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Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

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Re: Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

#171

Post by coliveira »

spoonjim wrote: post #63
amval wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big companies tend to develop cult dynamics. This is not an exaggeration, but a consequence of how humans tend to operate in large amounts. And I'd wager that in the case of Silicon Valley tech companies, this is also something that they embrace and nurture. I don't think this is a controversial take at all, and rather obvious. She was probably not "afraid of being let go" (fired), but had convinced herself that it w…

They tend to have cult dynamics because the people who subscribe to the cult dynamics are the ones who get promoted. If you’re happy to just make a living as a software engineer instead of trying to propel your way up the ladder of the world’s richest companies then you can live very happily and comfortably.

Yes, but this is not the people they'll hire for this kind of job. They're looking for the batshit crazy that will do this kind of stuff. This is the reason for the psychological profile they do in lieu of interview, when hiring managers.

Re: Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

#174

Post by nonrandomstring »

dzonga wrote: post #9

you don't become a global ceo without being an absolute killer and not having non-questionable morals. I can make up different stuff about how a ceo can be amoral, and those would still apply to zuck / {{ whoelse }} book meant to be sold at airports for bored people. non-story.

> you don't become a global ceo without being an absolute killer

This idea is very parochial and American, and it's unfortunate in spreading a wrong idea that gives license for some people to behave as hooligans.

There are massive global companies most of us have never heard of, with CEOs who shun publicity and operate in what is really a mild-mannered but highly competent fashion.

Power also comes from politeness, tact, diplomacy, and the earned attachment of subordinates we call "respect".

They are not constantly immersed in scandal and drama because most of the employees never have much cause to interact negatively.

The cult of US Tech leaders is a vile and embarrassing spectacle of vanity, tantrums, acting-out, histrionics and arrogance. It's very poor human behaviour that harms the perception of business in the wider world, and we should not hold it up as normative.

Re: Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

#175

Post by UncleMeat »

supriyo-biswas wrote: post #75
max_ wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is definitely not healthy. But I don't think you can limit people's wealth and not call it communism. I think the real problem is abuse of power, not accumulation of it. Power cannot be eliminated. It will either end up in the hand of politicians (who are genuinely more evil than tech bros) or remain in hands of wealth creators. What we should do is focus of punishingpeople who abuse thier power.

Somewhat similar to Paul Graham's essay _Inequality and Risk_[1]: > I realize startups are not the main target of those who want to eliminate economic inequality. What they really dislike is the sort of wealth that becomes self-perpetuating through an alliance with power. ... But if you try to attack this type of wealth through economic policy, it's hard to hit without destroying startups as collateral damage. > The…

This is a convenient cover because it allows people to convert a measurable and fairly concrete thing into a more vague and flexible thing. Suddenly, all somebody needs to do is make a claim that what they are doing isn't corruption and they are off the hook. They'll be hypothetical billionaires that are the problem, but never any actual action.

Re: Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

#176

Post by chasd00 »

latexr wrote: post #125
milesrout wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't violence. Stop this stupid hyperbole. Violence is a real term. Don't water it down.

“Violence” means “to damage or adversely affect” and includes psychological harm. This is recognised by dictionaries.

I agree don’t trivialize violence. Sending an email or txt to asking for some talking points is not violent.

Re: Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

#177

Post by wyclif »

Hikikomori wrote: post #144
alex1138 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know your comment isn't about Elon specifically and I have my own reservations about some of what he does, but it's important to point out (and maybe this depends on what you call "misinformation", it shapes all future discussion) that Twitter absolutely was censoring for partisan reasons (before he bought it; I know some have complained Musk does indeed ban his critics) including silencing covid dissent, real doct…

The twittefiles nothingburger?

Sorry not sorry, but that was no "nothingburger." The fact of the matter was that Twitter under Jack Dorsey had become completely bloated and abusive. You had people working there whose only job was to do things like manipulate pixels in emojis and more seriously, they had created a vast and cancerous DEI bureaucracy.

Re: Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

#178

Post by paulryanrogers »

baxtr wrote: post #110

This triggers my cautionary nerve a bit. I think it is important to recognize that she wants to sell a book. I am not saying she isn't doing this because she has a cause. I am also not saying she is lying or anything. But if you sell a book you can't deny that there might be a conflict of interest. Potentially she paints things more extreme than they really were.

Selling an exaggerated or untrue story about powerful people also opens one up to expensive legal processes and consequences.

Re: Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

#179

Post by Climatebamb »

wisty wrote: post #45

> A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism Has anyone ever seen Facebbok as idealistic? As far as I can tell, they've always been basically Amazon (the borg that will win at all costs) but a little more trivial, cool and Web2.0, they were never the "don't be evil" Google, the idealistic Twitter, I can't think of many less ideal driven companies. Facebook beat MySpace IMO because it tricked people into usi…

Amazon? FB was always a lot more evil.

Amazon just build the best logistics network on the planet and leverages this for their monopoly.

FB pushed fake news and everyting else without consideration as long as it grabs your attention which they then sell.

Re: Ex-Facebook director's new book paints brutal image of Mark Zuckerberg

#180

Post by coliveira »

avgd wrote: post #102
poincaredisk wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Facebook - a website that is a large part of life to over 3 billion users. A website that can influence elections in major countries, that sometimes shows fake ads and is responsible for (roughly) millions of frauds caused by them, that incited genocides in African countries. I don't think the stakes are that low.

> website that can influence elections in major countries, I think this sort of power transferred to twitter, with most of the users who haven't left facebook being boomers who keep reposting AI slop over and over and over. The rare times I look at my facebook account, all I see is the older members of my family spamming AI garbage like shrimp jesus, "look at this nice dog sculpture I made out of wood" (that I didn't…

I think people still use FB because it given them something to feel better. In Twitter/X you see all kinds of bad things happening, but in FB they sign up for groups that send only the things they like to see (most of that being fake, anyway).
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