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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

#121

Post by georgieporgie »

nkassis wrote: post #50
georgieporgie wrote: post #43

Random prediction: ten years from now, a student in China will connect with a student in Germany over Facebook (or whatever mass-appeal social site rises to power). A friendship will grow into a partnership, yielding some of the greatest advances in energy technology of the century.

Unless they start working out a universal translator (Actually if they aren't working on this then they are all newbs ;0p) then it's unlikely to happen. Other issues would be that Facebook isn't enough for collaborating on science projects.

English is the international language. Facebook in ten years won't be what it is now. Also, as I said, it would happen on whatever social platform is in power, which, in ten years, will probably ubiquitous to an extent that we cannot currently imagine.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#122

Post by FJCruiser79 »

frossie wrote: post #58
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…

To be fair to the OP, their argument isn't "since I don't use it, nobody uses it". Their argument was a (totally defensible IMHO) personal expression of disappointment about all the brain work going into something whose impact seems to have peaked (in that those who want it already have it, and the rest of us don't have a problem it can solve). Sure, Facebook is a utility to millions or even billions of people, but s…

I disagree with the notion that "those who want it [Facebook] already have it..."

In fact, there are billions of users that don't have access to Facebook but would benefit greatly from it. Many of these potential users have 1/2G mobile phones, with little or no access to a PC. Much of what Facebook needs to do to achieve growth targets will be extending it's platform to these users by creating a consumable experience on such technically limited devices. That takes innovation.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#123

Post by masonhensley »

bane wrote: post #110
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…

It's an interesting point. At my day job, I had an extensive discussion with a coworker who spends his days in sales and marketing. I was telling him that I'm not really the right person to talk to about marketing campaigns on the Internet because I'm virtually immune to them. Even on systems without adblock on, I rarely notice advertisements and I don't think I've ever clicked one. I don't like talking to sales peop…

Same for me- no ads. I thought it was a bug.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#124

Post by alnayyir »

gubatron wrote: post #74
btipling wrote: post #7

They are doing useful things, they're helping create scalable technology that can serve 600 million people. Cassandra, HipHop, Thrift, etc are all products from those minds. In addition the kinds of problems they are solving, such as creating a platform for third party integration can be applied to many different other areas. So yeah they're working on a social network, but all the while all this good stuff is happen…

Cassandra, ha ha ha. Gotta love how inconsistent that thing is. HipHop, have you tried it? I think that technology only works for them.

Care to elaborate on your dislike of Cassandra?

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#125

Post by oscardelben »

antirez wrote: post #105

This is completely naive... today Italy is voting for a referendum. After 35 years we are near to reach the quorum, and beat Berlusconi special protection laws, avoid water privatization, and so forth. Part of this I bet is thanks to Facebook, as in the latest days there was a massive campaign to go voting, ran collectively by all the people that think this vote is important, on Facebook. For us "internet geeks" Face…

I really hope not. If we really need Facebook to go to referendums we have some serious issue. I think what really is moving people is the nuclear referendum and water privatization. Only a minority really cares about protection laws.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#126

Post by gaius »

danking00 wrote: post #111
frossie wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair to the OP, their argument isn't "since I don't use it, nobody uses it". Their argument was a (totally defensible IMHO) personal expression of disappointment about all the brain work going into something whose impact seems to have peaked (in that those who want it already have it, and the rest of us don't have a problem it can solve). Sure, Facebook is a utility to millions or even billions of people, but s…

I know three very bright, young graduates who have decided to enter the Financial industry (i.e. Algorithmic Trading). One has a Bachelor's in Physics & CS, another a Bachelor's in Physics & Math, and the other is finishing a PhD in Astrophysics. They view the Financial industry as an intellectually stimulating game (I don't disagree), and an opportunity to make 6-figures in their early 20s. This really disappoints m…

Research is only possible because of the economic surpluses made possible because of, among other things, liquid capital markets. Who do you think pays for CERN, the LHC, et al? Ordinary taxpayers doing those jobs you think are "disappointing". Maybe if scientists disparage them enough, they'll stop paying...

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#127

Post by nice1 »

frossie wrote: post #58
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…

To be fair to the OP, their argument isn't "since I don't use it, nobody uses it". Their argument was a (totally defensible IMHO) personal expression of disappointment about all the brain work going into something whose impact seems to have peaked (in that those who want it already have it, and the rest of us don't have a problem it can solve). Sure, Facebook is a utility to millions or even billions of people, but s…

I agree with you (and the author of the article). However FB is not the only endeavor of this sort. I get exactly the same kind of feeling whenever I see a TV (in stores or friends' houses): obviously talented individuals (actors, script writers etc) devoting their energy to producing entertainment for morons. Such is the power of money ...

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#128

Post by sixtofour »

danking00 wrote: post #111
frossie wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair to the OP, their argument isn't "since I don't use it, nobody uses it". Their argument was a (totally defensible IMHO) personal expression of disappointment about all the brain work going into something whose impact seems to have peaked (in that those who want it already have it, and the rest of us don't have a problem it can solve). Sure, Facebook is a utility to millions or even billions of people, but s…

I know three very bright, young graduates who have decided to enter the Financial industry (i.e. Algorithmic Trading). One has a Bachelor's in Physics & CS, another a Bachelor's in Physics & Math, and the other is finishing a PhD in Astrophysics. They view the Financial industry as an intellectually stimulating game (I don't disagree), and an opportunity to make 6-figures in their early 20s. This really disappoints m…

"But, 35% or so of my social group that are pursuing degrees in Physics are headed to Finance instead of research. I'd much rather seem them expand human knowledge than profit and live an easy life."

Are there enough research positions to employ the majority of current physics and math students? I doubt it.

If you choose Finance as your desired profession, and Finance sees physics and math as a good source of new talent, then it's very rational to choose a physics or math major to get into Finance. As pointed out in a sibling comment, upside to physics and math departments is demand that wouldn't otherwise be there.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#129

Post by sixtofour »

oscardelben wrote: post #125
antirez wrote: post #105

This is completely naive... today Italy is voting for a referendum. After 35 years we are near to reach the quorum, and beat Berlusconi special protection laws, avoid water privatization, and so forth. Part of this I bet is thanks to Facebook, as in the latest days there was a massive campaign to go voting, ran collectively by all the people that think this vote is important, on Facebook. For us "internet geeks" Face…

I really hope not. If we really need Facebook to go to referendums we have some serious issue. I think what really is moving people is the nuclear referendum and water privatization. Only a minority really cares about protection laws.

We do have serious issues. Anything that gets people to vote, and ideally to think about their vote, is a good thing.

Re: All these Brilliant People at Facebook Make Me Sad

#130

Post by amcintyre »

gubatron wrote: post #79
tybris wrote: post #69

What are "useful" jobs?

figuring out how to generate power cleanly and cheaply on every home in the world. A whole continent like Africa would surely have a great use for cheap+clean energy generation. making self driving vehicles. creating better battery technology. figuring out a way to get rid of lawyers. working on super intelligence. brain computer interface (the one input mechanism that would do away without keyboards) augmented reali…

The problem seems to be that there's not much demand for people to solve those problems (not that I agree that all of those are worthy goals, particularly the "get rid of lawyers" bit).

Solving some of the things you mention could produce immense benefits for everybody, but it seems like the common wisdom is that it's too risky to pay people salaries equivalent to "finance/entertainment/social media smart people salaries" to work on them, at least not in the same quantity as those industries hire.

Finance, entertainment, and social media companies are out there digging through resume sites and college campuses, actively looking for smart people to solve problems, because they are really sure they can make enough money to compensate them well for their efforts, and have a lot left over.

I'd love to work on energy generation, space exploration, brain computer interfaces, or longevity, but I expect I'll be working on more mundane problems until my student loans are paid off and my emergency and retirement accounts are back to where they should be, because there's reliable money in mundane problem solving.

Of course, I may not be smart enough to help out on "big problems," or I may not have the right connections, or enough risk tolerance. I still hope to find out one of these days. :)

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