Social media is ripping apart society

Another former head of Facebook spoke about the harm that social networks carry to civil society around the world. Chamath Palihapitiya, who joined Facebook in 2007 and became her vice president for the growth of the user base (judging by the number of the latter, he coped brilliantly with his task), said he felt "a huge blame" for the company, which he helped build. "I think that we have created tools that break the social fabric and violate the principles of the interaction of society," he told the audience at the Stanford Graduate School of Business before recommending to people to break sharply with social networks.

Criticism of Mr. Palihapity is directed not only on Facebook, but also on a wider online ecosystem. "Short-term, feedback-based feedback loops on the dopamine (hormone of pleasure) that we created destroy the fundamentals of the work of society," he said, referring to interactive interactions based on "hearts, huskies and up-raised fingers." "There is no civil discourse, there is no interaction, disinformation and untruth spread. And this is not just an American problem - I'm not talking about Russian political advertising. This is a worldwide problem, "said the former head of the largest social network.

These words repeat similar repentant statements on the part of some other leading leaders who helped Facebook on the way to world domination. For example, in November, one of the early investors, Sean Parker, said that he decided to stop social networking as some soldiers refuse conscientious objectors and added that Facebook and other companies have succeeded in "using the weaknesses of the human psyche" . Former product manager Antonio Garcia-Martinez said that Facebook is lying about its modest opportunities to influence people based on data that is collected about them and wrote the book "Chaos Monkeys" about their work in the company.

All these statements are now superimposed on a feverish public discussion in the US of the role of Facebook in the presidential election of the country. Previously discussed the role of the largest social network in the widespread dissemination of false news, as well as in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohinj people in Myanmar.

However, in his last speech, Mr. Palihapity criticized not only Facebook, but also the risk-based financing system in the Silicon Valley. He said that investors are pumping money "disgusting, useless and just idiotic companies", instead of solving real problems, such as climate change or illness. Now the Chamat Paliphapity runs its own venture capital fund Social Capital, which concentrates on financing companies in such sectors as health and education.

The  manager also noted that although technological investors seem omnipotent, they have achieved their power rather through luck than skill. "Everybody's talking nonsense," he said. - If you are in an armchair and you have a fairly wide stream of transactions, sufficient capital and a big technological transition is taking place ... then in time you will receive one of 20 companies that will achieve explosive success and will look like a genius. Nobody wants to admit the obvious, but it's damn true. "

3dnews.ru 

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