221–230 of 635 posts
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There are some well-known alternatives: Signal, Telegram, any XMPP server (which you can host)... As for convincing your friends to switch to it, there's no one-size-fit-all method.
Thanks, I will check these out.
Is it wrong to be glad FB's reputation has tarnished (and stock price sideways) over the past year or so? For so long they've monopolized the talent pool in the Bay Area. If more people decide 1) they don't want to work at FB and 2) FB employees are itching to leave then I see any stain on FB's employment brand as a net positive to the greater tech + startup ecosystem.
Based on their privacy issues, influence scandal, etc. its scary to imagine what the company looks like without the best and brightest.
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I think i'd just much rather spend the short time I've got left in my one existence doing things outside of work that actually make me happy and fulfilled, than being exploited for the benefit of the mostly rich and powerful and the illusion of "progress". If you truly get fulfillment from that stuff then more power to you, but I don't think the vast majority of people who are pressured to perform do. Just because we…
> I think i'd just much rather spend the short time I've got left in my one existence doing things outside of work Okay. That's your choice. But having made this choice, don't complain when those of us who choose to devote more time to work receive greater rewards. There's nothing wrong with paying for performance.
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a good argument for switching to signal is that you can also use it to send sms messages, which means you don't have to switch between apps as much or at least lets you cut down on the amount of IM apps you have installed
That is nice. Does WhatsApp not support SMS?
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there is also prestige associated to big names like Facebook (and Google, Apple, etc)
I think that prestige only exists in the minds of some people who work there or have worked there. If I had a nickel for every time someone started a sentence with "well when I was at Google" for a scenario that is nothing like Google... Facebook's move-fast-and-break-things culture is fortunately a little less envied, in my experience.
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> the long-term societal tradeoff of not developing addictive mental candy Along with React, GraphQL and a bunch of other technologies with various degrees of popularity https://opensource.fb.com Along with various startups building around the projects incubated at Facebook - Asana, Interana, Phacility, Qubole, etc.
Ok so React, GraphQL, and good pay. Definitely not short-sighted. You don't think those technologies could have been developed by people at ethical companies, or even by the same people at ethical companies?
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React + GraphQL Where B is the sum of the set consisting of: -Breaking democracy in the US and the UK by being _the_ platform for disinformation. -Disinformation assisting genocide in Myanmar. -Use correlating strongly with poor mental health -Manipulating behaviour to encourage poor attention spans for the sake of ad-clicking -Constantly violating basic standards of privacy -(I could go on..) Oh wait, excuse my arit…
I don't think its fair to blame FB on the decay of democracy in the information age. Surely Twitter is also to blame them. I think the blame is on the users. Its not possible to be perfectly informed. It is possible to keep your mouth shut if you don't know something for sure. Perhaps its the fact that in real life, to say something you need to say it to someone's face and on social media you don't have that social w…
It is a problem inherent in the structure of most social media companies. And Facebook is the most significant social media company, and thus contributor to the problem.
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The "surface" of Facebook may not be, but the parts of it that keep "personal information" certainly are, due to the scope of what can happen if it leaks.
What exactly would happen? Edit: people take my comment to mean it won't be a big deal. It will be. However, not on the same scale of taking out the power grid, or the water system, which would lead to hundreds or thousands of deaths. Facebook is not critical infrastructure.
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It is essential that tech companies, especially ones that provide critical infrastructure, place technical excellence above other priorities. Denigrating meritocracy is like pollution: the impact may not be immediate, and in the short term, it may look like you can have your cake and eat it too, but the universe is not caring and not kind, and if you forget about the need for excellence in the continual struggle agai…
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman [0] [0] https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/roge...
FWIW though, investors can be fooled.