Former Facebook exec feels 'tremendous guilt' for helping build the platform

[Shawn Knight]

Sean Parker isn’t the only former Facebook executive to have second thoughts about products they’ve built and the influence they’ve had on society as a whole.

Chamath Palihapitiya, former vice president of user growth at Facebook, said during an interview at Stanford Graduate School of Business that he feels “tremendous guilt” for his role in helping Facebook become what it is today.

Palihapitiya concedes that Facebook’s early creators kind of knew in the back of their minds that something bad could happen but the way they defined it was not how it turned out. According to Palihapitiya, it is literally at a point now where they’ve created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. People need to hard brake, he said.

“The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem — this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem.”

Napster co-founder Sean Parker, who served as Facebook’s founding president, echoed similar sentiments in early November. Parker said social media literally changes your relationship with society and each other, adding that it probably interferes with productivity as well. “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains,” he added.

Antonio Garcia-Martinez, a former Facebook product manager, said in May that the company lies about its ability to influence users based on data it collects from them.

Palihapitiya said he believes Facebook overwhelmingly does positive good in the world but that he has decided to take the money he was paid and put it to use to focus on structural changes that he can control.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/72254-former-facebook-exec-feels-tremendous-guilt-helping-build.html

 

[amstech]

Yup.
Try to use your smartphone/social media less and less, you will be happier.
Example 1:
Instead of posting your Red Lobster meal on facebook to chestpound, invite some friends over for dinner and take a picture of everyone together and post that on Facebook.
Example 2:
Instead of posting a picture of your new shiny thing... DON"T! It's gloating and makes you look desperate.

 

[SirChocula]

I avoid any and all social media that I can. The only thing I ever use facebook for is when my friends send me an invite to an event, it does keep things organized. Otherwise, I spend less than 5 mins on the horrid site per week.

 

[JamesSWD]

Hold on...gotta share this on Facebook.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

Just caught a 30-day ban on Facebook for posting a comment on the ScienceAlert page that said,

"Did you really expect real science on this page?"

Evidently that's enough to get one censored, in Langley's little play-world social construct.

 

[JamesSWD]

Just caught a 30-day ban on Facebook for posting a comment on the ScienceAlert page that said,

"Did you really expect real science on this page?"

Evidently that's enough to get one censored, in Langley's little play-world social construct.

Both Facebook & Twitter are digging to new depths of ridiculous censorship because some pissant gets offended.

 

[Joe Blow]

The U.S. government would have hired someone else to build their surveillance platform. He had the privilege to get a few bucks out of it.

 

[Forebode]

If they really felt bad and wished to make amends, give every dollar made, over living expenses, to a scholarship fund. That wont be happening. Do people really care what former 'anything/anyone' regrets from their previous job? Why would that make anyone feel better to know? It's not like it's anything as bad prison-able offenses. If people really were tricked by fake adds.. they'd be tricked by anything. Don't feel bad for dumb people, if that many dumb people voted based on that misinformation, the US has a larger issue than who's president.