Careless People

This book goes on the record with lots of things we’ve all guessed. I think it will be a crucial source text for history and it does give a glimpse into how the monsters behind Facebook became as they are and of the corrosive effects of hyper wealth on people. What strikes me about Mark and Sheryl as presented through Sarah’s eyes in the book is how human they seem. Reading it, I realise me I’d probably end up a lot like them under similar circumstances. In a way that’s nice because it means evil is a function of systems, not people, at least not primarily.

I also had to fast-forward some of the exhausting humble brags, not to mention some of the MaTeRnAl InStInCtS part, in which Sarah very clearly used the good/mother/nature vs bad/corporate/tech divide for narrative effect. Since I’m reading this as an audiobook while parenting a month-old and a three year old I feel like I have at least the right to roll my eyes at that shit.

Here are my unstructured notes: - This really tells how early the social media people knew fascists were great for helping them get out of being regulated - It strikes me how human Sheryl and Mark are in their monstrosity; I’d almost certainly have been the same - Very good description of how money rots your brain; it freezes you wherever you currently are and supercharges whatever’s wrong with you - Main character tries to write it out of the story but she certainly is a piece of shit too - Facebook really really does not have a mind control ray - Jfc I hate this flavour of mom shit - Good god this is such a humble brag - Surprise! It was private health insurance all along! - Mark Zuckerberg is playing the world like high chaos Dishonored - Epilogue: ok it’s completely obvious she’s a piece of shit

There are no big reveals in this book for anyone who is well informed and critical of big tech, but I guess it's good that someone documented details about how hypocritical Sheryl Sandberg is with her white feminism and what an absolutely soulless, self-centered creep Mark Zuckerberg is? Also, more power to anyone publicly exposing their sexual harassers.

On the other hand, this book reminded me of people with those ridiculous "I bought this Tesla before Elon went crazy" bumper stickers. Sarah Wynn-Williams comes across as, at BEST, horribly naive about the most basic facts of capitalism, and she actually seems to see herself as some kind of soft power hero. She admits that when she first started working at Facebook she was stunned by the idea that corporations have no other interest than growth. And her unshakeable, uncritical faith in liberal internationalism is just cringey.

The worst parts to me weren't anything about Facebook, but when Wynn-Williams herself offers the exact kind of clueless, self-centered white Euro-American commentary that she criticizes FB execs for. She brings up the Zika virus only to make it all about herself and refers to "traveling to all these weird places" (cool, tell us how you really feel).

Finally, there's no takeaway. There's no critique of big tech other than how awful the people running it are and how they're accountable to no one. Wynn-Williams leaves open the possibility that these companies could somehow be good if only the right people ran them. The book is interesting as a workplace memoir about working close to top management at a FAANG company, but it's very weak as a supposed "cautionary tale."

Stories that the author seems to think are hilarious, like crashing events, getting stuck in military dictatorships, etc. -- well, they just aren't. They're terrifying. The seeming simplicity with which she was able to drag Facebook into the global stage.

All while taking ZERO blame.

This would be better named "Diary of a Collaborator"

Sarah Wynn-Williams thinks she's the heroine in the story, but she's not. She's part of the reason we're where we are now with social media, and she doesn't see it.

A complicated book: the author is complicit in the activities she describes, which no amount of ironic detachment or claims of trying to change the system from the inside can hide.

But it’s engagingly-written, frequently hilarious, and jaw-dropping on almost every page. She’s done us a service by painting this insider’s picture of Facebook / Meta. It’s one that I hope every politician who hopes to touch tech policy will read.

I also hope everyone in the tech industry reads it. Not only because it’s a cautionary tale in itself, but because the personalities described here are rife in the industry. I’ve never spoken to Mark or Sheryl or Joel or most of the rest of them, but I’ve met people like them, with those same sensibilities, and they are every bit as shallow and driven by power as is laid out here. These are the people to avoid. These are the people who will lead us into hell. These are the people who, in very real ways, through genocides, swung elections, and the violence of indifference to real human suffering, already are.

Five stars; great book, would read again.