Conversations #22 - Stephanie Lepp

Executive Producer at the Center for Humane Technology

Nicholas McCay

Aug 03, 2022

A conversation with Executive Producer at the Center for Humane Technology, Stephanie Lepp—

Read & Listen on Substack
Listen on Anchor
Watch on YouTube

Share Eclectic Spacewalk

Hello Eclectic Spacewalkers!

This month, we sat down with Stephanie Lepp. Stephanie is an executive producer at the Center for Humane Technology, where she leads the podcast “Your Undivided Attention” hosted by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin where they “explore the incredible power that technology has over our lives — and how we can use it to catalyze a humane future.” Some of our favorites are episodes with Daniel Schmactenberger, Tim Wu, and Kate Raworth.

“A producer whose work strives to hold up a mirror - inviting us to grow from what we see.”

The Center for Human Technology produced the documentary “The Social Dilemma” and has a course “Foundations of Humane Technology: An Online Course For Professionals Shaping Tomorrow's Technology.”

“The Social Dilemma is a powerful exploration of the disproportionate impact that a relatively small number of engineers in Silicon Valley have over the way we think, act, and live our lives. The film deftly tackles an underlying cause of our viral conspiracy theories, teenage mental health issues, rampant misinformation and political polarization, and makes these issues visceral, understandable, and urgent.”

Stephanie also runs a few other independent projects:

“Deep Reckonings, a series of explicitly-marked deepfake videos that imagine morally courageous versions of our public figures;
Infinite Lunchbox, a YouTube channel offering integral takes on politics and culture;
Reckonings, a podcast that tells the stories of people who've made all kinds of transformative change; and
Where I'm Coming From, an experience designed to build empathy by speaking other people's perspectives in first person.”

—

Our conversation was wide-ranging and it was great fun to talk to someone that is creating transformative impact through storytelling. We will be instituting some of the key learning from our discussion with Stephanie moving forward.

Below are timestamps of the conversation to skip around (or just clear your mind and press play to hear a thoughtful conversation).

We thank Stephanie for their time, research, and eclectic mind. Enjoy the conversation, and until next time - Ad Astra!

Timestamps:

Early influences (02:35)
Studying Science, Technology, and Society or STS (04:50)
“A producer whose work strives to hold up a mirror - inviting us to grow from what we see.” (09:31)
Reckonings project (16:15)
Deep Reckonings (20:20)
The Center for Humane Technology (34:00)
Your Undivided Attention podcast (50:40)
“Wormhole through constellations of tribes” & Synthetic Strategy (56:45)
The power and influence of New Media like Animation/AR/VR/etc. (01:05:00)
Overview Effect question (1:10:14)

—