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Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

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131–140 of 221 posts

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#131
post #5

Have we reached peak Facebook yet? I started using Facebook quite early in my country and used it mostly as a social network, communicating and exchanging stuff with friends from all over the world. A couple years later I deleted my account, being disgusted by the potential abusive potential of all the information Facebook had. I came back years later as it became THE tool for ad hoc social initiatives and a way to f…

I unfollowed like 85% of my "friends" on facebook this past year... probably 75% of all the news sources I used to enjoy and left all the groups but the professional ones I still like and because I have FB Messenger... i don't miss any of it and people can message me. I have a youtube sub list and podcasts for "news" and if i wanna see my buddy's feed... i can just go look. It's a void; I'm enjoying meeting people fo…

I think one of the most perverse and increasingly popular reasons people are still stubbornly using FB is to look at images of their crushes. nothing more.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#132
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mobile, mobile, mobile. In 2010 everybody would hit Facebook multiple times a day from their workplace. In 2017 nobody in the developed world uses their work computer to access Facebook, they pop open the Facebook app on their phone or have it open 24/7 on their home computer. The people left doing the Google -> Facebook routine are those in developing countries who either don't have mobile phones or don't have app-c…

If they could make an official Facebook app less resource hogging, more user-friendly and usable on older mobile phones, they would be back in the game. But their app is probably the worst app you can have on your phone. It's terrible, slow and a joke. I would expect such an app from Verizon or GoDaddy, not from Facebook.

https://mbasic.facebook.com

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#133
post #5

Have we reached peak Facebook yet? I started using Facebook quite early in my country and used it mostly as a social network, communicating and exchanging stuff with friends from all over the world. A couple years later I deleted my account, being disgusted by the potential abusive potential of all the information Facebook had. I came back years later as it became THE tool for ad hoc social initiatives and a way to f…

If Google Trends is somewhat right, we've definitely reached peak Facebook: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=Facebook

Princeton researchers used the same flawed methodology: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/22/facebook-...

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#134
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mother Teresa wasn't a good person? That's news. Why?

She worked for over 4 decades (!) with orphans, poor, the sick and dying. Four. Freaking. Decades. It's not right to say, "Mother Teresa was not a good person because [minor thing I disagree about]." Her views do not cancel 45 years of service. I wish more people would be "bad" like Mother Teresa. There would be fewer depressed, fewer lonely, fewer suicidal, fewer addicts, fewer outcasts. The atheist Hitchens wrote s…

>The atheist Hitchens wrote several hit pieces on the religious Teresa due to her views on abortion, suffering, women's rights, and more.

Actually, the piece he wrote was about how she would deny medicine to those who needed it, and reused needles between patients, along with putting down 'modern' equipment and anything non-religious. All while she received millions in funding she did not invest into her 'homes'. The 'houses' poor people went to where she said she would take care of them, were actually houses of death for them, even if it was treatable.

45 years of service means nothing, if your 45 years of service includes purposefully making people suffer and denying them of care they need, while making money for yourself and trying to look like a saint.

Also related:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37241762

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#135
post #7

While I live in Silicon Valley and mostly agree with the prevailing morality, it's alarming to see Facebook (and others like Reddit/Twitter) move so aggressively towards social engineering the entire world.

Arguably, Facebook has been very cautious on how it moves towards social engineering the world, though. Which is what has allowed things like Cambridge Analytica to do so instead. The whole point of this manifesto is not "lets take over the world!", it is "we have a huge influence in the world, that much is a fact, let us take some measure of responsibility about it". Could there be a better alternative to Facebook b…

I agree that Facebook doesn’t socially engineer users as much as it could, but I think this is more a testament to its immense power than its kind intentions. Facebook is no stranger to unethical behaviors—its actions only seem ethical in comparison to what is possible with that amount of power. Remember a couple years ago when Facebook published a blatantly unethical psychological experiment that manipulated the emotions of unconsenting, unaware users? Zuckerberg didn’t think of it as a shady A/B test to keep private within the company, he allowed it to be published in PNAS.

Let’s not forget, Facebook isn’t exactly being exploited by shady actors like Cambridge Analytica—it's profiting from them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/technology/facebook-tinke...

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788.full.pdf

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#136
post #6

Why is it that every little single-purpose-at-best company nowadays acts like they are out to save the world in the most noble way possible? Mark, please! You're a spam-your-friends-with-fake-news-and-baby-photos service at best. The world will go on long after Facebook ceases to exist. Please stop pretending that you're Mother Teresa here.

yes, notice how Elon Musk, someone who IMO has added magnitudes more value to humanity than Zuck, doesn't parade around acting like an almighty preacher

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#137
post #109

> In France, rationalist Emmanuel Macron has 165,850 likes, while far-right Marine Le Pen boasts 1.2 million. "Rationalist"?? What's rational about him? The guy did not have any political existence 6 months ago, has no party, has no program, tells everyday the opposite of what he told the previous day because the audience is different, and yet gets more than 20% in opinion polls. That's a rationalist , uh?

The only thing on your list that has anything to do with rationalism is this: "tells everyday the opposite of what he told the previous day," and it's entirely rational.

If you want to persuade someone, telling them what they want to hear is an essential first step. It would be irrational to do othwise given his goals.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#138
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cybercolonialism. I don't just mean that as a snarky crack. It's worth pondering the idea a bit. They've been headed in this direction for a while, but it's becoming undeniable. (Remember, Facebook is more than just America. They and their stock valuation aspire to be global.)

Or cybergovernment. Internet giants are becoming fundamental services for millions of people. They're not just too big to fail -- they are essential, which makes them comparable to governments.

I love the silicon valley hyperbole. Lets rank facebook being down for 2 weeks with:

Shut down all the banks 2 weeks, eg no access to any money.

Shut down all Gasoline for 2 weeks. Eg no personal transit (shut up you smug Tesla drivers I'm getting you next).

Shut down all electricity for 2 weeks. No Power. (All you with power on your roofs and teslas... this gets your grocery store fridges).

I think you need to re-evaluate what is "essential".

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[facebook] was the most common search query when I was at Google (roughly the period covered by this graph), and [facebook login] would alternate between #2 and #3. Neither of your options seem likely at all to me - over the time I was there, I witnessed people becoming more likely to navigate to sites via Googling them rather than clicking, not less. The trend is even more pronounced with mobile, where basically nob…

Also, why would you search for facebook anymore since everyone knows facebook.com site at this point.

I never type in URLs directly. It is either a single click on the menu bar/blank tab, or else I go via a search engine to reduce the risk of landing on a typo squatter.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto for Facebook offers a social dystopia

#140
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mobile, mobile, mobile. In 2010 everybody would hit Facebook multiple times a day from their workplace. In 2017 nobody in the developed world uses their work computer to access Facebook, they pop open the Facebook app on their phone or have it open 24/7 on their home computer. The people left doing the Google -> Facebook routine are those in developing countries who either don't have mobile phones or don't have app-c…

If they could make an official Facebook app less resource hogging, more user-friendly and usable on older mobile phones, they would be back in the game. But their app is probably the worst app you can have on your phone. It's terrible, slow and a joke. I would expect such an app from Verizon or GoDaddy, not from Facebook.

They have already had this for over a year, it's called Facebook Lite.
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