 Okay, so you know that Black Mirror episode where a giant tech company has been analyzing user data for decades and now it's using that information to shape human behavior by changing our phones and shipping us products to improve our lives? Oh, wait, that's... Okay, so that actually isn't a Black Mirror episode, but it sure sounds like it. That's actually the plot of a nearly nine minute long internal video from Google. So what is this video and what does it say about Google's future? The video was only meant to be used internally, apparently as a thought experiment to provoke discussion about the possibilities of data. It was created in 2016 by Nick Foster, the head of design at what used to be known as Google X. That's the company's moonshot factory where they make things like hot air balloons that deliver internet connections. The video was supposed to stay internal, but my colleague Vlad Savov obtained a copy of it. If you want to watch the full thing, you can do it at theverge.com. We'll have a link in the description. Here's what Google had to say to us about the video. We understand if this is disturbing. It is designed to be. This is a thought experiment by the design team from years ago that uses a technique known as speculative design to explore uncomfortable ideas and concepts in order to provoke discussion and debate. It's not related to any current or future products. And you know what? I agree with them. This video is disturbing. It's really weird and eerie. There are references to Pinocchio, Harry Potter, Richard Dawkins. There are close ups of insects and human faces. It's just meant to feel like a sci-fi film. The video basically makes one grand comparison. What if user data is like DNA, but for our behavior? What if, like we were able to sequence DNA to the benefit of our health and medicine, we could somehow sequence user data to make similarly grand improvements? In proposing this idea, Google brings up a number of fascinating possibilities, but it also brings up a ton of potential ethical and privacy concerns in the process. The central idea presented early on is the concept of a ledger. That's basically the word they're going to use to refer to all the data that they collect and assemble on you. This codified version of who we are becomes ever more complex, developing, changing, and deforming based on our actions. In this regard, this ledger of our data may be considered a Lamarckian epigenome. The Lamarckian epigenome he just mentioned refers to a pre-Darwinian theory on evolution, which isn't actually that important. Really, the science reference is just there to frame the idea of a file that collects all the data generated on us, which can then pass down to future generations, like your children or even just the population at large, to impact the future and their behavior. And that's where it starts to get a little weird, because the video introduces the idea that maybe your data doesn't belong to you. What if we thought of ourselves not as the owners of this information, but as custodians, transient carriers, or caretakers? That drawing with the weird blobby humans is really creepy, and not just because of the drawing. It basically says that I don't own my data, but my data belongs to my entire lineage, if not my entire society and all societies to come. Which is a huge leap about how we think about data privacy. We're currently freaking out about Facebook data leaking. This is talking about creating a repository of generations worth of data to be worked and studied upon forever. The video imagines a number of ways in which this data could be used. It starts out pretty simple. Initially, the notion of a goal-oriented ledger may be user-driven. As an organization, Google would be responsible for offering suitable targets for a user's ledger. Whilst the notion of a global good is problematic, topics would likely focus on health or environmental impact to reflect Google's values as an organization. Once the user selects a volition for their ledger, every interaction may be compared to a series of parallel options. This is basically like your phone's assistant making suggestions based on what it knows you like. So if you're trying to be more environmentally friendly, it might suggest you take an uber pool home or buy organic bananas. But listen to that one more time and pay close attention to the phrasing here. Initially, the notion of a goal-oriented ledger may be user-driven. Initially, the notion of a goal-oriented ledger may be user-driven. The implication here is that eventually Google or some grand AI will start taking a much larger role in your decision making. The AI might start to be proactive about going out and gathering data on you so that it can start providing you even more services. In the example given, the ledger is missing data about your weight, so it goes to incredible lengths to get it. It uses the data it knows about you to create the perfect scale for you. It uses your design interests to design the scale, and then 3D prints the scale and offers to sell it to you, all so that it can pull that weight data back into its system to know more and more about you. And again, this isn't all that far from what's possible today. Google and Facebook both serve ads and news based on your interests. And sometimes that's helpful. I read articles all the time that I'm served. But the added benefit for those companies is that with every article I click on or don't click on, they're getting more information that they can then use to tailor even more products and services to my tastes. Not to mention, a lot of us wear wearable devices that send information back up to those companies' servers, which they can then use to suggest health tips to us. In the final portion of the video, it jumps ahead to a world where Google has decades, if not generations of data. And with that information, the company can map patterns of behavior, or even disease, mental illness and social issues. It concludes on the suggestion that the ledger can change from a system that collects data to one that uses data to actively solve problems for individuals, if not entire populations. These are incredible possibilities, and there may even be some reality there. But the one thing the video never does is question whether it should be done, or if it can be done ethically. It never asks if this data is really as valuable as they make it out to be, or how we can scientifically prove any of this out. I actually take a lot of issue with the premise of this video. I don't think my data is really that representative of me, it's just these residual points left over for advertisers to target-sep to me. It's not human behavior. And on top of that, this data isn't even representative of all humans. It's just for Google users. What's most scary to me right now is that all this video is presented as possible, and there's really no one right now that can stop it or put a check on it. There's no universal ethics regulator that can make sure that tech companies aren't messing with their users' lives. There's no one making sure that any experiments are being conducted in a safe fashion, or that changes are being made that actually help people. This kind of stuff is already happening. Several years ago, Facebook briefly altered its newsfeed to see if it could make people happier or sadder. And it worked. Facebook was able to alter people's emotions. This is a giant tech company using data to manipulate humanity. And again, Google says that this video was a thought experiment and that it's not reflective of any current or future products. But even if that's the case, this is still a scary glimpse into the thinking in Silicon Valley. These companies are awake to the possibilities arising from our data. We should be too, or else one day, it might not be ours. Thanks for watching. If you have a chance, you should definitely watch the whole video because it is fascinating and actually just really entertaining from a filmmaking perspective too. Reminds me a lot of the movie La Jete. You can check it out. Link in the description below. Let us know in the comments what you think. We'll be around to answer any questions.