The Social Network

We bought The Social Network on DVD, because, at $13, it was cheaper even than two senior movie tickets.  And, after putting it off for quite some time, last night we watched it.

I'm not quite sure what I'd like to say about this film.  I was depressed at the end of it, because it was so vacuous.  Everyone -- from Zuckerberg through the Napster guy on to the vapid girl friends -- was empty.  They were just exactly like every other capitalist cypher.  They cared about either writing code or making money or gaining prestige, and that was all there was to them.  I've never been a big fan of Harvard, but God help them if these kids are examples of their current student body!  I understand about the competitiveness of getting into the "right" club, though I abhor it; but even that is better than the hideous single-minded pursuit of being first with some code, some idea, some invention for the internet.

Ok, it might be nice to be a billionaire -- and the youngest one ever, at that -- but to be a billionaire is not sufficient recompense for losing all friends and living a seemingly monastic, cramped life.  Maybe there was something wrong with this kid to begin with (we know nothing about his family or his life before Harvard) that sent him in such directions and left him in the state he seems to be in at the end of the film.  It is true that he seemed to care about the girl friend (played by Rooney Mara) he had at the beginning of the film, and that he followed her on Facebook.  But really, one hopes that he someday grows up and has a real relationship.  One wants to slap him upside the head and say, "Kid, get a life!"

Facebook is, without a doubt, one of the most significant developments on the internet since its inception.  It drew in, first our children, then us, and has now become an integral part of our daily life and that of many of our friends.  It effects not only the rich and privileged, but millions of people around the world.

It stands to reason we should know about the origins of this social phenomenon.  I wish the people who created it had been more interesting, but that's the way it was.  Still, one wonders what Tim Berners-Lee thinks!