Journalists are so cute
It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
121–130 of 156 posts
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
When we have a captured government and unaccountable corporations like we do, it seems like the best route is to compete with them via carefully designed not-for-profit products which contain strictly good features and none of the enshittified ones, as brainstormed here: https://www.noemamag.com/the-last-days-of-social-media/ Building something as described in that article would cause people to drop all of the existi…
This is like suggesting fruit and veg could outcompete heroin. You can't compete against someone who is willing to cheat. You can't entice users to a better social network when their addiction to the old one has been engineered to near perfection. There's good reason that our present (and really truly good) alternative social networks haven't taken over Facebook's users. It's designed to be an addictive trap with no…
> This is like suggesting fruit and veg could outcompete heroin.
No it's not.
> You can't entice users to a better social network when their addiction to the old one has been engineered to near perfection.
Sure, not with that attitude. But the article clearly articulates why better platforms could easily exist. Current platforms are filled with bots and slop that makes people hate themselves. The new platform would easily sell itself, and it need not be destructive like you're implying.
> There's good reason that our present (and really truly good) alternative social networks haven't taken over Facebook's users.
None of the existing alternatives are without problems, and the article spells this out in detail.
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The idea of that data ending up in new undetermined hands may-or-may-not be a worse thing, but it reminds me of this bit from Making Money , by Terry Pratchett: > 'Vetinari, are we to believe that you knowingly put the most important bank in the city into the charge of a known bank robber?' > [...] 'Should he have left it in the hands of unknown bank robbers?'
Is your username a reference to Terr_ _________?
I don't understand the question/joke.
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Mark Zuckerberg owns the majority of voting shares." He only owns about 13% of Meta's voting shares, not a majority But he owns 99.8% of Class B shares Class A get one vote per share Class B get 10 votes per share No doubt the author is aware of Meta's voting structure hence her choice of the words "voluntarily resign" The author suggests "the board" or "Meta", not the shareholders, some of whom are not on the board…
>True, but that's not what the author suggested The author calls on the board to make him resign. It is the second paragraph of the article, if you care to read it.
Maybe you should care to read it yourself:
> "... the board should request the resignation of ..."
So, ask him to voluntarily resign, not "make him", just as GP wrote.
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#125Rather than investigate all the things where investigative journalism could potentially make a difference to real human beings' lives, the Guardian has chosen to pursue a plea for the majority owner of Meta's voting shares (61%) to step down from his position of power. Let us politely ask Sisyphus to stop pushing the boulder instead.
> the Guardian has chosen to ...
No, the Guardian has chosen nothing, this is an OPINION piece by an external author, it has nothing to do with the Guardian staff. Learn the difference.
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
After it was "gradually enshittified in order to maximize engagement on the platform, not actual language mastery". I used it first time years before, stopped, came back after supposed enshittification, started entirely different language and had actual success with it. > Today on the shadow libraries, you have your pick of a number of self-teaching textbooks for free No, self teaching textbooks are not better for me…
What is "actual success?" Because I'd find it pretty unbelievable that you got even close to being able to hold a conversation or read a YA novel from Duolingo.
i think anyone who's done even a modicum of research knows that holding a conversation isnt going to come from an app or a library and actually being out there having convos with either a tutor or just all out immersion is required. then reading literature, consuming media in the other language yes your point is made duolingo isnt going to do these things for you. those initial stages of learning another language even the enshittified duolingo can help get a basic framework going. is it the best resource no absolutely not but it certainly can let people get their feet wet and even doing that is an "actual success" especially if it's something they otherwise wouldn't do.
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is "actual success?" Because I'd find it pretty unbelievable that you got even close to being able to hold a conversation or read a YA novel from Duolingo.
i think anyone who's done even a modicum of research knows that holding a conversation isnt going to come from an app or a library and actually being out there having convos with either a tutor or just all out immersion is required. then reading literature, consuming media in the other language yes your point is made duolingo isnt going to do these things for you. those initial stages of learning another language eve…
Getting feet wet is not a success though because it doesn't achieve anything. It is the beginning of maybe succeeding at something. The following sentence would be silly: "I used an app to learn programming, by writing hello world, and had actual success with it."
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#128The CEO is the throughline in a history of billion-dollar blunders Since the IPO, he created an annual ROI of 21% for his investors. Taking risks means blunders are part of the way I would say. For comparison: He outperformed the Nasdaq 100 which made 18% (plus dividends) in the same time. And he way outperformed Warren Buffet who made 14% in the same time.
At what price, tho? He harms children, he hijacked the attention of billions and helped the rise of facism and hate, which if not addressed will lead into very dark times again, all for a measly 3% out perform?
That price is paid by us, not Zuck and his shareholders, so it was at no cost to him. Such is the problem with capitalism. Actually the rise of fascism has been great for Zuck and his shareholders, they'd like to see more of it.
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are romantizising what Facebook and Instagram have become. The problem is not that people talk to each other. The problem is, that they created algos that optimize for maximal engagement and they get that by triggering the basic human feelings that create the biggest reaction: fear and anger. They literally hacked the human brain chemistry. And they don't stop when they detect that the human is struggling and get…
"How long and often" people engage with content is a perfectly reasonable metric to optimize and a very close correlate of interest. There are, in fact, plenty of things going on in the world people should get mad about, or that they should worry about. Some people think that's climate change, some people think that's migration, some people think that's rising fascism, some people think that's Mamdami opening grocery…
None of that addresses whether Facebook is intentionally trying to sow discord and make people depressed and anxious for profit.
Re: It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to resign from Meta
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
After it was "gradually enshittified in order to maximize engagement on the platform, not actual language mastery". I used it first time years before, stopped, came back after supposed enshittification, started entirely different language and had actual success with it. > Today on the shadow libraries, you have your pick of a number of self-teaching textbooks for free No, self teaching textbooks are not better for me…
What is "actual success?" Because I'd find it pretty unbelievable that you got even close to being able to hold a conversation or read a YA novel from Duolingo.
At this point, I can read a crime novel and read that last pope writing (got curious took spanish version, no dictionary cause it is printed version).
I can watch some netflix shows with no subtitles at all - Seinfield, crime shows, documentaries, that sort of thing. I cant watch stuff with more complicated vocabulary ("you" or "the good place" are harder).
I listen to spanish radio - causual shows about world news or audiodramas like "retornados".
I had an easy small talk once. I dont have people to converse with and honestly dont care about it. Duolingo claims its courses go a little over B1 - you start B2 content but dont finish it. So, it would be unreasonable to expect full on conversation considering I did not finished it. And yes, it is normal for me to not finish long thing I started. When I could watch netflix I ended up binging on it, it was fun, so I dropped the rest. I mean, not doing 10min of duolingo meant watching 10min more.