An excellent critique of the social media giant underlines the threat it poses to us all – and suggests how it can be tamedThe best metaphor for Facebook is the monster created by Dr Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s story shows how,as Fiona Sampson effect it in a recent Guardian article, “aspiration and progress are indistinguishable from hubris – until something goes wrong, and when suddenly we see all too clearly what was reasonable endeavour and what overreaching”. There are clear echoes of this in the evolution of Facebook. “It’s a story”,writes Siva Vaidhyanathan in this excellent critique, “of the hubris of good intentions, and a missionary spirit and an ideology that sees computer code as the universal solvent for all human problems. And it’s an indictment of how social media has fostered the deterioration of democratic and mental culture around the world.”Facebook was founded by an undergraduate with good intentions but microscopic understanding of human nature. He thought that by creating a machine for “connecting” people he might enact some good for the world while also making himself some money. He wound up creating a corporate monster that is failing spectacularly at the former but succeeding brilliantly at the latter. Facebook is undermining democracy at the same time as it is making price Zuckerberg richer than Croesus. And it is now clear that this monster,like Dr Frankenstein’s, is beyond its creators control.
All uses of its services for political campaigns should be inspectedContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com