I'd like to take exception to a few things Jochen says. I am on
Facebook for professional reasons (sigh--publishers take this very
seriously, even if the rest of us can't). I currently have a quite
doctored picture up of me (Doug can attest) and other friends have
shots of their dogs, or Richard Wagner, instead of themselves. We do
it for fun, because we can. No requirement to have a passport picture
up.
Facebook knows very little about me that can't be got easily from
"Who's Who" or other sources. I want it that way.
That said, I can't help comparing it to another virtual community I've
belonged to for more than twenty years. It's the WELL, founded by
Stewart Brand and his friends, and at first consisting of a bunch of
Deadheads and other former hippies. What the WELL has permitted over
the years is substantive conversations--banter too, but substantive
conversations--where you begin to detect real personalities with real
interests, rounded and appealing (or appalling, as the case might be).
This membership has led from virtual friendships to genuine
friendships--I'll go to the theater this afternoon with one such
friend; another such is coming to NYC next week for a visit; etc., etc.
Facebook's unwieldy size and lack of discrimination among
"friends" (with that I agree completely) is unlikely to allow this to
happen, especially since the technology is set up for soundbites, not
authentic conversations.
It's not evil, but it's banal.
Pamela
On Sep 26, 2010, at 7:23 AM, Pieter Steenekamp wrote:
If a grocery store offers to sell you a bread for a dollar, do you
accuse them of forcing you to give you a dollar? Then why do you
accuse Facebook of forcing you to do anything? If you don't like it,
simply don't open an account with them. If you don't buy bread then
you die, so I would rather accuse the grocery store of forcing me to
part with my dollar. If you don't open a Facebook account, at least
you don't die.
Pieter
On 2010/09/26 09:03 AM, Jochen Fromm wrote:
No, it is not ridiculuos, it is serious.
I think the Facebook phenomenon rises a number of interesting
questions:
Who are you? What is the core of a person? Why is social media so
successful?
When does a company become evil?
Social media and social networks are
a hot trend, maybe because people feel
increasingly isolated in a digital and
urbanized world. Erich Fromm says in "The Art of Loving": "The
deepest need of man is to overcome his separateness, to leave the
prison of his aloneness." All social networks exploit this need.
For example a social network for books like GoodReads or Shelfari
connects you to readers with similar interests.
Facebook is special. It claims to connect
you to the people you already know.
The problem is:
a) You probably have multiple circles of
friends, and these friends belong to different
areas: family, job, hobby, sports, etc.
Facebook allows you only to have one
circle of friends and one single identity, your physical identity
characterized by your real name and your real photo. Since the
identity forms the core of a person, it reduces you to your
physical appearance.
If you are not good looking or if you have
no friends, like the shy nerdy student Kip Drordy in the video,
then Facebook classifies you as a loser. It denies you
to be what you want to be, but the declaration
of independence says: "all Men are created equal, they are endowed
[..] with certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life, Liberty
and the pursuit of Happiness."
It does not mention the right to have a
Facebook profile.
b) To connect you to your friends, a company must own your private
data.
Facebook forces you to reveal your private data, to give up your
privacy. Would
you tell the government who your friends
are, where you have been, what you are doing?
Then why do you tell it to a private company?
Should our private life and our private data belong to a company at
all? The people who think Facebook is evil say no. This is similar
to the question of Microsoft a few years ago: should our Operating
System, the Operating System of our computers, belong to a company?
The people who think Microsoft is evil say no.
Contrary to Twitter, Facebook forces you to give up your privacy:
"We will connect you to your friends
(if you give us your private data)".
and reduces you to your physical appearance
"We will connect you to your friends
(if you tell us what you are doing
right now and how you look like)"
That's why Facebook is evil.
-J.
----- Original Message ----- From: Alfredo Covaleda To: The Friday
Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Sent: Saturday, September
25, 2010 10:58 PM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] You Have 0 Friends
So funny.
My Facebook profile has more friends than me. Isn't is ridiculous?
Alfredo
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
