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All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

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Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#21

Post by ChuckMcM »

hugh3 wrote: post #2

If it makes you feel any better, any truly brilliant people working at facebook will probably make enough money in the IPO to be able to retire and work on whatever brilliant stuff they might feel like. At least for a while.

Well if Google is any example, some portion will create opportunities as angel investors for the next round of entrepreneurs.

Its interesting to see how the various 'waves' in the valley seem to suck in everyone briefly. Farchild/Intel/Tandem/PARC/Apple/Sun/Netscape/AOL/Apple(again:-)/HP/Google/Facebook/...

It would be interesting to know if its similar in other places.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#22

Post by dschobel »

wslh wrote: post #14
dschobel wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ads are a means to an end. More correct: "The best minds of my generation are making huge amounts of money by solving really hard engineering problems and creating whole new industries. That's awesome". It's hard to overstate the economic impact of FB, Google + Apple. These people are building the future of the internet. Ads just pay the bills.

Sorry for my Naivete, but I think that the world priorities must be peace, health and poverty.

Which one of those isn't furthered by the internet? It's not hard to argue the fundamental merit in people working on advancing communication across the globe.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#24

Post by patio11 »

My mother, who was disabled by a stroke some years ago, relies on no non-medical technology as much as she relies on Facebook. It is how she keeps up with the family, who are scattered across the country (and, er, world), without which she would never get to talk to aunts/uncles/cousins since they see each other only at events/reunions and she often isn't well enough to travel.

I respect that folks don't find a lot of value in FB. It isn't quite my cup of tea either. But don't make the engineer's mistake of assuming "Since I don't use it, nobody uses it" or "Nobody's use of this is important to them."

Also, one shouldn't let one's position in the tech echo chamber cause one to overestimate how much resources Facebook really gets from society. Their annual operating budget is, what, the size of the school districts in one midsize US city or the IT department of a single large bank? Don't worry, we will still have brains to spare after someone does an A/B test on poking.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#25

Post by wslh »

dschobel wrote: post #22
wslh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for my Naivete, but I think that the world priorities must be peace, health and poverty.

Which one of those isn't furthered by the internet? It's not hard to argue the fundamental merit in people working on advancing communication across the globe.

I think that there are shorter ways to accomplish it beyond Internet communication.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#27

Post by llimllib »

> I am in no way suggesting that almost 600 million people are wrong. The massive and highly engaged Facebook user base clearly gets value and satisfaction from the product. I am also in no way critical or judgmental about those who find value there. Good for them! But for me, there are so many other unsolved problems in the world, and they have little to do with social.

Hot tip: whenever anybody writes "I am in no way suggesting ", the chance that they are suggesting approaches 100%.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#28

Post by ThomPete »

wslh wrote: post #25
dschobel wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which one of those isn't furthered by the internet? It's not hard to argue the fundamental merit in people working on advancing communication across the globe.

I think that there are shorter ways to accomplish it beyond Internet communication.

Then I guess you know what your next project is going to be.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#29

Post by adelevie »

patio11 wrote: post #24

My mother, who was disabled by a stroke some years ago, relies on no non-medical technology as much as she relies on Facebook. It is how she keeps up with the family, who are scattered across the country (and, er, world), without which she would never get to talk to aunts/uncles/cousins since they see each other only at events/reunions and she often isn't well enough to travel. I respect that folks don't find a lot o…

A family friend of mine has been hospital-bound for quite some time. He just got an iPad and the two things he asked to be set up were email and Facebook.

I asked if he wanted any apps or movies. He said those would be nice, but he needed email and Facebook.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#30

Post by biot » 

  > Facebook doesn’t provide me with anything useful.
If the site owner is reading this, here's how you can hide the "Share on Facebook" link that appears on the Apture bar at the top. Add this as a custom CSS rule:

  .aptureTMMShare a:first-child {
    visibility: hidden;
  }
You're welcome.
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