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Why does this sound like the plot to a dystopian sci fi novel? Facebook's interests aren't anything close to my interests.
by pmiller2 10y ago
Why does this sound like the plot to a dystopian sci fi novel? Facebook's interests aren't anything close to my interests.
- richardwhiuk 10y agoAnd Trump's do? We are already in a dystopian sci fi novel.
- zitterbewegung 10y agoWe have been living in a dystopian sci-fi novel since 2001.
- brandonmenc 10y agoWe have been living in a dystopian sci-fi novel since 1945.
- bogomipz 10y agoYes but I think the velocity of Dystopianism since 2001 might be much greater than anything experienced before then.
- fsloth 10y agoThe massive stockpiling of nuclear weapons that began is kind of on league of it's own. The western electorate has been taken on a ride since national suffrage became a thing (before that they had very little power thus no rides were necessary - ditto for non-democratic states)
- bogomipz 10y agoPlease reread what wrote. I am not stating that it didn't exist much earlier. I was simply saying that the velocity of it has seemed to increase since 2001.
- fsloth 10y agoYep. 1. Cities destroyed by atomic weapons 2. Rockets 3. Computers 4. A dystopian one party nation state murdering millions of it's own (murdering en masse is nothing new but usually there was some excuse - soviet system brought state instituted terror to a whole new levem).
- platz 10y agoWe have been living in a dystopian sci-fi novel since 33 AD. Or, if you prefer, 66 million years ago.
- JumpCrisscross 10y ago> usually there was some excuse - soviet system brought state instituted terror to a whole new levem [sic] Perhaps on an absolute basis, the Soviets were the worst, but on a relative-to-population basis history is littered with meaningless massacre.
- fsloth 10y agoI agree, yet, I don't think there is anything intellectually dishonest in counting human suffering in absolute measures. Yes, we can identify historical patterns, but individual humans are not just playing out a manifestation of social dynamics, they are living their life. The heart and mind are equal in gauging the world - just different aspects of it.
- rokosbasilisk 10y agoPrism and edward snowden sealed that for me a while back.
- pmiller2 10y agoYep. I have a Yahoo! email. The NSA has already read all my personal correspondence. Edit: I suppose "read" is a bit of a strong word. How about "processed," or "scanned"? [0] --- [0]:http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-nsa-exclusive-idUSKCN1241YT http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-nsa-exclusive-idUSKC...
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- imgabe 10y agoThen don't vote for Zuckerberg? Technically, if he were to be a representative or other elected government official, he would be obligated to uphold the interests of his constituents, not the company he owns, just like any other representative. Granted, it might be a concern that he would use his position to help his company, which is why officials usually have to put their assets in a blind trust. He would still have to get elected first, though. So if you're basically expecting that he's going to be corrupt, then don't vote for him and encourage others not to.
- aaron-lebo 10y agoThat's much easier said than done. At the end of the day, Facebook almost reaches 2 billion people. Good luck beating that and a net worth of $50 billion.
- edblarney 10y ago"Technically, if he were to be a representative or other elected government official, he would be obligated to uphold the interests of his constituents, not the company he owns, just like any other representative." "Technically" it would be a massive conflict of interest and probably illegal. Having someone own/control/influence a major chunk of the media establishment and also have public responsibility is a pretty serious problem. 5th estate needs to be separate from the others :)
- imgabe 10y ago
- rayiner 10y agoThe problem with dystopian sci-fi novels is that their plots are usually dependent on social dynamics that don't capture the full range of human behavior. For example, you don't read many sci-fi novels that have a character like John D. Rockafeller (who used his wealth and power to stand up to Prohibition). It's worth keeping in mind that some of America's founding fathers were also among the wealthiest people in the country (e.g. John Hancock).
- Retric 10y agoUS population in 1776 was 1% of what it is now. So, the 'wealthy' was a significantly less elite group. Basically, the top 1,000 people back then where the equivalent of the top 100,000 people now, not the top 1,000.
- junto 10y agoYou should read "The Circle" by Dave Eggers.
- wahsd 10y agoConsidering how Facebook grew on the back of several fraudulent scheme to inflate their numbers in many different ways at different stages, I can't think of a worse entity to spawn a presidential candidate … maybe Plantir but they are already heavily involved in the game without the public knowing it, let alone what and how.
- kakwa_ 10y agoI could not agree more. I found the near deification of Internet/Tech entrepreneurs, like Musk, Zuckerberg and others deeply annoying at best. Selling the idea they could be the providential leaders we "need", and that they could solve every single issue of our (quite complex) societies, is just disturbing... Not to mention the latent conflicts of interest which can occur...