A letter to our daughter • Hacker News Board

Re: A letter to our daughter

#151

Post by pinkrooftop » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:48 PM UTC

77ko wrote: post #127

rimantas wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that I don't agree with the whole thing. It just seems like a PR stunt to me :( Why the fuck are you posting a letter to your daughter across the globe? Why do you have a letter at all, can you just say it to her sometime when she is actually able to understand. I guess for him completely different rules apply, but my wife and I don't even post any pictures of our daughter online nor are we sharing anything ab…

One good answer: It totally changed my perception of Facebook. If the guy at the top is trying to save the world, that automatically makes facebook a lot more appealing, not just to me and many other other I know who have historically been quite suspicious of facebook and its overly invasive privacy 'features'.

I guess we lucked out that our wealth proclaimed leaders are benevolent

Re: A letter to our daughter

#152

Post by bababouy33 » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:48 PM UTC

6stringmerc wrote: post #35

Okay, maybe it's just me, but after reading the introduction and getting through the list of extremely difficult "Can we..." challenges followed by the "We must..." directives, the first quote that popped into my head was a variation of “a poor man is crazy, but a rich man is just ‘eccentric.’” I get the desire to solve the world's ills, of society's shortcomings, of essentially fixing the thousands of years of evolu…

>Our generation grew up in classrooms where we all learned the same things at the same pace regardless of our interests or needs.

What are honors classes? What are remedial classes?

Re: A letter to our daughter

#153

Post by dhcar » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:49 PM UTC

This seems more like PR than a genuine letter to a child. Which is fine, but I wish they'd treat it as such.

They talk about facebook, donations, improving the world, their beliefs, etc. but very little on how to be a better person or how to enjoy life. Maybe I'm projecting, but what would you want to find in your pillow after moving in for your first day of college?

I hope they wrote their daughter a real letter. One directed to her and not something that will be tweeted by hundreds of news organizations.

Re: A letter to our daughter

#154

Post by slg » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:49 PM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #128

slg wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You spend $45B on changing the way governments and populations live work and how power is balanced. $45B is even overkill for that. Each presidential candidate spent (or had spent on their behalf) roughly $1B in 2012. Zuckerberg therefore could have doubled a candidates spending for each presidential election for the rest of his life and still have half his fortune. $45B is that huge. EDIT: The multiple downvotes se…

The Koch brothers have a combined $100BN and they still haven't gotten the influence that they want. So yes, $45B is a shitload, but practically once you spread it out to where you need it to be to make the world look like you want it to, it still only makes a dent.

The Koch brothers are the most influential political backers in the country and they spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $200M per election cycle. They are the closest someone has come to trying to buy an election, but even their donations are still only rounding errors in comparison to their overall fortune. Politics is a relatively cheap game for someone with tens of billions of dollars.

Re: A letter to our daughter

#155

Post by sjg007 » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:49 PM UTC

jay_kyburz wrote: post #59

littletimmy wrote: post #17

This leaves a bad taste in my mouth, for some reason. Must one's private life be this public? I get that Zuckerberg doesn't agree with privacy, but surely putting his daughter in the public limelight as soon as she is born is an imposition on her privacy. Maybe I'm just getting old.

I see you have some downvotes but I came here to say the same thing. Zuck is using the birth of his daughter to advertise a new venture. You want to be generous? Great, do it! Telling us in a letter to your daughter as a hook to attract eyeballs is kind of weird and exploitative. Update: I also thought I should say that this is no big deal, he has some different ideas about what's ok and what's not and I see that eve…

Facebook is his thing, and he wants people to be public and share by default. So he is leading by example.

Re: A letter to our daughter

#156

Post by bababouy33 » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:49 PM UTC

ciconia wrote: post #61

6stringmerc wrote: post #35

Okay, maybe it's just me, but after reading the introduction and getting through the list of extremely difficult "Can we..." challenges followed by the "We must..." directives, the first quote that popped into my head was a variation of “a poor man is crazy, but a rich man is just ‘eccentric.’” I get the desire to solve the world's ills, of society's shortcomings, of essentially fixing the thousands of years of evolu…

Whether or not the letter is narcissistic, one has to admire their initiative. It is not, unfortunately, the obvious thing to do, and they deserve to be applauded for that. Whatever personal faults the man has, I'd argue this kind of philanthropy more than makes up for it.

Hmmmm. Is locking down the entire internet worth $45B?

Re: A letter to our daughter

#157

Post by Mark1999 » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:49 PM UTC

Thanx Mark. Now that your CIA financed endeavour became a money making machine, you find it is about time to contribute some sort of "philanthropy" to the world. It is no wonder the millions of serfs don't waste any time to congratulate you on this great action of yours. Please, a word from the world to American based institutions: Please, stop saving the world. Really, look at what your government is doing to Syria, etc supporting terrorists through CIA controlled channels. And for God's sake! Read the reports from World Bank before posting this "i will save the world" letter: Poverty and inequality have risen during the last years, not decreased!

Re: A letter to our daughter

#158

Post by ricardobeat » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:49 PM UTC

prezjordan wrote: post #2

> We will give 99% of our Facebook shares -- currently about $45 billion -- during our lives to advance this mission. We know this is a small contribution compared to all the resources and talents of those already working on these issues. But we want to do what we can, working alongside many others. Ninety. Nine. Percent.

He's still left with US$450 million, for living expenses...

Re: A letter to our daughter

#159

Post by brbsix » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:52 PM UTC

grp wrote: post #119

ciconia wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether or not the letter is narcissistic, one has to admire their initiative. It is not, unfortunately, the obvious thing to do, and they deserve to be applauded for that. Whatever personal faults the man has, I'd argue this kind of philanthropy more than makes up for it.

What about the concrete initiative of just paying taxes in each countries where the real business is done?

If Facebook were to pay taxes "where the real business is done" (assuming there is a legal way to avoid doing so), it would probably be considered gross negligence. I imagine the same is true of any multinational.

Besides, Facebook can put that money to much better use than government. All the lowly users of Facebook on the other hand do not know how to best spend their money and had better hand it over. Zuck says so (so do Gates and Soros).

Re: A letter to our daughter

#160

Post by imglorp » Tue, Dec 01, 2015, 10:52 PM UTC

6stringmerc wrote: post #35

Okay, maybe it's just me, but after reading the introduction and getting through the list of extremely difficult "Can we..." challenges followed by the "We must..." directives, the first quote that popped into my head was a variation of “a poor man is crazy, but a rich man is just ‘eccentric.’” I get the desire to solve the world's ills, of society's shortcomings, of essentially fixing the thousands of years of evolu…

Does it matter whether or not he's a narcissist or whatever reason why he does it? Or Gates or Buffet do?

I say bravo, and am looking forward to the benefits of giga-scale philanthropy.