Big Tech is Making us Dumb: How It Happened and What We Can Do About It It wasn't that long ago that it felt like all the information in the world was at our fingertips.  Search engines helped us successfully navigate massive amounts of data to learn almost anything quickly.  At the same time, social media allowed us to communicate with people across the globe and for news to be circulated instantly. Things aren't working so well anymore.  Social media is filled with misinformation and rage bait, Google's search engine is broken, and Generative AI, the next big advancement to improve our lives, is an embarrassing boondoggle that embodies all the current ills of Big Tech.  But how did we get here, and is there anything we can do about it? Join Professor Jason Southworth for a spirited discussion of Silicon Valley's failure in promoting growth over safety, how the change in values really has made the internet worse, why this has disrupted what used to be reliable systems for reasoning, and what we can do as critical thinkers to protect ourselves from these systemic failures. This presentation is part of the humanities conference Nurturing Minds|Empowering Lives: A Celebration of the Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, which takes place February 4-5 at the Palm Beach Gardens campus.  This two-day event contains a series of lectures, art shows, an open mic, and discussions available to all.  From Tuesday, February 4, 2025 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM EST at PBSC Palm Beach Gardens campus | SC127.