The Face of Facebook
newyorker.com
newyorker.com
Of course one learns from past mistakes but the question is what you learn. From all his actions, it seems to me that what Mark learned was to not be so obvious with his actions. Now he claims to want to make the world a more open and honest place. Why would making all this information about yourself public make the world a better place? We've spent thousands of years developing social protocols for how and what we reveal to others about ourselves, our families and our friends. Now we should just forgo all that because some guy thinks that would somehow make the world a better place? Does he really even believe that? Whether he does or does not, it sure would make things more convenient for him if people would just voluntarily give out more information about themselves so he can sell it.
Still, the majority of the stories I've read that really reinforce that feeling, I have to concede were done when he was in college.
College is an interesting place, where interesting things happen -- but it isn't known for fostering the most mature adults; I know that I was a dramatically different person that age than I am now.
I've grown to the point where I can make the harder choice, just because I know it's the right one. I've grown to the point where I can give someone a promise, and not have to worry about whether or not I'll follow through. I've grown to the point where I can preserve my integrity in spite of a lucrative, but unsavory way to earn money.
I definitely did not possess these attributes when I was younger. So as much as I'd like to hate Zuckerberg on principle, I also know that it's the wrong thing to do, and I can see where he might have made the same sort of mistakes I might have, if given the right circumstances.
Thanks.
That's not an argument against Zuckerberg, it's a fully general argument against any social change. You have discovered the Fully General Social Conservative Argument. It wouldn't take much work to adapt your argument to critique the birth control pill or desegregation (at least before they each became a fait accompli[1]).
(The rest of your post questions Zuckerberg's motives, which is not of interest to me so I'm not addressing it.)
[1] (Edit) At this point, social conservatives have to argue that the change, which has already happened, hurt society. Segregation is too taboo to argue for anymore, but you'll still find some committed social conservatives still resisting the Pill, the Catholic Church for instance. If the world really becomes more open and transparent, we'll have at least a generation of pro-privacy social conservatives saying the world is going to hell because your uncle isn't keeping his leather fetish a closely guarded secret anymore.
Is this change in privacy a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know. Is Facebook (and Zuckerberg) the right agent to bring this change about - definitely not in my mind.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger#Eugenics_and_eu...
Now if a dictator is in favor of eugenics and starts talking about increasing contraception one might reasonably fear what comes next. When someone is not in a position to takes things to the next level then their ulterior motives are not relevant.
I'm not arguing against any change. I'm questioning the validity of Zuckerberg's claim that he just wants to make the world a better place. Anyone should want to change the world and make it a better place, but to do that we need to investigate what would actually make things better. Zuckerberg offers no reasoning as to why giving up all privacy would make anything even slightly better. I don't personally see how this would intuitively make the world a better place, but I do see very clearly how it would benefit Zuckerberg personally.
ZUCK: yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard
ZUCK: just ask
ZUCK: i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns
FRIEND: what!? how’d you manage that one?
ZUCK: people just submitted it
ZUCK: i don’t know why
ZUCK: they “trust me”
ZUCK: dumb fucks
I admire his conviction. Don't worry Zuck, people will forget this movie just as fast as they forgot to delete their facebook account.
Is this sentence ironic? Care to paraphrase it? Thanks.
However, I've investigated further the issue and, as far as I understand, many people forgot to delete their Facebook account, thus the sentence means: the movie will not be forgotten. Am I correct? Thanks.
The previous comment was ironic (kind of. He's mentioning a movie (film) they are releasing now based on Zuckerberg's college days and apparently it's pretty negative towards him. "People forgot to delete their FB accounts" is making fun of the people that criticize FB but don't still use it.
Stealing the execution, that's rich.
I really liked that bit from the trailer that just glanced on the fact that ONLY Zuck could have made Facebook and morphed it into what it is today.
It's more than a little ironic that the founder of the world's most prominent social network is himself subject to the same attack vector.
When the telephone and telegraph came around did we suddenly stop hiring people because we could check their references without so much as lifting a hand to dial the number or send a telegram?
I don't understand how this is as dangerous as online records.
Also it must have taken a hell lot of time to research for this article.
This is just the new age. Mark Zuckerberg has vision and he has balls. I admire him for both of those qualities.
Nobody's perfect. His imperfections exist, and he doesn't care. He's giving the world what they want and telling the naysayers "fuck you" because he can.
His life has been, and will continue to be, an interesting and inspiring story, IMHO.
As much as Mark has gone through mountains and valleys, I am sure Priscilla has had her hills and dips as well (no comparison intended).
Kirkpatrick had unprecedented access to much of the early team, including people who were no longer with Facebook. He does come off as slightly star-struck at times, and not just at Mark Zuckerberg, so keep your salt-shaker handy.
Disclaimer: I work at Facebook, and am proud to call Zuck a friend.