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We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

nytimes.com

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Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#51

Post by ricardobeat »

varjag wrote: post #7
creamyhorror wrote: post #2

Perfect. A much friendlier, much more social, much more corporate 1984. (Another heartbreaking work of staggering genius?) edit: Yes, it's pretty transparently a reference to Google. Zings sound more like tweets, though. And monitoring everything has turned out to be primarily the NSA's job, but I guess he finished the book before that scandal came to real light.

Odd, until I read that, I thought it refers to Apple. The culture of neatness, perfectionism, gadget obsession, even the motto stones that reek APPL slogans.

"every wall made of glass", customer experience, blonde wood, ergonomically perfect desks and organic mattresses, engraved tablets, etc, all clearly Apple references.

Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#53

Post by ds9 »

This is very close to reality. Looking at tech news today, just after this story, my next tab was a report on businessinsider.com [1] that Google is now making bonuses partly dependent on the success of Google's social netowrk effort - and encouraging employees to use G+ and recruit friends and family to it.

Clearly we have a minority of the population concerned about the erosion of privacy, colliding with a culture of sharing everything (openly with friends and family, invisibly with the online services and governments). The story and the news article (like previous hints that employers are suspicious of anyone who's not on Facebook) point up an additional new element of "soft" coercion.

1. http://www.businessinsider.com/larry-page-just-tied-employee...

Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#54

Post by bennyg »

ricardobeat wrote: post #51
varjag wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Odd, until I read that, I thought it refers to Apple. The culture of neatness, perfectionism, gadget obsession, even the motto stones that reek APPL slogans.

"every wall made of glass", customer experience, blonde wood, ergonomically perfect desks and organic mattresses, engraved tablets, etc, all clearly Apple references.

To me, it's a clear blend of both of the giant tech monoliths (and more, really) and a satire of the entire tech culture where the next sharing app is raising obscene amounts of money for an exit to a handful of monoliths.

Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#55

Post by slashdotaccount »

ricardobeat wrote: post #51
varjag wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Odd, until I read that, I thought it refers to Apple. The culture of neatness, perfectionism, gadget obsession, even the motto stones that reek APPL slogans.

"every wall made of glass", customer experience, blonde wood, ergonomically perfect desks and organic mattresses, engraved tablets, etc, all clearly Apple references.

actually this office style was popularized by bloomberg http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/nyregion/bloombergs-bul...

Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#56

Post by jellicle »

Someone wrote: post #44
creamyhorror wrote: post #2

Perfect. A much friendlier, much more social, much more corporate 1984. (Another heartbreaking work of staggering genius?) edit: Yes, it's pretty transparently a reference to Google. Zings sound more like tweets, though. And monitoring everything has turned out to be primarily the NSA's job, but I guess he finished the book before that scandal came to real light.

I think it is more general a critique of current culture (a combination if "you haven't done anything until you have told the world" and "you must have something to hide if you do something but don't tell the world about it", the latter a bit more implicit) Apart from the hardware, it could be Facebook, too. And, surely, it could be Microsoft, in a few years time. "Zing" is a beautiful term, by the way. It resembles…

"Zing" in English has negative connotations; to "zing" someone is to make a witty but hurtful remark to them.

So "zing" is both the kind of term that COULD be taken over by a social media service (like "tweet" has been taken over), and at the same time is a negative commentary on what you're actually doing when you use that social media service.

I assume that that was the meaning intended, since the author is writing in English.

Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#57

Post by mjcohen »

pfortuny wrote: post #12
troymc wrote: post #8

If this story has gotten you down, wondering if we've created an inescapable dystopia, then this page may brighten your spirits --- an existence proof of another option --- the one that's worked well for Donald Knuth (whose contributions to the tech industry are indisputable): http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/email.html

Well, there is a tiny detail: "I have a wonderful secretary." Not all of us can afford that...

Another tiny detail: He is Donald Knuth.

Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#58

Post by callum85 »

philwelch wrote: post #32
jonah wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe A Brave New World. Neil Postman compares them: http://www.prosebeforehos.com/image-of-the-day/08/24/huxley-...

I find it richly ironic when that comic gets posted on these blog networks. Hint: look at the rest of the web page.

Can you be specific so I don't have to hunt around for what you're hinting at?

Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#59

Post by philwelch »

callum85 wrote: post #58
philwelch wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it richly ironic when that comic gets posted on these blog networks. Hint: look at the rest of the web page.

Can you be specific so I don't have to hunt around for what you're hinting at?

Not sure how much "hunting" it takes, but here's a comment I posted about this a year ago. The specifics have changed but the general pattern is plain to see.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4608301

Re: We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better

#60

Post by JoachimSchipper »

hjay wrote: post #41
droithomme wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please do and report back if you have a chance, it sounds like it will be a good one and I'd love to read it.

Hmm, since the demand is > 0 now, I guess I will! Not too sure how to get reply notifications on HN though, I always lose track of responses.

Just in case you see this: consider http://hnnotify.com/ keeps you connected to all your friends on HN. You don't want us to miss you, do you?

(It really is quite useful, though.)

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