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Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

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Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#101

Post by lolc »

mchusma wrote: post #86
SlowTao wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years back Chris Hedges did a showshow/podcast or something and he was forced to finally read in depth a lot more Rand. I love his defeated responded of "It is amazing just how pedestrian those books are. There is nothing interesting in them.". Hedges is always worth listening to even if you won't always agree but he does make doomers look like utopian optimists.

I think anyone who says there is nothing interesting in Rand either didn’t read it or is acting in bad faith. Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead are uniquely fascinating even if you don’t agree with her stance. Chris Hedges is a self reported socialist. So makes sense they would not like books negative on socialism. But you can be a socialist and still engage with competing thoughts. Just like a capitalist can review Ma…

I liked reading Rand much as I liked reading Tolkien. Now if I try to read either, the fantasy just doesn't work anymore.

Oh and even back then Atlas Shrugged was too damn preachy.

Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#102

Post by bko »

glimshe wrote: post #88
jdlshore wrote: post #27

For people missing the irony here, the term “metaverse,” that Meta is named after, was coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 book “Snow Crash.” In the book, the metaverse is a VR version of the internet with an emphasis on accurate sword fights and realistic facial expressions.

If Mark Zuckerberg didn't exist, we'd still have Facebook. Someone else would have done it. But if Neal Stephenson didn't exist, we'd not necessarily have what he created. That's how unique his ideas are. And Meta, billions of dollars later, is still no Metaverse...

> If Mark Zuckerberg didn't exist, we'd still have Facebook.

Yes, because multi-trillion dollar companies are completely natural and spawn almost at random to whatever nerd happens to be working on a particular problem at any given time

Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#103

Post by bitwize »

defrost wrote: post #94
mchusma wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think anyone who says there is nothing interesting in Rand either didn’t read it or is acting in bad faith. Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead are uniquely fascinating even if you don’t agree with her stance. Chris Hedges is a self reported socialist. So makes sense they would not like books negative on socialism. But you can be a socialist and still engage with competing thoughts. Just like a capitalist can review Ma…

Both Rand and William McGonagall are widely regarded as are uniquely fascinating. In a layered complex world both the above statement and the statement that there's little of interest in Rand's books for socialists, for hedge fund traders, or for the majority of people with a background in political science, can be true. Stephen Fry, well known for his love of the English language and breadth of eclectic interest, wh…

I discovered William Topaz McGonagall after learning his surname was given to Harry Potter character Professor Minerva McGonagall.

I was... astounded. Here, truly, was the Florence Foster Jenkins of poetry writing, destined to fame for all the wrong reasons.

Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#104

Post by bitwize »

lenerdenator wrote: post #32
SLHamlet wrote: post #3

This is not an anomaly, by the way. I've interviewed many multiple Meta staffers (including senior leaders), and can find little evidence that leadership actually read "Snow Crash" and/or even cared about virtual worlds. Even after spending tens of billions claiming they were building the Metaverse. Some background: https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2025/05/horizon-worlds-meta-horizo...

There's precious little value for those types to read stuff like "Snow Crash". It's like the people saying "It's obvious these STEM people didn't take humanities courses". Well, yeah. The dream for the incoming freshman at Stanford's CS program isn't to graduate with a degree. The dream is to have some VC come onto campus, see some BS project the freshman cooked up, tell the freshman "You're literally Jesus Christ, a…

Back when I was growing up, tech people read things like Snow Crash all the time. I guess I need to update my priors.

Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#105

Post by anthem2025 »

epgui wrote: post #42

I believe I have accumulated two moderation strikes on my Facebook account for (relatively politely) calling out posts for being racist/xenophobic. Both cases my comments were flagged as promoting hate, ironically. The appeal mechanism is a joke: you press a button, and two seconds later you get a notification saying your appeal was reviewed and denied.

[flagged]

Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#106

Post by anthem2025 »

rl3 wrote: post #82
pesus wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a week long ban for calling someone out for being a Nazi. The person openly praising Hitler did not get banned at all. At the time I thought it was mere incompetence, but in hindsight, it seems more like intentional malice.

> The person openly praising Hitler did not get banned at all. Content moderation at Meta is a joke now. I reported an account multiple times for hate speech. The account's photos were comprised entirely of racist caricatures of black people. Like absolutely vile, hateful shit. Each time, I received a notification along the lines of: [paraphrasing] "We found that the account in question did not violate our community…

[flagged]

Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#107

Post by anthem2025 »

bitwize wrote: post #104
lenerdenator wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's precious little value for those types to read stuff like "Snow Crash". It's like the people saying "It's obvious these STEM people didn't take humanities courses". Well, yeah. The dream for the incoming freshman at Stanford's CS program isn't to graduate with a degree. The dream is to have some VC come onto campus, see some BS project the freshman cooked up, tell the freshman "You're literally Jesus Christ, a…

Back when I was growing up, tech people read things like Snow Crash all the time. I guess I need to update my priors.

Tech people vs startup types.

Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#109

Post by brg »

schoen wrote: post #99
daotoad wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That trailer is brilliant for what it is. I would love to see a proper version of Snow Crash get theatrical release or maybe even the high-concept-tv-series-with-ten-episodes treatment the big streamers are cooking up these days.

I would watch a full-length movie of Snow Crash in the style of this trailer! I think it may be a high school student project.

Since I saw Into The Spiderverse, I’ve been hoping for a Snow Crash with that animation style.

Re: Meta just suspended the Facebook account of Neal Stephenson

#110

Post by throwaway422432 »

lolc wrote: post #101
mchusma wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think anyone who says there is nothing interesting in Rand either didn’t read it or is acting in bad faith. Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead are uniquely fascinating even if you don’t agree with her stance. Chris Hedges is a self reported socialist. So makes sense they would not like books negative on socialism. But you can be a socialist and still engage with competing thoughts. Just like a capitalist can review Ma…

I liked reading Rand much as I liked reading Tolkien. Now if I try to read either, the fantasy just doesn't work anymore. Oh and even back then Atlas Shrugged was too damn preachy.

I would also put it in the category of too long. Bit of a commitment to pick it up and read cover to cover.
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