Our complicated relationship w tech, privacy, & trust feat. Justin Hendrix & Dr. Jess Carbino

How have our relationships been impacted by emerging technology? Is technology respecting our human dignity? Should it creep us out that our devices may understand our emotional state? In this episode of thinkPod, we are joined by Justin Hendrix (Executive Director of NYC Media Lab) and Dr. Jess Carbino (Relationship expert & former sociologist for Tinder & Bumble). We talk to Justin and Jess about whether we are being upgraded or downgraded, the interplay between privacy and control, the rise of synthetic media, and whether we should put our trust in institutions or corporations. We also debate using a chatbot therapist, need for soft skills in tech, and how technology is altering the ways in which we interact with one another.

“Eli Pariser has this idea of human dignity and whether the devices and the content and the mechanisms and the ecosystem we built is sort of respecting our dignity. I'm not certain at the moment that the information ecosystem is doing that. We've got sort of a ways to go I think until we can feel comfortable that we've addressed those issues.” -Justin Hendrix

“People not only want to present themselves as the self that they want to be to the world, but also how they perceive other people want them to be. And I think that's a really strong tension that people have and are trying to negotiate.” -Dr. Jess Carbino

“How do we design systems that we can trust, that support institutions we can trust, that support relationships we can trust? I don't think we've solved that.” -Justin Hendrix

“Fundamentally the decision to trust is related to the decision that I have control over my fate over my destiny.” -Dr. Jess Carbino

Connect with thinkLeaders and our panelists:
@IBMthinkLeaders
@justinhendrix
@drjesscarbino

Justin Hendrix is Executive Director of NYC Media Lab, a public-private partnership between the City’s industry and its universities to drive emerging media and technology innovation and entrepreneurship, and the founding Executive Director of RLab, a new 16,500 square foot facility including co-working labs, classrooms, studios, and more in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that is New York’s City’s home for VR, AR and spatial computing. RLab is the nation’s first city-funded center for research, entrepreneurship and education in virtual and augmented-reality, spatial computing and other emerging media technologies. Previously he was Vice President, Business Development & Innovation for The Economist. He holds a BA from the College of William & Mary and an MSc in Technology Commercialization from the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Jess Carbino is a relationship and online dating expert who been called by The NY Post "the Dr. Ruth of the swipe right generation" and by the Host of This American Life "the Nate Silver of online dating." Dr. Jess, as she is fondly referred to, served as Sociologist for Tinder and Bumble, leading research for each of the two companies. She regularly analyzes user data to align social needs with product and user experience. She has conducted hundreds of focus groups and analyzed hundreds of thousands of profiles.

Dr. Jess was named one of the 100 Most Creative People by Fast Company magazine. Her work has been featured in major news outlets including The New York Times, Time Magazine, Marie Claire, Cosmo, Men’s Health, New York Magazine and The Colbert Report. She has appeared on many TV programs including Good Morning America, Nightline, 20/20, The Doctors, CNN and Huffington Post. Dr. Jess also regularly speaks at conferences and events, most recently at the Oxford Union. Dr. Jess received her PhD in sociology from UCLA. Her doctoral research has broadly focused on sex, dating and relationships. Dr. Jess' dissertation, “Dating in the 21st Century” used data from several online dating sites to answer the age-old question: “what do men and women want?”