What modern political extremism and double standards look like:
1. She had a consensual relationship and some nude photos!? “She MUST go!”
2. He has multiple credible allegations of sexual assault, he’s on tape boasting about sexual assault, .... blah blah blah. “He hasn’t done anything. Impeachable!”
And both groups saying it with a straight, deeply analytical face.
The world has truly lost its marbles.
Australian Society vs US Society in 2 diagrams.
Everything is political. Twitter’s ban on political ads will block climate change activists but not ads for fossil fuel products, for example.
Regular reminder:
There’s a saying that goes something like “we are never happier than when imagining some future happiness”
That isn’t true happiness, though. That’s a constant need to fill some endless hole in our soul with “stuff” (including experiences) that we think will finally satiate us.
True happiness comes from being in the moment with deep gratitude for the things and people you already have in our lives.
A couple of counter-intuitive things I’ve been saying for a while that seem to be finally breaking through into the mainstream (judging from my feed today):
1) Blaming Facebook for the ills of democracy is like blaming the frosting on the cake for making you fat
2) Being “triggered” and “cancel culture” is a form of extremism and extremism (not whatever you’re outraged about this week) is the enemy.
Still waiting for...
3) Spontaneous and individual acts of kindness and charity by police officers, celebrities and wealthy people are not to be admired, they are symptoms of a broken government and taxation system that should be scaling collective compassion and kindness to all (not a random, lucky few)
This quote from Zuckerberg (attached below) is clever.
(Link to Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Post)
I’m also particularly amused how everyone is celebrating Twitter’s completely lazy abdication and PR stunt while scorning FB’s attempts to engage with the hard problem through speeches and a principled stand.
Reminder (if you didn’t listen or understand his speech)
Zuck doesn’t need the money or headache
Facebook doesn’t need the money or headache
He believes that shutting down political ads advantages incumbent power (see: trump)
Speech is hard. It’s also core to America’s promise
Why am I defending Facebook and Zuckerberg so much? A number of reasons:
This reminds me of the furor against Uber because of tipping. We knew that tipping was anti-labor because it pushed the burden of risk onto the driver and the cognitive load onto the customer. There’s a reason why only the US does tipping. But outrage culture persisted, so we added it anyway. Mobs don’t understand nuance and unintended consequences. Related: I’ve been close to senior people getting this kind of pressure and have a lot of empathy for them and their position.
It feels very hypocritical to me for Congress and the media to be dragging Zuckerberg over the coals for not dealing with an unintended consequence of his platform when they are the people intentionally doing a number of things I consider to be much, much worse for democracy (gerrymandering, corruption, misleading headlines, 24/7 propaganda, underfunding for education etc). It feels like a red herring distraction trying to scapegoat 1 guy instead of 20+ years of failed policymaking.
Let’s not forget who’s trying to post the misleading ads. The very Politicians who are acting outraged. How about they hold each other to account as well?
I think limiting speech you don’t like is easy to say but dangerous to do. I appreciate Zuckerberg trying to take a principled approach (even if we might disagree with where he’s drawing the line right now)
I do think the problem is much more complicated than it appears. It’s not easy to properly classify lies from exaggerations to spin etc.
I agree with Zuckerberg that outright banning political ads would disadvantage new voices
I don’t want to give Facebook more power. I don’t want a tech company to determine what is appropriate speech.
People who say “well that’s just my opinion” to win a debate frustrate me.
They act as if their opinion is somehow a sovereign right that exists as a force of nature.
Opinions should be derived from facts and rigorous logical debate.
When presented with new facts, “well that’s just my opinion” is not a relevant or effective response. You either engage with the facts with your own set of facts (and relevant logical perspectives/conclusions) or you concede the point and change your opinion.
That’s how consensus is reached and minds are changed.
Holding onto your opinion despite new facts and being unable to defend your point is not strength of character, it’s weakness of argument.
Magic Happens at Intersection
Her: “Don’t forget to keep them flat”
Me: “What’s with all these new requirements coming in late in the project!? That’s just bad product management”
Her: “You’re an engineer - just do what you’re told”
Startup joke for household chores
Very interesting. Porsche business model collides with Uber. Two interests of mine.
“I don’t think we want to live in a world where you can only post things that tech companies judge to be 100% true” - brilliant
“I don’t think it’s right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy” - amen
Not seeing people talk about this in my feed much. Odd. In an era where Russia is trying to weaponize our values against us, this is an important speech educating people (who should know better) about the value of free speech. Smart of Mark to do this. Maybe even overdue.
Do you still have any doubt that we’re living in a simulation? If this is where we’re at in 2019, imagine the results of another decade or 2 of technology innovation. Now imagine there are millions or billions of people somewhere in reality running these simulations on their computing devices. Just based on sheer probabilities, it’s highly unlikely we’re in base reality.
The attached video is an incredibly important TED talk. In it, the speaker explains how anxiety and depression are often not just the result of a chemical imbalance, but actually pain that signals real problems in one’s life. And given that these symptoms are on the rise across Western society, they are actually signals about an underlying problem with our values. Imagine having a broken leg and the doctor just gives you some pain meds to dull the pain rather than a cast to set your bone.
What’s most interesting to me, however, is how this is part of a broader trend of society and the media paying too much attention to the symptoms and not the causes. Trump and Facebook come to mind as an example.
In the case of Trump we pay too much attention to him and his psychotic personality rather than the people who voted for him and the culture that makes his candidacy and his presidency possible.
In the case of Facebook we are calling on them to censor speech and take the blame for trolling and misinformation. In fact a lot of this stuff comes from major media sources, Clickbait headlines and fundamental fault lines in our culture. Facebook, and the interactions that happen on it, are mostly just the symptoms of the real problem.
We need more people paying attention to root causes.
This is a important piece about how tech bloggers & journalists can rotate from trying to “out” villains to offering solutions. The challenge, though, is there are no easy answers & it’s much easier to just complain and act self-righteous.
I wish the media would stop lying about everything! We need them more than ever and yet they write click-bait headlines that misrepresent the facts ALL THE TIME. Stop it!
The headline here is a lie. The body of article says it clearly (surprisingly). Facebook was NOT listening to you like a constant hot mic. It was using human contractors to train Machine Learning algorithms for voicemail transcription using recorded de-identified snippets of voicemails. This wasn’t even used for ad targeting.
This is NOT a big deal nor is it surprising if you know ANYTHING about anything.
This makes me so, so angry.
Why?
Because the is undermining our faith in basic tools and technologies, driving paranoia, undermining the work and value of well meaning builders and eroding our trust in the critical sources of information we need about the world - all for some clicks.
The media plays a critical role in a democracy. Do some research on how and why. If they fail us then all is lost.
The weather on day 2 of our little weekend island getaway is not ideal. Cold. Rainy.
When I mentioned it to Aliya she said “I know it’s not great but it’s out of my control so I’m going to have a great time and make the best of it anyway”
This reminded me of two things.
1) A huge part of success in life is how you react to things both small and large. So many people when confronted with bad weather on their vacation, would, at best, pout or, at worst, become negative and defeated. Instead, people like my amazing wife find the gratitude and bound into the situation with optimism.
2) Another key part of success in life is choosing amazing partners. Both for family and in business. People who balance you by boosting you when you’re down or temper you when you’re irrationally exuberant. Someone who makes life lighter and easier in countless small and big ways.
So grateful
