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Comment by vikingcaffiene | Hacker News Reader

I respect Woz and his contributions to computer science. Tbh tho every time I see an article like this it makes me scratch my head. It’s always something along the lines of “Woz says you should do something that has been old news and most anyone who would care is already doing or agrees with”. It’s not that he’s wrong. It’s just... why is this news? He’s just making a very safe statement for the audience being targeted.

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It makes news for a couple of reasons. (and assuming this isn’t a rhetorical idealistic question about what is and isn’t news…)

1. He’s a notable technologist (or whatever term you’d prefer to use for someone who is seen as intrinsically linked with the rise of computation tech) 2. It’s Gizmodo, they’re not exactly looking for revolutionary stuff here. 3. It’s your standard confirmation bias as well. Most people who read the article probably already have fairly strong anti-facebook-usage feelings to begin with. This reaffirms their stance and belief by presenting someone who isn’t a dickhead as being on the same side.

All of the above leads to a click and a comment, which is good for the ol’ bottom ad-dollar :D.

Yeah I guess I just expect more out of the guy (Woz). To be fair, he doesn't owe me or anyone else shit. It's just a let down to see him never take a firm stance on anything until it's very very safe to do so.

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