Reddit, Theranos, Zuckerberg

Every once in awhile a sentence or two somebody else has written comes up and bites me, in a good way.

Social networks, no matter how big they get or how familiar they seem, are not ineluctable forces but experimental technologies built by human beings. We can tell ourselves that these human beings aren't gatekeepers, or that they have cleansed themselves of all bias and emotion, but this would have no relation to reality. (Andrew Marantz writing in The New Yorker, 'Anti-Social Media', March 19, 2018).

And this, by Vanessa Friedman in The New York Times, 'Clothes Don't Define A Successful C.E.O', March 22, 2018): 

She saw the advantage of consistency in style, of adopting what had become the techie's equivalent of the heroic uniform, at least as read by the outside world.

Vanessa Friedman is writing of the now disgraced founder of Theranos, a woman named Elizabeth Holmes, a fraudulant Silicon Valley 'genius' biotech bilker who gulled people, including Henry Kissinger, into believing in what was pretty much a pure unadulterated nefarious scheme. Ms. Holmes recently 'settled' a huge lawsuit with the SEC, no doubt to avoid the prison time coming to her. Interesting to me, and maybe to others, is how famous she became for wearing the same kind of clothes everyday--black turtleneck sweaters and black pants, ala Steve Jobs, another 'genius'. The thinking is that by wearing the same clothes everyday a genius is freed to concentrate on the big picture. I'm thinking that maybe she was practicing for the jail time she knew was coming, but has now avoided for the time being.

So, Mark Zuckerberg...(by the way, has anyone else noticed the resemblance between Zuckerberg and the golfer Rory McElroy? Are they brothers?) I too am interested in the story of Mark Zuckerberg, having seen him once in person two or three years ago in a taco shop near Harrison and 24th in the Mission, noting that he was dressed in a form-fitting t-shirt (Under Armour, sans logo) and what I believe were Patagonia jeans. I've heard Zuckerberg wears hoodies, but he wasn't the day I saw him.

Zuckerberg looked kind of buff, like he spent time in the gym on the weight machines, creating muscles that look good but don't really buy you very much in terms of overall well-being. I remember thinking, Zuckerberg's really small (short), and then thinking of reaching into his back pocket, just to see if I could have a moment or two with his wallet, if only to verify how tall he really is, and then thinking better of it. 

If I had reached for Zuckerberg's wallet I would have been sentenced, I'm sure of it now.