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>It was a tight-knit cult convinced of its mission to connect everyone Did anyone ever really buy the "making the world a better place" kool aid? Could you im

>It was a tight-knit cult convinced of its mission to connect everyone Did anyone ever really buy the "making the world a better place" kool aid? Could you imagine if other companies were expected to act so grandiose and sanctimonious about their mission? Imagine a world where McDonalds bills itself as a crusader to make the world better fed.

rndmind 9y ago
It was not too long ago that facebook attempted a surreptitious mission of "making the world a better place" with the failed attempt of "free basics" and "internet.org"
- 908087 9y ago
  Unfortunately it wasn't a complete failure. While India did reject Zuckerberg's attempt to become the internet there, it is my understanding that the program is widespread in other parts of the world.
TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
Ronald McDonald House[1] genuinely does make the world a better place, and I assume receives at least some funding from McDonalds(?). But yeah, the restaurant chain doesn’t claim to. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_McDonald_House_Charities https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_McDonald_House_Charit...
dieterrams 9y ago
This is totally the norm in Silicon Valley / lots of startups.
smnrchrds 9y ago
> Did anyone ever really buy the "making the world a better place" kool aid? I don't know if many people buy it anymore, but many certainly did back in 2009-2012. Tech giants were patting themselves on the back for fostering revolutions and helping spread "democracy." The media called Arab Spring a "Twitter Revolution." Making world a better place was in vogue. SV was not making social platforms for goldfish, it was writing a new chapter in human history. It took years for the world to see how empty those promises were, and I am not sure if everyone has gotten the memo yet.
- cma 9y ago
  Remember the hoodie? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGssbaktT1I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGssbaktT1I
- samirillian 9y ago
  Yeah, I was in Egypt during the revolution, a revolution built on a social networking app is a revolution built on sand. The liberals claimed that the Muslim brotherhood "hijacked" the revolution, but the truth was that none of the liberals had the first clue about what it took to make a polity.
dictum 9y ago
McDonald's is now applying some of this grandiose language, at least internally. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/04/404166605/mcdonald-s-ceo-promises-modern-progressive-burger-company https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/04/404166605...
kenning 9y ago
> Did anyone ever really buy the "making the world a better place" kool aid? I had a friend who believed it, he is a very argumentative libertarian who liked using it to argue with people. He described it as a great place for you to shove your opinion down other people's throats. He got a job offer there at that time

rndmind 9y ago

It was not too long ago that facebook attempted a surreptitious mission of "making the world a better place" with the failed attempt of "free basics" and "internet.org"

908087 9y ago
Unfortunately it wasn't a complete failure. While India did reject Zuckerberg's attempt to become the internet there, it is my understanding that the program is widespread in other parts of the world.

TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago

Ronald McDonald House[1] genuinely does make the world a better place, and I assume receives at least some funding from McDonalds(?). But yeah, the restaurant chain doesn’t claim to. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_McDonald_House_Charities https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_McDonald_House_Charit...

dieterrams 9y ago

This is totally the norm in Silicon Valley / lots of startups.

smnrchrds 9y ago

> Did anyone ever really buy the "making the world a better place" kool aid? I don't know if many people buy it anymore, but many certainly did back in 2009-2012. Tech giants were patting themselves on the back for fostering revolutions and helping spread "democracy." The media called Arab Spring a "Twitter Revolution." Making world a better place was in vogue. SV was not making social platforms for goldfish, it was writing a new chapter in human history. It took years for the world to see how empty those promises were, and I am not sure if everyone has gotten the memo yet.

cma 9y ago
Remember the hoodie? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGssbaktT1I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGssbaktT1I
samirillian 9y ago
Yeah, I was in Egypt during the revolution, a revolution built on a social networking app is a revolution built on sand. The liberals claimed that the Muslim brotherhood "hijacked" the revolution, but the truth was that none of the liberals had the first clue about what it took to make a polity.

dictum 9y ago

McDonald's is now applying some of this grandiose language, at least internally. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/04/404166605/mcdonald-s-ceo-promises-modern-progressive-burger-company https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/04/404166605...

kenning 9y ago

> Did anyone ever really buy the "making the world a better place" kool aid? I had a friend who believed it, he is a very argumentative libertarian who liked using it to argue with people. He described it as a great place for you to shove your opinion down other people's throats. He got a job offer there at that time