Now that’s a response I can use, Daniel. And I appreciate your taking the time to offer it.

Let me offer this: and this is just a single thread that I want to touch on, and it’s not in any way intended to be comprehensive. In our youth-obsessed society, there is an unfortunate tendency/desire to project wisdom where it doesn’t exist. Kindly, this is a huge generality so take this with a grain of salt. We love to think that the young possess an inherent wisdom that for the most part they don’t. There may be significant intelligence, which Z and his like possess, and the ability to make billions. Those things in and of themselves don’t either imply or prove emotional intelligence. To wit- creating platforms that have provided avenues where we unleash our worst on each other without the more measured, and dare I say it, mature consideration beforehand how those Pandora’s Boxes might have become what they are today, too often shitstorms, is part of what I find disagreeable. As someone who has spent time in genocide museums all over the world, I can attest to the viciousness that exists in every single one of us. We all embody a Hitler. Because we are human. Ascension, if there is to be such a thing, is learning to play an effective game of Whack a Mole with what is ugly inside us simply by virtue of the fact that we are born human.

The emphasis on monetization of the individual at all costs, the wholesale invasion of every facet of our lives, and the focused, science-driven tapping in of how our brains work in order to control our attention, take advantage of our worst selves isn’t evolution. It’s devolution. I don’t claim to be above it, Daniel, I am as susceptible as anyone, which is why I shut down my FB account and and never opened any others other than Linked In. Which is just as ugly and full of vapid self-congratulations and scammers as any other social media platform.

I would like those who have the brain power to create to have evolved enough to be wise enough to recognize what they don’t know. That’s the problem with wunderkinds. Rather than, by design, bring in those much wiser by virtue of life and experience to the design table to beg the questions and challenge the assumptions which would temper the enthusiasm and perhaps bring thoughtfulness to the discussion, all too often design teams are made up of like minds, often young minds, when it comes to Silicon Valley. That’s how we ended up with products that touched into those very parts that you reference: those parts in Myanmar that make murderers out of Buddhists, et. al.

Of course I am subject to all those same human laws. My journey is to do my best not to be dragged down by them. I don’t always succeed. I honor your points. I had a reason to say what I did about Zuckerburg. I spent plenty of time as an emotional chimp myself, and god help me thank GOD I wasn’t in a position to design anything that touched larger society. We ALL do time as emotional chimps. That’s how we’re designed. Without the road rash of life and loss and the inevitable shitstorms that shape us, we have no reference points for what could possibly happen if we design X or Y.

I am very happy to read your references, thoughts and input. That to me is far more valuable than simply saying that I’m “silly,’ Daniel. I often learn the most from those who take issue or hold up a mirror. That’s an investment. It doesn’t serve me one bit if everyone agrees with me. However when there is disagreement, where there is an attempt to add value through a different perspective I’m perfectly happy to make the investment to consider, weigh, and challenge my own (often flawed) assumptions.

Again, I appreciate your investment. Now I have to hit the stationary bike.