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Like I said in my original comment: I'm sure there are a ton of interesting jobs at meta, no doubt - but they are the "meta" jobs of meta. In terms of driving t

Like I said in my original comment: I'm sure there are a ton of interesting jobs at meta, no doubt - but they are the "meta" jobs of meta. In terms of driving their primary objective it's nothing that innovative from a technical perspective. Their innovation is solely rooted in behavioral psychology. Not self-driving cars, not better medical devices, not VR technology (well, OK, they bought their way into that). The prime directive at facebook is to keep people on facebook. They've definitely been responsible for pushing web technologies forward -- but all in the name of increased engagement. Let's not pretend there is an altruistic angle to this.

savolai 4y ago
No, it doesn't seem like they're doing much to alleviate the damage to society they've done. Still your comment seems rather cynical. Yet, relative to the age of humanity or even modern society, they are still a new modality to humanity's interaction. One that facilitates also a lot of good that's happening in the world. There is still a ton they could do right if they chose to, to make that environment for communication a healthier one. Could they find willingness to reroot their design choices in a wider tradition of social psychology, for instance?
- unclebucknasty 4y ago
  >Still your comment seems rather cynical. Your first paragraph points out the damage FB has done to society. Your second paragraph appears to give them a pass because social media is "new" and has also done some good. Your third paragraph tacitly gives FB credit for the things they could do right if they chose to. Perhaps you're not cynical enough?
EndorphinRush 4y ago
Their innovation is solely rooted in behavioral psychology. I’m not a fan of Facebook. I don’t even have an account. But it would be unfair to say they haven’t come up with some truly innovative approaches to large scale infrastructure. Also, to their credit they are huge supporters of open source. For example the Open Compute Project is still alive and well in large data halls. They are also still supporting the Telecom Infra Project which is responsible for OpenRAN as well as their Open DWDM hardware. Does all of this work in their favor to support their own business? Absolutely. But that can also be said for every tech company in some form or fashion. But, they still open source it which is way more than a lot of other shops can say.
- chii 4y ago
  > Their innovation is solely rooted in behavioral psychology. i think the poster meant 'business model' rather than innovation. Having an immoral business model doesn't imply they are not innovative - facebook does plenty of technical innovation indeed.
- rfw300 4y ago
  I think the point is that Facebook's contribution to society (with its actual product, not its tech work) has been negative; its goal is to turn every knob it can find to get people to spend more time on Facebook, not actually solve any problems. All businesses are selfish, but some manage to meaningfully improve some aspect of people's lives along the way.

savolai 4y ago

No, it doesn't seem like they're doing much to alleviate the damage to society they've done. Still your comment seems rather cynical. Yet, relative to the age of humanity or even modern society, they are still a new modality to humanity's interaction. One that facilitates also a lot of good that's happening in the world. There is still a ton they could do right if they chose to, to make that environment for communication a healthier one. Could they find willingness to reroot their design choices in a wider tradition of social psychology, for instance?

unclebucknasty 4y ago
>Still your comment seems rather cynical. Your first paragraph points out the damage FB has done to society. Your second paragraph appears to give them a pass because social media is "new" and has also done some good. Your third paragraph tacitly gives FB credit for the things they could do right if they chose to. Perhaps you're not cynical enough?

EndorphinRush 4y ago

Their innovation is solely rooted in behavioral psychology. I’m not a fan of Facebook. I don’t even have an account. But it would be unfair to say they haven’t come up with some truly innovative approaches to large scale infrastructure. Also, to their credit they are huge supporters of open source. For example the Open Compute Project is still alive and well in large data halls. They are also still supporting the Telecom Infra Project which is responsible for OpenRAN as well as their Open DWDM hardware. Does all of this work in their favor to support their own business? Absolutely. But that can also be said for every tech company in some form or fashion. But, they still open source it which is way more than a lot of other shops can say.

chii 4y ago
> Their innovation is solely rooted in behavioral psychology. i think the poster meant 'business model' rather than innovation. Having an immoral business model doesn't imply they are not innovative - facebook does plenty of technical innovation indeed.
rfw300 4y ago
I think the point is that Facebook's contribution to society (with its actual product, not its tech work) has been negative; its goal is to turn every knob it can find to get people to spend more time on Facebook, not actually solve any problems. All businesses are selfish, but some manage to meaningfully improve some aspect of people's lives along the way.