The Ethos of Big Tech

Scott talks to NewCo CEO John Battelle about the role that the corporation should play in today's society.
newco.co
Sources
(6:14) "Facebook Changes Its 'Move Fast and Break Things' Motto," Mashable, April 2014. on.mash.to/2HMpoVD
(6:22) "Don't be evil," Miri Segal, 2012.
(9:08) Investopedia.
(10:38) “Number of Facebook Users in the United States from 2015 to 2022 (in millions),” Statista DMO, 2018. bit.ly/2J8QDJe
(18:29) EUGDPR.org
(20:46) Yahoo Finance.
Song: Milky Chance - Ego
• Milky Chance - Ego (Of...
Episode 171

[@GlossyHooks]

Wow, two of my favorite and insightful profs getting together to chat about today's state of the internet... just made my day especially the "I use Ask Jeeves" pun, haha. This could've gone another two hours and I would've gladly listened. Here's to hoping there'll be a Part Deux some day down the road.

[@Joeballs187]

love this show thanks for making it

[@zackfrazee6862]

"We, as a society, are expecting more from our corporations." lol. Upvoted. Funny channel. Good job!

[@joeovip]

Great chat as always. Thank you for this.

[@jimmyjimmy5574]

I love these. It should also be published as a podcast.

[@EBEAST-tb1et]

if scott was a social media platform i would delete facebook right now

[@BlackOTR1]

I love these Videos and this channel period. 😁

[@gurusukh]

Hey Scott, which public tech company could become the next big thing like the FANG names? Can you do a video on this subject?

[@riccaonweb]

some amazing insights here. thank you

[@paweex3655]

very good one

[@VirmanaMarketing]

See John's point here. I cannot see corporations taking the side of common good when they are drive by board of executives that maximize profitability and want to reduce expenses at all costs. To ask a profit-seeking organization to "care" for the common good is absolutely counter productive to their original mission. Employees in these companies will align with a mission until their RSUs are cancelled. It's preposterous to think this is possible and viable long-term. You will see spurts of social responsibility but overall this is PR speak painted as caring for society in general. Very naive point of view - IMHO

[@richoombie]

Scott should go on the Joe Rogan Podcast some time. Great fusion of two communities speaking on important issues of the marketing and tech business worlds

[@Sweet..letssurf]

richoombie AGREE!

[@dinocruz53]

Wow Mr Galloway this is a great talk. Kudos.

[@tehdrek]

Great show.

[@k14pc]

The google plus bit I had no idea about. It's fascinating and slightly disturbing.

[@richoombie]

John was a great guest, great video too!

[@Kenneth_James]

Scott! You make really entertaining content. There has got to be a way you can get serious views. Maybe its the naming of your videos.

[@k14pc]

they seem comfortable talking to each other. wonder if they're good friends from before. interesting talk, thanks. with the way technology is going, not only our corporations but humans as a species need to redefine our goals as 'we' instead of 'me'. we face too many existential threats to continue with these petty games and power plays. too much is at stake and i'm afraid we're running out of time.

[@TheGiantHog]

I agree but from a basic standpoint that is very unlikely to happen. Just look at OPEC. They kept raising oil trying to play each other to get more profit and it ultimately hurt all involved, and this was easily forseen with an introductory level to economics. I would love for this to happen, but I can't see it coming true

[@comp10]

When is Google going to face Congress hearings about how they track and mine user data even if you try to block their access.

[@Tearakan]

Slim Charles the senate can barely understand that. Plus the current members are insanely corrupt.

[@GeorgeVCohea-dw7ou]

II don't even believe that the Senate is educated enough to be corrupt in the first place. Most of the questions they had were ignorant and seemed to come from people that don't know the difference between Pong and Facebook. I'm pretty certain, I don't want these people regulating anything on the internet. They just don't have any method to do it even ineptly. The corruption likely comes from the lobbyists that have an agenda and are "educated" in the industry. These people are taking advantage of Congress' lack of awareness and understanding. It's going to take fresh members of Congress to truly start effective policies, and the people that have grown up around this culture are at least a decade away from gaining any significant ground in Congressional representation. Any current regulation will be top heavy and mostly inert. It may look nice, but it won't be what anyone needs in the end.

[@Tearakan]

George V. Cohea what I meant by corruption is the lobbyists. Other than that I agree.

[@LoLleavemealonePLZ]

Try to block their access - Still type every single thought you ever had into their search engine.

[@MrGiggity890]

So don't use their service if you're so butt hurt about it ya dipshit

[@KaneSanMiguel]

Great interview!

[@palcz]

A side note: THE Prof. G is beeping someone out? F*cking hilarious! :-)

[@Chester31124]

It is possible that Dan Larimer of EOS could build a decentralized social media platform on the EOS blockchain after launch in June.

[@Tearakan]

We need Trust busting to come back! Teddy Roosevelt was right!

[@richoombie]

Ever see the segment from John Oliver focusing on company mergers? The feds have been slacking so hard on this for a while. Couldn't agree with you and Teddy Roo more.

[@Kenneth_James]

They broke up Microsoft in 2000. It'll happen again soon enough.

[@jesuslovespee]

a fucking monster with a few decent ideas.

[@King-fo3kj]

Hell yeah milky chance in the outro, also great talk very interesting to listen too

[@rfpeace]

one of the best L2's to date!

[@TheKJVBibleAdvocate]

Fantastico.

[@ruebs]

Tell us about some valid alternatives so we can move if we want to

[@MrPrentissDJones]

If we add Regulation (secretly Facebook wants) it would be harder for potential competitors to get a foothold in the market. Think about it! Facebook wants regulation (they have 24,000 employees)! CEO Mark, “ yes Sen., more than happy to help you create regulation .”

[@core6358]

The type of regulation scott generally implies is that these giants should be broken up into smaller sub companies (amazon -> amazon and AWS, ect.) not that they need regulations on their actual business practices

[@Jacksonavenue00]

Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter will last virtually forever. I did not think the same for Facebook and MySpace

[@kumonetta]

Profit as a monocular drive is unsustainable. Just as releasing a 2018 phone with just push keys is futile. People want better.

[@shamanahaboolist]

I stopped using Facebook a while ago. Facebook has the information I wanted it to have. I will use it again when it is useful to me.

[@RICHTVLIVE]

great video once again i am a big fan would love to collaborate one day

[@ryccoh]

I'm 100 percent down to hop on another platform and give Zuckerberg the middle finger and so are millions others, make it happen Silicon Valley!

[@Leeviiii758]

the thing about Facebook is that like most of the world we are disconnected via water or landmasses.. its really the only reason why i use Facebook. they don't have a competitor in that realm. it is highly needed. someone mentioned to me that there is a startup like Facebook offering to pay you for your use of the program, not too sure how credible the source was. . do you think Facebook may go this route.. due to the huge concerns of use of information. i.e if you want my information you pay me for it. @L2inc

[@woluyemi]

Take a look at Cisco as a company that's taking a more socially responsible role. Not perfect, but Cisco has given back to several communities and encourages employees to do the same.

[@zachariahstovall1744]

We asked for longer videos, and our God has heard our prayers. All heil the professy Galloway.

[@7wv5]

So John is saying our relationship with Facebook is "it's complicated."

[@shamanahaboolist]

Uhm, we've known corporations have been a tool of empire building since the East India trading company. Corporations should be subject to civil sovereignty as much as governments.

[@TheHellogs4444]

More importantly, we much apply the same caution, wariness and diplomacy with which we deal with any group - cults, religions, countries, corporations.

[@shamanahaboolist]

GS4444 I totally agree.

[@Camperlife4ever]

Scott did you know John knows Google really well?

[@ubrayj02]

Corporations control capital, not innovative management, etc.. They consolidate wealth, and break the market for smaller entities.

[@incognitotorpedo42]

Gates didn't make MS DOS. He bought it. For 50 grand, IIRC.

[@Sweet..letssurf]

Again great video Always thought provoking Too all the commenters: Ehhh,, the only act your probably going to do is leave that comment : you’ll forget about it in 2 months....

[@TheHellogs4444]

That's part of the problem too - no one has the resources to pursue something like this (unless it's their job or otherwise funded), not even students!

[@michaelevans6456]

reddit seems to be positioning itself as the next facebook. they've added profiles, chat, and a slew of other facebook-like features.

[@maxr2663]

Look at the size of that guys hands. God damn

[@sourabhbhattacharya3411]

Nation first....

[@leighanniam6147]

Facebook is sneaky.

[@EmptyHouseGuy]

Corporations cannot act like humans, it's not in their nature. As a libertarian conservative I've always been curious as to why anything should be "publicly owned" or mass owned. I'd like a law saying that any corporation needs a definitive owner, otherwise groupthink is an inevitable deterrent to any meaningful charitable or socially responsible work. As a case in point, most people don't even have the same definition of what "socially conscious" even means, so any company engaged in such activity must first purge all political dissidents from their ranks, which leads to radicalism (see Starbucks, Silicon Valley, etc.) I wouldn't want a company I was involved in giving money to climate scientists over orphanages, and someone else on a board of directors may have the opposite opinion. Enter conflict. You cannot outsource leadership to the group, that actually amplifies apathy. Leadership is not something you can pull from the blockchain either. All companies should be entities with a single head bearing any and all moral responsibility.

[@TheHellogs4444]

Groupthink and bystander is a the core of a company anyway. In everything it does. The company being an extension of the founder is a pretty well known thingy, as is the fact that a board of dir. after founders leave is never going to do anything novel. Thus corporations can and should behave like humans, because their leaders are.

[@EmptyHouseGuy]

Companies with leadership avoid groupthink and bystander problems. The current corporate model requires leaders to focus on profits 100% of the time, regardless of their personal moral beliefs.

[@danielbrown4964]

hey scott

[@djragnar407]

They are both so similar in demeanor and insight. Loved this conversation.

[@thatstherecipe]

this guy kinda schooled scott in some areas

[@KuehnDi]

I'd implore you all to check out Sociall: a decentralized social network platform on the blockchain. Shows promise to be a contender to Facebook if an exodus happens similar from MySpace.

[@SamKressin]

Facebook will become Yahoo within the next 10 yrs.

[@MrGiggity890]

Good joke

[@dinocruz53]

I don't think that's a joke anymore. It cold really happen.

[@SamKressin]

Yea the nxt generation of kids have no interest in Facebook it’s only being used by old people like these guys

[@MrGiggity890]

Sam Kressin *cough* INSTAGRAM *cough*

[@ltrinhmuseum]

No, they will not. You can do fundraising on Facebook. You have deep communities on the platform.

[@vietimports]

you guys, increasing wages to compensate for an ever increasing cost of living standard in the united states is seen as innovation. but i guess it makes sense, if corporations could operate on 100% slave labor they would

[@KungFuChess]

Corporations will eventually yield their power to the decentralized, public, distributed, open source blockchain.

[@2012Zyle]

You still need server farms to run these blockchains. Who do you think will own the most servers?

[@Jigawly]

Do you have any supporting evidence?

[@MindALot]

The difference being - running the blockchain servers do not give a lot of power. The servers themselves are kind of an anonymous resource with no interaction. Should someone attempt to 'force' a change - then the blockchain could just fork - and the blockchain suddenly ignores the 'largest owner' and moves on to be handles by everyone else.

[@ClayZug]

is this 2018 or 1918?... you know companies can't profit without solving people's problems and people voluntarily choosing to use said company, right?

[@mididoctors]

its all a bit trust in the market. no real solutions. even admits it and pleads for solutions!

[@mickeythemaltipoo3756]

Facebook will go the way of my space

[@kahsa1076]

[@Bill_Woo]

I don't understand what the problem is with "shit ton." Is someone being politically correct?

[@Bill_Woo]

"Bite you in the a--". ????? Who edited this?

[@jimjohnson4026]

Face book born in Dorm room lololol Cia dorm room

[@SwaggerOnHundred]

the best part in the facebook hearing when a senator told Zuckerberg to send him the regulations that they want facebook to impose on the industry.

[@MyLuggage12345]

Looking to corporations to be 'good' just smacks of more tech worship. And google is the top of my list, probably because I'm more conservative - I've seen my favorite content creators get repeatedly demonetized and 'removed-from-the-feed' for months now. @#$% that.

[@Tatarinfidel]

7th?

[@hayekianman]

Playing fast and loose with economics concepts like externalities, public goods, commons etc. Unenlightened conversation

[@TheHellogs4444]

It's supposed to be targeted towards laymen, the equivalent of high school grads. It's not an economics lecture - perhaps you'd find something to learn from this if you were in a less dismissive state of mind.

[@6doublefive3two1]

It's all an act.

[@irreduciblerascal]

reboot

[@Marinealver]

We are waking up to the power that corporations have. And my question is WHY DID WE LET THEM HAVE SO MUCH POWER!

[@guitarwithjamesoffical]

10/10 Ums

[@kimkaiju1060]

SECOND COMMENT......Bow to me

[@ErickOberholtzer]

you were third champ

[@Tenchu003]

The bleeping on here seems to detract from the emotion trying to to be conveyed.

[@scottdiamond3023]

steemit.com

[@Mazda6B6]

People up in arms about facebook. Scott can't get over Facebook lol....Google does the same by tracking users data. *shrugs

[@cryptoguruguy8965]

Steemit blockchain solution

[@aimhighish]

Oh yeah, more regulation, that always works. More like NEVER, or at best temporarily. Govt is always 5-steps behind. Worse, Govt is more self-serving than ever, they're not an honest referee anymore. Get the memo.

[@aimhighish]

This conversation is a manifestation of an obsessive desire to foist your absurd poitical/social views on others when you've been unsuccessful doing so at the ballot-box. 'Social Responsibility' is an indulgence of the already-successful.