‍As children we believed in magic, imagined, and a fantasy where robots would one day follow our commands, undertaking our most meager tasks and even help with our homework at the push of a button! But sadly it always seemed that these beliefs, along with the idea of self-driven aero cars and jetpacks, belonged in a future beyond our imagination or in a Hollywood Sci-fi. Would we ever get to experience the future in our lifetime?

Fake news spreads six times faster than factual news. The algorithms built into social media software, in an effort to hold our attention, feed us information that triggers the basest instincts of our complex psychologies. These are some of the starkest realities exposed in the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma.” Holding our attention is what the robot (if you will) was programmed to do. And it’s doing its job really, really well.