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> Somewhere between Newton and Mark Zuckerberg, theory took a back seat. It is like saying "Somewhere between Ghandi and Wonder Woman, India's independence mov

> Somewhere between Newton and Mark Zuckerberg, theory took a back seat. It is like saying "Somewhere between Ghandi and Wonder Woman, India's independence movement took a back seat" It is clear that WW has no relevance just as Zuckerberg to science. Also, comparing one of the most respected human minds of all time to a simply grotesquely powerful active living person this way is something that is very distasteful from a news publication.

csdvrx 5y ago
> It is clear that WW has no relevance just as Zuckerberg to science. > Also, comparing one of the most respected human minds of all time to a simply grotesquely powerful active living person this way is something that is very distasteful from a news publication. A more generous interpretation could be that on social networks, emergent properties are hard to predict beforehand with theory, and require observation of the actual phenomenon. That's actually behind a large body of scientific work, the best known being agent-based models. Also I think it's biased to simpy discard the scientific contribution of FANGs with emotionally loaded words like "grotesquely": from algorithms to new methods, there's much good to be found in what large companies (that you may like or dislike) have done.
- igorkraw 5y ago
  But Zuckerberg hasn't done any of them. It's like ascribing Newton's accomplishments to the royal in power when he was alive
  - gilleain 5y ago
    Totally agree with your point, but just because I was curious... Isaac Newton lived from 1642 – 1726 so technically: * 1642-1649 : Charles I (until he got the chop) * 1649-1660 : Interregnum, Cromwell and Son * 1660-1685 : Charles II (Restored, partied a lot) * 1685-1688 : James II (Too Catholic, overthrown) * 1689-1702 : William and Mary ('Leveraged buyout' by the Dutch as Matt Christman puts it) * 1702-1707 : Anne (Last English monarch... see Acts of Union) * 1707-1714 : Anne (As monarch of GB) * 1714-1727 : George I So quite a few monarchs!
    - echopurity 5y ago
- Copenjin 5y ago
  No, there is something objectively ridiculous in that association, also, please don't compare the scientific contribution of individuals at FAANGs to the scientific contributions of Newton.
- xg15 5y ago
  > A more generous interpretation could be that on social networks, emergent properties are hard to predict beforehand with theory Butbas far as we know, not a lot of people were actually interested in working on a theory (because why spend the time if you can just slap a neural network on it?) Even if some people are, they are likely working inside Facebook and we might not know about it.
- raverbashing 5y ago
  I agree. The analogy there is more in comparing time periods than persons relevant to the development.
Copenjin 5y ago
They just used him as a placeholder to represent something modern in my opinion, likely with dismissive intent.
kettleballroll 5y ago
It's very weird, but i can't shake the feeling that this article always uses Facebook examples for positive things (well working algorithms, putting Zuckerberg right up to newton), but very negative towards Google (biased search results, misleading algorithms). It might not be on purpose, or it might really just be in my head, but I found it super weird.
- froh 5y ago
  What confuses me most about the constant google bashing is that google is the one of the big companies that actively uses it's ressources to go against disinformation, at least when it comes to science (COVID-19) or politics (no political microtargetting e.g. on YT) https://blog.google/technology/ads/update-our-political-ads-policy/ https://blog.google/technology/ads/update-our-political-ads-... Why is Google bashed so much more than FB or Amazon (product disinformation)?
  - pyrale 5y ago
    > Why is Google bashed so much more than FB or Amazon I would attribute that to personal feelings and confirmation bias. Facebook has received a lot of negative press coverage in recent times, for their help to nationalist parties in India, their behaviour in Myanmar, Burma, for their mishandling of fake news in the US and Europe, etc. They've also been at the heart of multiple legislative investigations in the US and abroad. Comparatively, Google has received little backlash and attention for their own misdeeds.
cblconfederate 5y ago
Blame popularity and popular culture, it skews history. He didn't even seem to promote the narrative, but people at large think Zuck invented the internet like elon invented rocketry.

csdvrx 5y ago

> It is clear that WW has no relevance just as Zuckerberg to science. > Also, comparing one of the most respected human minds of all time to a simply grotesquely powerful active living person this way is something that is very distasteful from a news publication. A more generous interpretation could be that on social networks, emergent properties are hard to predict beforehand with theory, and require observation of the actual phenomenon. That's actually behind a large body of scientific work, the best known being agent-based models. Also I think it's biased to simpy discard the scientific contribution of FANGs with emotionally loaded words like "grotesquely": from algorithms to new methods, there's much good to be found in what large companies (that you may like or dislike) have done.

igorkraw 5y ago
But Zuckerberg hasn't done any of them. It's like ascribing Newton's accomplishments to the royal in power when he was alive
- gilleain 5y ago
  Totally agree with your point, but just because I was curious... Isaac Newton lived from 1642 – 1726 so technically: * 1642-1649 : Charles I (until he got the chop) * 1649-1660 : Interregnum, Cromwell and Son * 1660-1685 : Charles II (Restored, partied a lot) * 1685-1688 : James II (Too Catholic, overthrown) * 1689-1702 : William and Mary ('Leveraged buyout' by the Dutch as Matt Christman puts it) * 1702-1707 : Anne (Last English monarch... see Acts of Union) * 1707-1714 : Anne (As monarch of GB) * 1714-1727 : George I So quite a few monarchs!
  - echopurity 5y ago
Copenjin 5y ago
No, there is something objectively ridiculous in that association, also, please don't compare the scientific contribution of individuals at FAANGs to the scientific contributions of Newton.
xg15 5y ago
> A more generous interpretation could be that on social networks, emergent properties are hard to predict beforehand with theory Butbas far as we know, not a lot of people were actually interested in working on a theory (because why spend the time if you can just slap a neural network on it?) Even if some people are, they are likely working inside Facebook and we might not know about it.
raverbashing 5y ago
I agree. The analogy there is more in comparing time periods than persons relevant to the development.

Copenjin 5y ago

They just used him as a placeholder to represent something modern in my opinion, likely with dismissive intent.

kettleballroll 5y ago

It's very weird, but i can't shake the feeling that this article always uses Facebook examples for positive things (well working algorithms, putting Zuckerberg right up to newton), but very negative towards Google (biased search results, misleading algorithms). It might not be on purpose, or it might really just be in my head, but I found it super weird.

froh 5y ago
What confuses me most about the constant google bashing is that google is the one of the big companies that actively uses it's ressources to go against disinformation, at least when it comes to science (COVID-19) or politics (no political microtargetting e.g. on YT) https://blog.google/technology/ads/update-our-political-ads-policy/ https://blog.google/technology/ads/update-our-political-ads-... Why is Google bashed so much more than FB or Amazon (product disinformation)?
- pyrale 5y ago
  > Why is Google bashed so much more than FB or Amazon I would attribute that to personal feelings and confirmation bias. Facebook has received a lot of negative press coverage in recent times, for their help to nationalist parties in India, their behaviour in Myanmar, Burma, for their mishandling of fake news in the US and Europe, etc. They've also been at the heart of multiple legislative investigations in the US and abroad. Comparatively, Google has received little backlash and attention for their own misdeeds.

cblconfederate 5y ago

Blame popularity and popular culture, it skews history. He didn't even seem to promote the narrative, but people at large think Zuck invented the internet like elon invented rocketry.