6 ms·

Q&A with Jack Dorsey

24 points by craigcannon 10y ago

tardo99 10y ago
I really don't like him.
FreedomToCreate 10y ago
His answer to the last question is something I believe a lot of people in the tech industry need to understand. Health is above all else. You can be the most successful person in the world but put off taking care of yourself and all that success can come to an abrupt end.
matmo 10y ago
Better title: 6 generic questions answered by someone who should be answering much more pressing questions
mroll 10y ago
> The minimization of atoms is something that I think we’ll see continue to see over the next ten years... What does this even mean? You can't make atoms smaller than they are. Unless he's talking about some abstract 'atom' which doesn't work since he just throws out the word without clarifying. I don't think this is a common metaphor.
- EdiX 10y ago
  I think he means the reduction of the number of things made with atoms. It's a weird way to put it and it's even weirder considering AR so far hasn't really been successful at all.
- arcticfox 10y ago
  Given the context of talking about AR, it's a bizarre way of saying that he wants to have less physical products in the world. I am not a Jack Dorsey fan and quotes like that just harden my assessment...
koolba 10y ago
I would have liked to see his opinion on the role of corporate entities in censorship and civility. Past actions by twitter seems to give conflicting answers as to what's acceptable, what's not, and what they actually care about.
elgabogringo 10y ago
I'd like to ask Jack why he discriminates against conservatives and libertarians. He kicked popular libertarian Milo Y off of twitter for telling a movie star to quit complaining, but let's left-wing journalists promote violence and let's them stay on. One example below. Personally, I had it with the main stream media. If Twitter & FB are just going to retread the same messages and support the same side, then I'll actively root for them to fail. One recent/stark example of left wing journalists promoting violence: On the night of the protests, Emmett Rensin, a deputy editor at Vox, tweeted, "Advice: If Trump comes to your town, start a riot." Rensin was temporarily suspended from his position for the tweet. But this did not stop him from engaging in a two-hour rant on Twitter the following day, attempting to further justify physical attacks against Trump supporters. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/regressive_media_applaud_the_san_jose_violence.html http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/regressive_media...
- MollyR 10y ago
  Not just conservatives and libertarians. I talked to a bunch of protesters/bernie supporters in philly who said they don't trust the mainstream media or twitter after the dnc leaks was censored by so many media outlets. I think there is a huge opportunity for a non establishment media on both the right and left.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    > I think there is a huge opportunity for a non establishment media on both the right and left. There's a huge non-"mainstream media" on both the right and left already (the term "mainstream media", at least its use as a pejorative, was popularized by the large institutional right-wing media, there's also a substantial non-traditional left-wing media [which is where most of the stories that generate anger on the left with the traditional "mainstream media" on the left are transmitted].) The anger isn't a sign of an open opportunity for non-traditional media on the left and right, its the product of the success of existing non-traditional media in transmitting ideas within the left and right.
    - 10y ago
subie 10y ago
Awful interview questions. How about asking questions like: What sorts of speech will get me banned on Twitter? Do you think you've done enough to turn Twitter around? Why is Facebook so successful while Twitter looks to be in trouble? I'm sure the interviewer knew of these topics but choose not to. For reasons I can't speculate on.
- k-mcgrady 10y ago
  >> "What sorts of speech will get me banned on Twitter? Do you think you've done enough to turn Twitter around? Why is Facebook so successful while Twitter looks to be in trouble?" Those seem like pretty awful questions imo. He's not going to waste time listing off things that will get you banned from Twitter. He'll tell you not to violate TOS (in other words don't harass people). This should be common sense. With your second question he's obviously not going to say no. He'll give a standard PR reply. Same goes for the third. He's not going to talk up a competitor.
  - subie 10y ago
    Surely these question are more relevant then "What would you tell your younger self" - "Don't eat ramen noodles and exercise". I think you're right he'll just come back with standard PR replies but at least you're asking question people want asked.
    - k-mcgrady 10y ago
      Don't get me wrong these definitely weren't great questions either. I'd rather see something a little different though than the standard PR response we can read on dozens of sites so at least it's different. It's also possible he would only agree to the interview based on certain questions so we can't be too tough on the interviewer.
  - reefoctopus 10y ago
    >He'll tell you not to violate TOS (in other words don't harass people). This should be common sense. It would be common sense if the ToS weren't selectively enforced based on how far one strays from political opinions that Twitter finds acceptable.
SonicSoul 10y ago
has JD done any writing (books or posts) that would put him in a tech visionary realm? If so I'd like to see it. Otherwise not sure why he's answering these questions
- _pius 10y ago
  has JD done any writing (books or posts) that would put him in a tech visionary realm? Building society-changing products and startups doesn't count anymore? Twitter seems like a pretty big deal.
  - SonicSoul 10y ago
    right but the questions have nothing to do with those society-changing products. it would be delightful if the question was "how are you going to save Twitter", but nope, it's more of useless "how are you so great" and "what will future be like"
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- arcticfox 10y ago
  Exactly. And he seems to overcompensate for that lack by using some bizarrely complicated language like the "minimization of atoms". Contrast that to the clear pg-style "write like you talk" writing of Musk, who has bona fide visionary credentials: https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-j...
svdb_ 10y ago
Soft ball with Jack Dorsey.
mildbow 10y ago
Will Jack Dorsey and whoever interviewed him even remember this interview in 6 months? 2 years? 10 years? What's the point of a Q&A that asks generic questions? How about aiming for content that is insightful and valuable for 1+ years? Surely themacro publishing tonnes of shallow content just dilutes the brand? Then why bother? Makes me miss the pg days.

24 points by craigcannon 10y ago

I really don't like him.

His answer to the last question is something I believe a lot of people in the tech industry need to understand. Health is above all else. You can be the most successful person in the world but put off taking care of yourself and all that success can come to an abrupt end.

matmo 10y ago

Better title: 6 generic questions answered by someone who should be answering much more pressing questions

mroll 10y ago

> The minimization of atoms is something that I think we’ll see continue to see over the next ten years... What does this even mean? You can't make atoms smaller than they are. Unless he's talking about some abstract 'atom' which doesn't work since he just throws out the word without clarifying. I don't think this is a common metaphor.

EdiX 10y ago
I think he means the reduction of the number of things made with atoms. It's a weird way to put it and it's even weirder considering AR so far hasn't really been successful at all.
arcticfox 10y ago
Given the context of talking about AR, it's a bizarre way of saying that he wants to have less physical products in the world. I am not a Jack Dorsey fan and quotes like that just harden my assessment...

koolba 10y ago

I would have liked to see his opinion on the role of corporate entities in censorship and civility. Past actions by twitter seems to give conflicting answers as to what's acceptable, what's not, and what they actually care about.

elgabogringo 10y ago

I'd like to ask Jack why he discriminates against conservatives and libertarians. He kicked popular libertarian Milo Y off of twitter for telling a movie star to quit complaining, but let's left-wing journalists promote violence and let's them stay on. One example below. Personally, I had it with the main stream media. If Twitter & FB are just going to retread the same messages and support the same side, then I'll actively root for them to fail. One recent/stark example of left wing journalists promoting violence: On the night of the protests, Emmett Rensin, a deputy editor at Vox, tweeted, "Advice: If Trump comes to your town, start a riot." Rensin was temporarily suspended from his position for the tweet. But this did not stop him from engaging in a two-hour rant on Twitter the following day, attempting to further justify physical attacks against Trump supporters. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/regressive_media_applaud_the_san_jose_violence.html http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/regressive_media...

MollyR 10y ago
Not just conservatives and libertarians. I talked to a bunch of protesters/bernie supporters in philly who said they don't trust the mainstream media or twitter after the dnc leaks was censored by so many media outlets. I think there is a huge opportunity for a non establishment media on both the right and left.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > I think there is a huge opportunity for a non establishment media on both the right and left. There's a huge non-"mainstream media" on both the right and left already (the term "mainstream media", at least its use as a pejorative, was popularized by the large institutional right-wing media, there's also a substantial non-traditional left-wing media [which is where most of the stories that generate anger on the left with the traditional "mainstream media" on the left are transmitted].) The anger isn't a sign of an open opportunity for non-traditional media on the left and right, its the product of the success of existing non-traditional media in transmitting ideas within the left and right.
  - 10y ago

subie 10y ago

Awful interview questions. How about asking questions like: What sorts of speech will get me banned on Twitter? Do you think you've done enough to turn Twitter around? Why is Facebook so successful while Twitter looks to be in trouble? I'm sure the interviewer knew of these topics but choose not to. For reasons I can't speculate on.

k-mcgrady 10y ago
>> "What sorts of speech will get me banned on Twitter? Do you think you've done enough to turn Twitter around? Why is Facebook so successful while Twitter looks to be in trouble?" Those seem like pretty awful questions imo. He's not going to waste time listing off things that will get you banned from Twitter. He'll tell you not to violate TOS (in other words don't harass people). This should be common sense. With your second question he's obviously not going to say no. He'll give a standard PR reply. Same goes for the third. He's not going to talk up a competitor.
- subie 10y ago
  Surely these question are more relevant then "What would you tell your younger self" - "Don't eat ramen noodles and exercise". I think you're right he'll just come back with standard PR replies but at least you're asking question people want asked.
  - k-mcgrady 10y ago
    Don't get me wrong these definitely weren't great questions either. I'd rather see something a little different though than the standard PR response we can read on dozens of sites so at least it's different. It's also possible he would only agree to the interview based on certain questions so we can't be too tough on the interviewer.
- reefoctopus 10y ago
  >He'll tell you not to violate TOS (in other words don't harass people). This should be common sense. It would be common sense if the ToS weren't selectively enforced based on how far one strays from political opinions that Twitter finds acceptable.

SonicSoul 10y ago

has JD done any writing (books or posts) that would put him in a tech visionary realm? If so I'd like to see it. Otherwise not sure why he's answering these questions

_pius 10y ago
has JD done any writing (books or posts) that would put him in a tech visionary realm? Building society-changing products and startups doesn't count anymore? Twitter seems like a pretty big deal.
- SonicSoul 10y ago
  right but the questions have nothing to do with those society-changing products. it would be delightful if the question was "how are you going to save Twitter", but nope, it's more of useless "how are you so great" and "what will future be like"
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
arcticfox 10y ago
Exactly. And he seems to overcompensate for that lack by using some bizarrely complicated language like the "minimization of atoms". Contrast that to the clear pg-style "write like you talk" writing of Musk, who has bona fide visionary credentials: https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me https://www.tesla.com/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-j...

svdb_ 10y ago

Soft ball with Jack Dorsey.

mildbow 10y ago

Will Jack Dorsey and whoever interviewed him even remember this interview in 6 months? 2 years? 10 years? What's the point of a Q&A that asks generic questions? How about aiming for content that is insightful and valuable for 1+ years? Surely themacro publishing tonnes of shallow content just dilutes the brand? Then why bother? Makes me miss the pg days.