Hope to have your kind help related to "60 Minutes"

Dear teachers,

I have some questions related to the meaning in the transcript of "60 mintes."

Hope to have your kind help.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/brain-hacking-tech-insiders-60-minutes/

Tristan Harris: Tristan Harris: So Snapchat’s the most popular messaging service for teenagers. And they invented this feature called “streaks,” which shows the number of days in a row that you’ve sent a message back and forth with someone. So now you could say, “Well, what’s the big deal here?” Well, the problem is that kids feel like, “Well, now I don’t want to lose my streak.” But it turns out that kids actually when they go on vacation are so stressed about their streak that they actually give their password to, like, five other kids to keep their streaks going on their behalf. And so you could ask when these features are being designed, are they designed to most help people live their life? Or are they being designed because they’re best at hooking people into using the product?

[1] I think “But” should be changed into “So.” What do you think of this?

It’s rare for a tech insider to be so blunt, but Tristan Harris believes someone needs to be. A few years ago he was living the Silicon Valley dream. He dropped out of a master’s program at Stanford University to start a software company. Four years later Google bought him out and hired him as a product manager. It was while working there he started to feel overwhelmed.

[2] A few years ago he was living the Silicon Valley dream.

Does this mean that he had a dream life in Silicon Valley?

Tristan Harris: Honestly, I was just bombarded in email and calendar invitations and just the overload of what it’s like to work at a place like Google. And I was asking, “When is all of this adding up to, like, an actual benefit to my life?” And I ended up making this presentation. It was kind of a manifesto. And it basically said, you know, “Look, never before in history have a handful of people at a handful of technology companies shaped how a billion people think and feel every day with the choices they make about these screens.”

[3] Honestly, I was just bombarded in email and calendar invitations and just the overload of what it’s like to work at a place like Google.

What does “bombarded” mean in this context? There were many emails and calendar invitations?

I think "Honestly, I was just bombarded in email" should be changed to "Honestly, I was just bombarded with email." Is this correct?

[4] Could you please let me know the meaning of “calendar invitations”?

[5] I cannot exactly figure out the meaning of “the overload of what it’s like to work at a place like Google.”Could you please analyze this phrase and explain (or paraphrase) that to me?

[6] Could you please let me know the meaning of “When is all of this adding up to, like, an actual benefit to my life?”

[7] I think “all of this” should be “all of these” because of “all.” What do you think of this?

Tristan Harris: And it’s not because anyone is evil or has bad intentions. It’s because the game is getting attention at all costs. And the problem is it becomes this race to the bottom of the brainstem, where if I go lower on the brain stem to get you, you know, using my product, I win. But it doesn’t end up in the world we want to live in. We don’t end up feeling good about how we’re using all this stuff.

[8] It’s because the game is getting attention at all costs.

Could you please let me know the meaning of “It’s because the game is getting attention at all costs.”? What does “the game” mean here?

Anderson Cooper: You call this a “race to the bottom of the brain stem.” It’s a race to the most primitive emotions we have? Fear, anxiety, loneliness, all these things?

Tristan Harris: Absolutely. And that’s again because in the race for attention I have to do whatever works.

Tristan Harris: It absolutely wants one thing, which is your attention.

[9] Could you please let me know the meaning of “race to the bottom of the brain stem.”?

[10] Could you please let me know the meaning of “And that’s again because in the race for attention I have to do whatever works.”?

Hope to have your kind help.

Thanks and best regards,

David Kim