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Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

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Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#61

Post by logfromblammo »

ithinkinstereo wrote: post #33
chrischen wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It suggests he may be Buddhist. You can't really use a religion other than Christianity if you're pandering to Americans.

I see this as baby steps... he knows that being an atheist is a non-starter, politically. Better something than nothing. Watch him get more religious and move towards Judaism/Christianity as we get closer to 2020 :)

Exactly this. If you are already atheist, and people know about it, it is more tenable politically to convert to any religion that exists than to remain atheist. This includes religions that practice human sacrifice. And if you think that is too insane to be true, please remember what country we are talking about, here.

That said, there are some religions that are compatible with atheism, which wouldn't necessarily be recognized by the public as a religion that could have atheists in it, or would at least provide plausible deniability if you are smart enough to keep your mouth shut about religion on the campaign trail.

Unitarianism, obviously, is one of these. If I were ever to run for office, I would simply join a UU assembly and leave it at that. This would probably restrict me to running as a Democrat, though. If I wanted to run as a Republican, I would have to be more careful, and say "I was baptized in the Methodist church".

If Zuckerberg wants to give it a go as a Buddhist, secular Buddhism exists, and certainly no one on the west coast would bat an eye at it, but the other regions of the country would probably either have a problem with the religion itself, or that Zuckerberg would be practicing it as a white guy.

Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#62

Post by visakanv »

Some fun facts: Zuck's favorite book(s) growing up was the Ender's Game series [1]. He learned Mandarin and spoke to Chinese audiences [2]. As such, I don't think he's setting himself up to be POTUS, that seems too small for him. (One of Zuck's role models is Bill Gates, and Bill clearly believes that folks like himself can do more for the world outside of Government than inside it.)

IMO, Mark's setting himself up to be Hegemon of Earth: http://enderverse.wikia.com/wiki/Hegemony

[1] http://favobooks.com/enterpreneurs/90-zuckerberg.html

[2] https://qz.com/532834/mark-zuckerbergs-20-minute-speech-in-c...

Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#63

Post by Terr_ »

hyperpape wrote: post #37

As someone who shares a lot more political opinions with Zuckerberg than Trump, having the man who controls Facebook holding political office has just as much potential for corruption as Trump does, and is almost as scary. Politicians have a lot of levers to shape media coverage without owning one of the largest sources of information in the modern world.

I searched for "blind trust" and didn't see it. Is there some legal quirk I'm missing here where Zuckerberg gets a pass on conflicts of interest, or is it part of the general lack of ethics the incoming Administration seems to be planning?

Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#64

Post by hyperpape »

CptJamesCook wrote: post #60
hyperpape wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"a business that created more value than the S&P 500 (the top 500 businesses on US stock exchanges) over a 30 year period" What's this based on?

https://dqydj.com/donald-trump-beat-sp-500-index-funds/ Admittedly questionable source, but I've seen it elsewhere and the approximation seems fair.

There's probably a clearer way to phrase that point. I initially thought you were saying that Donald Trump made more money than the entire S&P 500!

Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#65

Post by rhcom2 »

DennisP wrote: post #32
aaron-lebo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's much easier said than done. At the end of the day, Facebook almost reaches 2 billion people. Good luck beating that and a net worth of $50 billion.

Not only does it reach them, but it knows more about them than any political campaign ever dreamed of.

Which is a major plot point in the US version of House of Cards.

Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#66

Post by jackcosgrove »

I'm not sure why people are saying Zuckerberg would be better than a regular politician. His public statements have been pretty vacuous, which probably means he is trying to obscure his real positions like any other politician. I'll reserve final judgement on his competence for office until he starts being more concrete, or if someone can point me to some position papers. But for now color me suspicious.

The prospect of a global surveillance apparatus is chilling though, and Zuckerberg already has one of those - albeit with voluntary participation. Digital privacy is a major fault line in emerging politics, and Zuckerberg is one of my bete noires in this area.

Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#67

Post by rhcom2 »

sharkweek wrote: post #55
dj-wonk wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, for one, would not put limits on the ability of politicians to pander in ways that I would find implausible. But in the case of religion (even Buddhism), I find it plausible. Demographics and expectations about religion are changing. Religious belief and alignment does appear to be softening. See: http://www.pewforum.org/2015/11/03/u-s-public-becoming-less-... More broadly, I think the models of cognitive dissonan…

Offering an anecdote with as little commentary as possible, but having gone to a small religious high school, I have friends who argue they'd "never vote for anyone who isn't Christian" but managed to do some mental gymnastics in order to vote for Romney, who during the primaries they seemed to oppose for being Mormon.

Now I feel ignorant, Mormonism doesn't count as a sect of Christianity?

Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#69

Post by fsloth »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #46
fsloth wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. 1. Cities destroyed by atomic weapons 2. Rockets 3. Computers 4. A dystopian one party nation state murdering millions of it's own (murdering en masse is nothing new but usually there was some excuse - soviet system brought state instituted terror to a whole new levem).

> usually there was some excuse - soviet system brought state instituted terror to a whole new levem [ sic ] Perhaps on an absolute basis, the Soviets were the worst, but on a relative-to-population basis history is littered with meaningless massacre.

I agree, yet, I don't think there is anything intellectually dishonest in counting human suffering in absolute measures. Yes, we can identify historical patterns, but individual humans are not just playing out a manifestation of social dynamics, they are living their life. The heart and mind are equal in gauging the world - just different aspects of it.

Re: Zuckerberg could run Facebook while serving in government forever

#70

Post by milcron »

CptJamesCook wrote: post #26
satysin wrote: post #13

I was going to post asking what experience Mark has in government but then I remembered the American population just voted to elect a reality TV 'star' and rich-from-daddies-money mediocre businessman as President. So yeah I guess Mark is highly qualified in that he has several times Trump's net worth.

Another way to describe Trump is that he ran a business that created more value than the S&P 500 (the top 500 businesses on US stock exchanges) over a 30 year period, created a world famous brand associated with quality and luxury, created a tv show that dominated ratings for a decade, and crushed two political dynasties that have held power for almost 40 years.

Wasn't that just the opposite?

I thought the complaint was if Trump had merely taken the 'small loan of one million dollars' and invested it in the S&P500, he would have made more money. That is, he is worse at growing wealth than the stock market average.

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