Here’s why I’m not totally thrilled that Facebook and others will get better at quickly removing disturbing content.
Illustration by Li-Anne Dias
Hi, folks, Steven here. Earlier this week, I cited Peter Thiel’s now iconic complaint: “We were promised flying cars, and instead what we got was 140 characters.” I used the quote to tee up an interview regarding flying cars — which now seem to be imminent, for better or worse — but didn’t examine the second part of the sentence, which implied that “140 characters” was a frivolous and trivial advance. Actually, the ability to tap out a short message from anywhere in the world that could instantly reach a potential audience of many millions is an astounding power. Certainly Mark Zuckerberg understands … Read the rest
At 10, Scratch is a popular tool to teach kids programming. But its real glory is how it imparts lessons in sharing, logic, and hackerism.
(RIJASOLO / Getty Images)
Last year, I went to Nigeria with Mark Zuckerberg. One of the first stops on the trip was a program that taught kids how to code. When Zuckerberg entered the room, many of the young students had a hard time pulling themselves away from their projects, even to gawk at one of the world’s richest men. Facebook’s founder instead came to them. “What are you making?” he’d ask. And they would proudly say, “A game!” or whatever it was, and begin showing him how it works. Zuckerberg would stop them. “Show me the code!” he’d say, because, … Read the rest
These two female technologists discuss the promises of artificial intelligence — and how to diversify the field.
Photo courtesy of Pivotal
Artificial intelligence has a diversity problem. Too many of the people creating it share a similar background. To renowned researcher Fei-Fei Li, this paucity of viewpoints constitutes a crisis: “As an educator, as a woman, as a woman of color, as a mother, I’m increasingly worried,” she says. “AI is about to make the biggest changes to humanity, and we’re missing a whole generation of diverse technologists and leaders.”
From the chair next to her, Melinda Gates affirms this, adding, “If we don’t get women and people of color at the table — real technologists doing the real work — we will bias systems. … Read the rest
How Sandberg’s grief became the catalyst for a new, emotionally honest management style at Facebook and beyond.
Sheryl Sandberg’s husband died of a heart arrhythmiaon a Fridayevening. They’d been vacationing in Mexico, and from the moment she saw him on the resort’s gym floor, a life built on relentless order — in the workplace, in the home, and especially in balancing the two — was thrust into terrifying chaos. She flew home and broke the news to her two young children. She listened to Bono perform “One” in front of 1,700 people crammed into the Stanford Memorial Auditorium for a memorial. She spent seven days welcoming friends for the traditional Jewish shiva, accepting food she mostly didn’t eat.
Then, on the following Monday, Sandberg … Read the rest
