Interesting People mailing list archives
Re Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society
From: "DAVID FARBER" <dfarber () me com>
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2017 11:00:58 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Danny Weitzner <djweitzner () csail mit edu> Subject: Re: [IP] Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society Date: December 12, 2017 at 10:03:36 AM EST To: dave () farber net Cc: ip <ip () listbox com> I'm sure this reflects a well-intentioned guilty conscience, but it strikes me as the height of techno-determinism and Silicon Valley self-importance to believe that the flaws in this medium are at the heart of the tensions in our social fabric. Does anyone really believe that but for FB and other social media we would be having an easy time managing: 1/massive economic dislocation, deep-seated tensions in gender relations, 2/culture war version X between the parts of the country that 'want to make America great again' by retreating from the world and turning their backs on diversity and tolerance, versus those parts of the country (not defined any more by just Red States and Blue ones) 3/huge gaps between those who accept science and reason versus those who distrust even well-supported scientific results if the origin is an elite university I'd remind everyone that in the 2008 election, may of the now critics of Facebook etc gave those networks credit for the election of our first African-American president over the presumptive Democratic nominee. Social networks as a medium are highly imperfect and should be more responsibly managed by the owners and regulated when they come into contract with the campaign finance and advertising arenas. But we have bigger problems than 'like' buttons and 143+ character messages. Danny -- Daniel J. Weitzner, Principal Research Scientist MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab Director, MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative <https://internetpolicy.mit.edu/> Tel: +1 617 253 8036 On Tue, Dec 12, 2017, 1:14 AM DAVID FARBER <dfarber () me com <mailto:dfarber () me com>> wrote: Begin forwarded message:From: the keyboard of geoff goodfellow <geoff () iconia com <mailto:geoff () iconia com>> Date: December 11, 2017 at 11:53:34 PM EST To: E-mail Pamphleteer Dave Farber's Interesting People list <ip () listbox com <mailto:ip () listbox com>> Cc: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com <mailto:dewayne () warpspeed com>>, Michael Grant <mgrant () grant org <mailto:mgrant () grant org>>, "Peter G. Neumann" <neumann () csl sri com <mailto:neumann () csl sri com>>, Sam Baker <kokuadigital () gmail com <mailto:kokuadigital () gmail com>>, Catherine Jefferson <ariel () spambouncer org <mailto:ariel () spambouncer org>> Subject: Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society ‘No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth.’ https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/11/16761016/former-facebook-exec-ripping-apart-society <https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/11/16761016/former-facebook-exec-ripping-apart-society> -- Geoff.Goodfellow () iconia com <mailto:Geoff.Goodfellow () iconia com> living as The Truth is True http://geoff.livejournal.com <http://geoff.livejournal.com/>-- Daniel J. Weitzner, Principal Research Scientist MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab Director, Internet Policy Research Initiative This message was sent to the list address and trashed, but can be found online. <https://www.listbox.com/login/messages/view/20171212100353:A9662DAC-DF4D-11E7-B5FD-B7B74F562A9A/>
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- Re Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society DAVID FARBER (Dec 12)