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How Mark Zuckerberg Led the Tech Industry Into a Metaverse Wasteland (nymag.com)

submitted 2 years ago by QuentinCallaghan@sopuli.xyz to c/technology

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[–] joytoworld93@techhub.social 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@QuentinCallaghan I'm not sure he led it. It's like a train. He opened the gate and people piled on board. He constructed the train but it's the passengers who created that wasteland.

I don't recall getting any stupid or controversial content from Mark. We need to face the fact that these open social media systems, designed for maximum profits, reflect OUR OWN society, and overall, it's pretty disappointing. We've learned that many in our society lack common decency and are easily manipulated and led by con artists and their conspiracies. That's why I bailed. It hit the limit of what I could tolerate.

I prefer a well moderated social media system that attracts more fact based information discussions. Why not? Private social media systems do not NEED to be a free for all. I really don't NEED to hear opinions from the kids who sat in the back of the class throwing spit balls at the teacher.

[–] heady 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Zuckerberg frequently talks about the "pivot to mobile" which is the successful big bet that he is clearly determined to recreate the conditions of. The article calls VR his idea of the next frontier but I think what he really is looking for is the next gold rush. Zuckerberg didn't give marching orders but the only reason anyone was willing to walk out into the desert was because someone with a high profile was saying there's gold out there.

Meta was intended to be a platform on which the objectionable stuff would be built or as the saying goes in a gold rush sell pickaxes. But in a wasteland the more apt metaphor is the one selling weapons while considering themself above the fray.

It is true that social media reflects our own society. However social media is much more than a mirror, it is both an engine that actively shapes society molding it into a more profitable one and itself a product of that society which already was increasingly atomized and profit driven.

It's not enough to just ignore or silo the indecent, we have to build our own engine that encourages people to engage positively. Commercial social media is fundamentally incapable of this as it conflicts with their profit driven motive. We can't blame people for getting on the train to the wasteland, we need to build the train to utopia and convince people to get on it.