel very odd. Have you ever experienced falling asleep during a car journey? When you wake up, it takes you 30 seconds or a minute to get where you are.

And those 30 seconds are not present. Not that something atrocious is happening to you. You are just in your seat in the car, but you don't know what's happening. You look at the surroundings, you have never seen that place. Obviously, it's a journey. You look around, you don't know what's going on. And you have been sleeping with your mouth open. And you wake up with a bit of a pain in the neck and it takes a few seconds to realize where you are and what's the whole deal. Whereas it's a very ordinary situation, but it feels bad because you do not know what's happening.

Equally, it could be a very bad situation, but if you know what it's really about, you'll be all right within. It's not the complexity or or the adversity inherent in the situation that affects us or hurts us. What really hurts us is that we don't know what's going on. And if you do not know what's going on outside, that might still be tolerable. It's much worse when you do not know what's going on inside. Sometimes, have you seen you are afraid and you don't even know why? Sometimes, have you found your mood dipping for no reason at all? Those are great opportunities to reflect what's happening. This cannot be without a reason. I need to figure it out.

And sometimes it might be for something as trivial as the dinner last night. You ate something that's having a bearing on the brain or it might be something hormonal or it might be about the weather or it might be about a dream you had last night. But it's important to get into your mind and figure out what's really going on. It's very adventurous. It's very thrilling to see that within your lives someone you do not know at all. unveiling your insides it's an extremely interesting thing to do. What's more, it's something that never comes to an end. Inner exploration self-observation is a lifelong activity.

Because the one within is changing continuously therefore you have to know that one continuously if you know for example yourself this moment the one you have known within will not be the same tomorrow. The one who is within tomorrow will have to be known tomorrow. And it's really because it always beats your expectations. We think of ourselves as somebody. We are never who we think we are. And who you really are that can be known only by the process of watching your thoughts, emotions, moods, fears, anxieties, ambitions, hopes, desires.

Questioner: These are great things to look at and wonder. Okay, so this brings us to the end of the session today. Thank you so much Acharya ji for joining us and being part of this enlightening conversation and sharing your profound insights with the UC Berkeley campus. We would also like to thank our audience members who joined us today. We hope this discussion has inspired you to reflect deeply on the questions surrounding spirituality, rationality and the challenges we face in the modern world. On behalf of speaker series India at Berkeley, we thank you for your participation. Have a wonderful day and we look forward to seeing you at our future events.

Acharya Prashant: Thank you. I'm glad to be with you.

Questioner: Thank you so much, Acharya ji.

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