Nope, pure creepy. Facebook = Big Brother? Looks as if. Makes me want to deep-six my Facebook page.
David > On Apr 15, 2016, at 7:07 PM, Centroids <[email protected]> wrote: > > Alternately creepy and encouraging... > > > > In The Age Of Trump, Tech CEOs Cast Themselves As The New Statesmen > https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/in-the-age-of-trump-tech-ceos-cast-themselves-as-the-new-sta > > <https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/in-the-age-of-trump-tech-ceos-cast-themselves-as-the-new-sta> > (via Instapaper <http://www.instapaper.com/>) > > > Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images > > Mark Zuckerberg isn’t running for president of the United States, but you > could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. > > On Tuesday morning, the Facebook CEO kicked off the company’s annual > developers conference in San Francisco with a glancing shot > <https://www.buzzfeed.com/brendanklinkenberg/mark-zuckerberg-slaps-at-donald-trump-during-f8-keynote#.ohe0b0ZO0> > at Donald Trump, followed by a reiteration of the company’s oft-repeated > pledge to bring the world together. Zuckerberg spoke for only 30 minutes or > so and he spent many of them on what he touted as Facebook’s benevolent > efforts to bring universal access to information — and prosperity — to > underdeveloped nations. “We are one global community,” he told the crowd, > invoking climate change, the Syrian refugee crisis, and touching on world > events from Sierra Leone to India. All this at a developers conference, mind > you. > > Zuck’s not alone. Last month Apple CEO Tim Cook led his keynote with a > similar stump-speech vibe. He dove right into the company’s national security > and privacy fight against the FBI, before addressing plans to reduce Apple’s > environmental impact and detailing its efforts to advance medical research > and “lay the foundation to transform care.” > > Two weeks ago Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told > <http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2016-03-31/news/71952590_1_india-born-ceo-satya-nadella-microsoft-human-language> > attendees of the company’s annual Build developers conference of plans to > “move our society forward,” asking “profound questions” of his developers: > “Is technology driving economic growth for everyone or is economic growth > stalled in spite of technological span? Is technology empowering people or is > it displacing us? Is technology helping us preserve our enduring values such > as privacy, or is it compromising it?” > > Google CEO Sundar Pichai hasn’t delivered his big keynote yet (it’s coming up > May 18), but late last year he issued an open letter in support of Muslims > after Donald Trump suggested he’d blanket-ban the religious group from > entering the United States. And just last month he spoke > <http://www.buzzfeed.com/mathonan/searching-for-google-ceo-sundar-pichai-the-most-powerful-tec#.sg2qGqrPq> > to BuzzFeed News at great length about his ambitions for Google, suggesting > that “every jump in technology involves leveling the playing field.” > > Welcome to 2016: where tech’s biggest leaders are no longer selling > themselves as innovators, creative geniuses, or domineering tycoons, but as > world leaders — statesmen shaping the course of human history. And it’s most > visible during the big keynotes that today sound more like TED Talks than the > product announcements and celebrations of code they began as. > > While the shift in tone at tech’s big annual events has evolved somewhat > subtly over the past decade, it’s still rather jarring to see how far it’s > come from the obsessive product-and-design focus of Apple co-founder Steve > Jobs or the aggressive, sweaty, profit-and-revenue-driven speeches of > Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer era. Remember this: > > Video available at: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs > <https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs>. > youtube.com <https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs> > If last year’s F8 keynote was about how Facebook planned to eat the internet, > this year’s was about how Facebook plans to fix the world. “It takes courage > to choose hope over fear,” Zuckerberg told attendees, arguing that Facebook > is playing a long game with the aim of changing the world for the better by > connecting people. “I hope that we have the courage to see that the path > forward is to bring people together, not push them apart,” he said. > > There are plenty of reasons for the global leadership rhetoric CEOs are > adopting. As technology seeps deeper into our lives, the stakes become > higher. In just 30 minutes Zuckerberg quickly sketched an outline of a future > in which many of the things we do outside of Facebook today (TV, commerce, > ordering flowers) will be done inside Facebook tomorrow. And so there’s a > certain amount of reassurance in these seemingly altruistic pronouncements — > regardless of the very real commercial motivations beneath them. > > It’s also increasingly necessary as America’s big tech companies turn their > focus to international expansion — where nearly all the potential for growth > over the next decade lies. The U.S’s Big Tech leaders are engaged in an > image-shaping campaign that’s meant to assuage not only the world’s fears as > they pertain to the tech industry, but also as they pertain to the country in > which they’re based. If these guys sound like ambassadors or politicians, > it’s because they kind of are — and the country they represent is in the > middle of a chaotic and very public identity crisis. > > This is especially true at a time when privacy concerns are writ large and > regular people are worrying more about the amount of information, money, and > power these companies have and the impact it may or may not have on their > lives. Because in the end, Facebook’s internet access–beaming plane is held > aloft by the advertisements the company sells against our personal > information. Google, which also sells advertising against the personal > information of its users, is likewise pushing hard into internet markets all > over Asia and Africa. Even Apple’s very principled privacy fight with the FBI > is a helpful piece of marketing. Privacy, after all, is among Apple’s most > important products <http://www.apple.com/privacy/>. > > This noticeable rhetorical shift may also have something to do with Big > Tech’s moon shots > <https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/%20http://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/mark-zuckerbergs-2-billion-chance-at-a-moonshot#.wqA7e7gr7> > — read: bold, futuristic projects like Hyperloops > <https://www.buzzfeed.com/carolineodonovan/hyping-the-hyperloop-how-elon-musks-dream-could-become-a-rea#.lmo30MYBv>, > self-driving cars, curing cancer, and virtual reality — coming home to > roost. Over the last seven years, tech’s biggest players like Elon Musk, > Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Mark Zuckerberg have allocated considerable > resources toward long-term projects with the lofty goal of altering the > course of human experience. These moon shots often serve as an ambitious yin > (Google’s self-driving car) to a more mundane and revenue-producing yang > (Google’s AdSense). > > > Tim Cook discussing Apple’s environmental footprint at its last keynote in > March. Stephen Lam / Reuters > > But years after their initial announcement, many of these projects are > finally real. Facebook’s Oculus Rift VR headset has shipped, self-driving > cars have logged many millions of miles, and while Musk’s Hyperloop is still > a vision, his newest Tesla looks poised to change how we think of electric > cars; meanwhile, his other company, SpaceX, just successfully landed a rocket > on a boat > <https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/718547446066913280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>… > after it pushed a satellite into space. And so, as the innovations that were > sold as world-altering become reality, there’s pressure on the executives who > sold them to step up and play the part. > > And it’s this idea — that Big Tech’s technology has caught up with its > greatest ambitions — that makes the keynotes at these annual events so > eminently watchable and, in a way, as consequential as anything happening at > any political rally today here at home. After all, Facebook with its 1.6 > billion users is bigger than any country on Earth. This doesn’t mean we won’t > roll our eyes when Zuckerberg’s tells us it’s time to choose “hope over > fear”; we will. We roll our eyes when world leaders promise to “make America > great again,” too. > > Charlie Warzel is a senior writer for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York. > Warzel reports on and writes about the intersection of tech and culture. > Contact Charlie Warzel at [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > > > > > > > > > > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > <http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism> > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > <http://radicalcentrism.org/> > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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