Mark (Facebook) Zuckerberg's latest plans are a very big deal. He wants to put everyone in the world on the Internet.EVERYONE ?
Yes.
Philosopher, philanthropist, Zuckerberg is putting his mind, money, staff, and seer-like focus on getting the Internet to every place in the world that doesn't have it yet.
That it is a gigantic task has been thoroughly examined by a major Time Magazine critic, who has a not sweet attitude toward Zuckerberg as a brilliant, super-powerful, money-making guy. "Look out, everyone" warns Lev Grossman, who has published books and essays that establish him as an authority on technology as well as American culture.
Zuckerberg has been helicoptering in and out of Third World towns, meeting local VIP's, enchanting them with online goodies -- films, games, tech help, cell phones, computers, and financial support for the ignorant poor folks who are going to flock into the classroom spaces that Zuckerberg has been buying, borrowing, renting -- he's creating schools that will be connecting to communication sources that he's digging up, creating, investing in.
Why do I cringe? It's what the author Grossman describes -- Zuckerberg has broken down the needy poor into categories, and is prepared to help them in many various ways, with his newly created organization -- Internet.org -- a global partnership of big name technology leaders, nonprofits, and local communities.
Name-dropping money sources, and social studies statistics, Mark Z. sells his conviction -- that communication connectivity makes people's lives better, improves health, creates jobs, reduces extreme poverty -- even reduces infant mortality. The bottom line, according to M.Z, isn't about money -- it's about creating wealth and saving lives.
Hey, Facebook already has more than a billion users. The population of the earth is currently about 7.2 billion. There are about 2.9 billion people on the Internet. That leaves roughly 4.3 billion people who are offline and will be put online. Internet.org states that it can bring the Internet to the two-thirds of the world’s population that doesn’t have it.
Here's the link -- browse the Time Magazine cover story --praise it, hate it, love it, applaud him, cheer or boo him -- whatever. I find myself thinking that sooner or later Mark Zuckerberg will be nominated for a Pulitzer or a Nobel prize for gifting the world with his farseeing vision of what people think, do, want to do, and be.
Yii!! ...media connectivity? friends, followers, quick comments, photos, adorable pets, birthday greetings, instagramed sunsets, sunrises, the latest poop on celebs ...likes?
Oh dear, more, MORE, M O R E of what Mark Zuckerberg loves and believes in IS NOT what I love and believe in. But I'm a facebooker -- eek, oy vey, $%#@\# -- I live in his world.
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7 comments:
He's still pretty immature. It was be interesting to see if he grows into a Bill Gates kind of maturity. At least he's trying.
Very informative and provocative article Em. The jury's out for me. I can barely understand what I'm doing on the internet and my brain can't absorb Zuck's ideas. Cheers.
I applaud the desire to improve the world, Mr Z.! And honestly if it's FB that can make that happen, go for it!
The obvious questions is what good is FB, or any other application, if you're starving.
Never the less, I'm optimistic that the act of creating the infrastructure to get the WWW and FB, etc to the world will also bring real day to day help to places that need it.
I firmly believe that when the world has full freedom of speech and access to all knowledge, that cultures that control by fear and lies will disintegrate.
That is the biggest benefit that FB can help provide.
Oh lovely! Free Advertising - uh - Internet for everyone! And if you're hungry, just download a Big Mac screensaver.
Isn't the internet just the CB Radio of this time frame? Like everything else that is the invention of our species, it's moment shall pass. There will always be those few on the periphery that have no want and no need for anything more than what the natural world provides. I certainly feel comforted in knowing that; or, at least I hope it stays that way. My paternal grandmother used to refer to Television as, "The Devils Eye", but that didn't stop her from enjoying some of the soap operas she followed and my paternal grandfather always said that no one would ever pay to watch TV. He lived long enough to see that prediction fail. Maybe he knew it would but just held out hope that it wouldn't slide in that downward direction? I use this medium and wish I could quit it; unlike my pipe and cigar smoking that I started up back when I was a kid that I have no such sense of wanting to stop. Hum! What's worse for that which is me? I think the more substantial danger lies with the electronic madness. Some would say that it's not fair to compare the two, but that's what I just did off the top of my head that's not too tall and carried around by this body that could loose a few pounds but is still be sea worth, for a while anyways. Just Sane
EM: Most Interesting - Thanks for sharing ! Al
I'm thinking about the pros and cons of this move by MZ. Thanks for telling me more about it. Off the top of my head I'd like to see the internet like a utility (net neutrality) that everyone has access to without the layers of control and costs in this country. FB or Twitter allows us to chat and connect with like minded people. It provided both misinformation and factual information, it can also provide a platform for scams or individuals capitalizing on others emotions about issues without using any facts. FB and Twitter, do provide a connection with others through words and text but is it a real connection or is it an allusion of a connection? You're making me think about this Em, thanks, Love and Hugs, H.
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