How's that for a clickbait title? Pretty good, right?
Many people think "mind control" is some spooky, tin-hat-wearing, conspiriacy theory thing. To me, it's a pretty straight forward form of social engineering from a materialistic determinism perspective. There are maybe a half dozen to a dozen major worldview frameworks most people operate under (with various flavors and mixes, of course). Within those frameworks, it's pretty straightforward to know what will trigger someone or gain their enthusiastic support. The inputs, given a known mental framework, create predictable outputs.
"Mind control" might be nothing more than understanding people and how they will react to certain inputs to generate predictible outputs.
I think Facebook is better positioned to do this than almost any other company. What mainstream media used to do with the nightly news, Facebook does with notification icons designed to release feel good chemicals in your brain and stimulate a response.
I'm not the first to consider this idea of President Zuckerberg. The idea has already been seeded by the mainstream media:
Mark Zuckerberg probably isn’t running for president - New York Post
This one basically gives evidence that he will, but says it may be a bad idea.
Will Mark Zuckerberg Be Our Next President? - Vanity Fair
"He wants to be emperor" is a phrase that has become common among people who have known him over the years.
Why People Can't Stop Talking About Zuckerberg 2020? - WIRED
And it didn’t help that, a month before he announced the tour, unsealed court documents revealed Zuckerberg had attempted to restructure Facebook stock to allow him to retain voting control if he served in government for two years, or served indefinitely, with a few stipulations.
Why Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg won't be president - USA Today
Zuckerberg’s election would mean handing over the leadership of an already privacy-violating government to the creator of one of the world’s most invasive surveillance platforms
-
Mark Zuckerberg is randomly touring small towns in Iowa...
More signs point to Mark Zuckerberg possibly running for president in 2020 - CNBC
May 2017 Zuckerberg Quote: "Some of you have asked if this challenge means I'm running for public office. I'm not."
With his $71B net worth, the White House photographer he hired, the political strategists, the 50-state tour, etc, etc... His actions sure seem like those of someone positioning for a political campaign. As for the flat denials, they are still accurate statements. He has not, publicly, declared an intention to run for president so these things can't, by definition and as far as the public is concerned, be part of running for office. If he were to change his mind (*wink, wink) and make a public announcement, then all the same activities would now be considered "running for office."
I started thinking about this more seriously when I happened to catch a tiny bit of his recent Harvard Commencement speech. It wasn't just about the content, which was very presidential, but it was the delivery. I remember Zuckerberg's first public speaking. It was bad. REAL bad. Like, it was painful to watch his early speaking. This? This was completely different. He almost even seemed human.
I know, right?
He was funny, smiling, engaging, excited, and passionate. Give it a watch. If the office of the presidency of the United States is a popularity contest, he's got a nice head start with 100,000,000+ followers. Trump got less than 62M votes in the last election.
So why am I thinking about this today?
Here's what I saw on my Facebook mobile app this morning:
Facebook is deeply inolved in this government game. Did we already forget what Snowden taught us about NSA programs like PRISM which allow the U.S. government to get direct access to data from companies like Facebook in ways they can't freely discuss?
Since 2014, we've known how Facebook Tinkers With Users’ Emotions in News Feed Experiments, according to the New York Times:
But last week, Facebook revealed that it had manipulated the news feeds of over half a million randomly selected users to change the number of positive and negative posts they saw. It was part of a psychological study to examine how emotions can be spread on social media.
The future is going to be quite interesting with the rise of AI and discussions of a universal basic income (which Zuckerberg mentioned in his speech). If we're not paying attention, those who are will define our future. If we don't maintain control of the media we consume through decentralized solutions provided by projects like the STEEM blockchain, then we'll just be cogs in the machine, reacting to inputs controlled by others.
Stay woke. :)
Consider voluntaryism. We have cryptocurrency, decentralization, morality, peace, and love. On that note, I'll be at anarchapulco.com this year (finally!). You going?
So what do you think? Will we see a Zuck POTUS in 2020? Maybe 2024?
I didn't see it that way until you put these facts here. It is indeed scary to think of it, but there's every possibility that it might happen (look at what happened with Donald Trump). So it's highly likely that today's generation, so influenced by Facebook and social media, would possibly vote for him. God bless America.
I might agree with you.
First I have to check my social media feed to see what my "friends" think. Heheh.
I think he's too creepy to win, but running against trump might be the way to look more human...Facebook would be nuts during that election
Oprah. Zucc. Krusty The Clown (Kanye).
TRUMP is safe.
I’ve had a thought about decentralised social media like this very place.
Say you’re Mark Zuckerberg. You’ve got access to a lot of working capital. You decide that, say, you’re going to install five massive whales onto the network. Once in place, you can do several things:
At that point, you pretty much are the central influencing factor on the chain. How do we know this is possible? Because it is happening right now with the entire drama that is playing out. And that’s one user, one whale.
Now I love this place from my experience so far but I feel it is going to face challenges from its decentralisation as it can actually disempower individuals. Decentralisation is great for some things, having controls in place is better for others.
I’m watching with interest to see how this all plays out over the year.
Yes, the lack of distribution in Steem Power definitely creates issues. From my perspective, it's another lack of decentralization. The main token holders, right now, are too centralized which gives some people more power than others. The way to fix that is to have other rich people with good intentions buy in to combat the bad actors. That would also increase the value of the current token holders which may make it too expensive for anyone else to reasonably get enough influence.
As for someone like Zukerberg doing it, well, they have more money than we can comprehend, so yeah, that definitely could do it. The nice thing about that is how Smart Media Tokens may create situations where we can continually fork our own communities off the main line and use them as we see fit with our own SMT Oracles to enforce rules that specific community wants.
That latter part sings to me. I think that is where the benefit will lie, especially for the niche interests. Plus more control will help communities manage people just in it for the money.
I’ve seen some shockers on here. People who grabbed photoshops of bad Christmas jumpers to win community competitions, people who literally copy and paste your comment with a few word changes and an upvote to nick any potential interaction rewards. Mad!
One of my concerns with the SMT model is that we'd create to many echo chambers where different communities exclude everyone they disagree with. That might get weird.
Thanks for this thoughtful reply. Just learning Steemit strategy. Smart Media Tokens do seem like the way to build your habitat.
At least if multiple real world "whale" groups start competing with each other for Steem influence, we'll all get rich lol
We’ll have a whale of a time.
@heymattsokol good point there! The steem price will go very high if this big real world whales deciede to inject funds into the steem blockchain, and this might happen sooner or later!
Regards, @gold84
The number of references in this post is huge. If it is being talked about at this time with such interest, it is going to happen. The press is also part of the plan. The talk is happening for a reason.
After reading this, I won't be surprised if he becomes POTUS.
Not every American billionaire should be a president ^-^
I included that one in my article. It basically argues for the opposite of the title.
I knew .. I confirm your argue though :)
Wow bro @lukestokes! This is just an amazing evaluation of an existing phenomena. The way you interlinked the mind-control and Facebook and Government all in a bid to express your point is intriguing.
I have always wondered what happens behind the scenes of Facebook. I had always suspected that there could be some inside joke with people's brains.
And now he's interested in what's happening in the crypto-arena. Who knows? He may just be positioning for more power and may even have an eye for the most coveted position in the world.
I just keep promoting steemit everyday so that more people can join us to combat all the dangers associated with a centralized world.
Finally, "YES"! Your title is a sure knockout click-bait-ish but with HUGE CONTENT.
Cheers!
#AIR-CLINIC
Thanks for your support and encouragement!
Wow, these news pretty much scare me. I liked the mention of USA Today stating that facebook is invasive (and indeed I find it too invasive)...
This is also worse by the fact that most of the politics these days I have seen are made on Facebook. Just very old people are voting only influenced by TV media. The rest of the younger population are spreading news and sharing articles about politics on Facebook so Mark Zuckerberg the president of US, this is not unlikely at all, I would say that this is almost unavoidable.
You are right about the fact that people should move from Facebook where the news can be easily manipulated and even the users and their news-feeds, o decentralized social media platforms like Steem but unfortunately Steem looks for many people these days something that only hipsters use. If we compare Steem with Facebook, just 1% of the followers of Mark are the whole user-base of Steem.
Interesting but somehow sad times ahead but I hope I am wrong :)
Just think of the Campaign laws he would encounter - how would you ever calculate the value of all his Facebook influence?
Ahhh probably we will see Mark Zuckerberg as a president of United States in future...^_^ & maybe Mark Zuckerberg will likely run for president of the United States one day...
He will wait until 2024 to become president, before he has to integrate the new Facebook on the Steem Blockchain first, that might take a bit
Hahah! I like the way you’re thinking.
I see it as a realistic scenario though lol
Steem has no chance of hosing a site that uses 90K transactions per second. facebook will always be centralized.
Agreed. EOS may have a shot. We'll see.
Zuck getting "almost good" at public speaking is scary.
Else, I could put the "Zuck running for president" in the meh pile.
But, he has shown himself to be a true psychopath who cares nothing about the people under his watch. And thus, him running for president would be very scary. The amount of control he could bring to bear in not trivial. And, if their becomes a group of millennials that "Believe in the tech genius" then Zuck becomes a real contender.
Opera vs Zuck in 2020 would make me seriously want to leave the country. Not just for safety, but for mental protection.
Trump isn’t enough to feel that way?
I’ve been wanting to get out doge for a while now.
Chump, to me, is highly entertaining. The only thing I know that he has done is stir up shit. And that is more than the last 5 presidents.
What I can't stand is the media trying to tell me what I know isn't so.
I know what a scorpion is, and as a frog...
Like Obomba being given the nobel peace prize... while he was continuing anything but peace.
Opera will be shown as a shining example of humanness and
Zuck will be shown as someone everyone trusts
these are provably false by their own past behavior.
(it isn't really about what either of them will do as puppet in chief)
i'm up for anyone to use whatever they want to use to replace your current president because let's be honest if we don't we won't have a planet to be able to blog from.
That's certainly a concern and at least Zuck seems to care about the planet a bit.
@lukestokes. Mark Zuckerberg as President not such a good idea. Facebook under the control of the US Presidency would be a scandal waiting to happen.
I agree, I just don't trust the guy - His name has been mentioned in some shady dealings with some shady parties. Whatever he does and says now is intentional to help shape his public persona for his future political career. He doesn't have humanity's interest at heart, only world domination.
I don't think so and in my opinion its because there would be a possible conflict of interest involved aka would he use facebook as his weapon to get into office. The same people who want him to be president are possibly the ones push the Russian Vote Hacking Narrative but as I said its just my Opinion on the matter.
How could he use it as a weapon? Couldn't any business or media company owner do the same thing? Who would complain about this and how would they do it? Do you think there'd be a law to prevent it or just that people wouldn't be happy about it?
If Zuckerberg decides to run for president in 2020, no one who’s paying attention will be shocked. (For what it’s worth, the tech columnist Nick Bilton
This is a great one..I appreciate your post..
That's a great content choice...
I don't think that they will allow him to become president, it would be way too hard to control him.
Who are “they”? What if they already control him?
'' They '' western elite that is currently controlling basically all media, business, and has huge influence in currencies and politics. In my opinion Mark Zuckerberg isn't one of them, but i guess we can't be sure about anything these days. It's just my opinion, i'm not saying that i can't be wrong with this.
Ah, but isn't that exactly what "they" would would you to think? Controlled opposition and all that? ;)
Yes, Mark Zuckerberg is one of "them" - global elites: He gave the 2011 Bilderberg keynote address, plus he's capitalist class ($10,000,000 + in assets).
...
Please edit your post, or I'll flag for what I consider "Hate Speech or Internet Trolling"
I'm not saying you can't make these comments here, I'm just saying I don't want to see them on my comment wall.
Consider it what you want, I'm just trying to get the truth about celebrities and politicians out there. If you disagree with what I've said, show me something that proves it wrong, but if you can't it might just be your cognitive dissonance or assumptions taking control.
But since you don't want to see them on your posts, I'll stop commenting on anything you write.
My opinion is that your comment is offensive to whole groups of people outside of whatever "they" you're describing. It's a composition/division fallacy to include everyone of Jewish decent into some other group. Same things goes for supporters of ideas like transhumanism or those who have changed sexes (I know of some people personally in that category and am aware, to some small degree, how psychologically challenging it can be for them to be labeled like you're doing here).
I hope you're tracking with me. If celebrities and politicians (or anyone really, we'll call it Group Z) fits a descriptive label A and B, that does not mean everyone who also fits label A and B is also in Group Z. If Group Z has negative connotations, then it's offensive to label people like you're doing.
If you care about the well-being of others, you should care about that.
There's nothing about being Jewish or transgender or being interested in transhumanism that is inherently evil or wrong and to say otherwise is the definition of hate speech:
If that was not your intention, please edit your comment. If it was, then I'll do what most steemians should do and flag hate speech whenever we see it as it is not helpful for a healthy community.
Hmm, it does seem like his actions could lead to him running for president. Mind control is definitely real, but it doesn't work like most people think. Our subconscious minds can be reprogrammed by all sorts of things like subliminal messages for example. Having that many followers would definitely give him a big advantage to go for president...
Do you have any links on subliminal message examples? I've seen some short term priming stuff, but not full on mind control. I like reading about that stuff though.
I think we'll be surprised about how many fb followers don't vote for him because they don't care! FB is used for business and socializing, if something better comes along, the masses will move over to the next thing. Nobody thought FB was going to make an impact when MySpace was huge. Don't underestimate people and their fickle natures ;)
Facebook is a very good platform for expressing the communication and the timing of the mind and it gives us a lot of opportunity.
We more than ever need strong leaders and Marc is one of them. I think it will be wonderful for this scenario to play out.
Facebook might have flaws but I believe that Marc came from a good place and he'll do other great things in the future.
Thanks for you very thoughtful article @lukestokes
Stronger leaders can lead to more authoritarianism. Does that concern you?
It depends on whether they come from a good place or a bad place. Again, personally I would prefer a strong leader over a weak leader any day of the week. It might be harder but we'll experience way more growth than with a weak leader.
I guess you're thinking in terms of "we" but for me "we" is humanity. I think humanity could benefit from many great leaders, but more so from individuals taking personally responsibility to lead themselves. When I think about "strong leaders" I think about tribalism and I don't think that's a great way forward.
He is a leader for the ruling elites; the only thing he sees in the future is a one-world socialist dictatorship that they control.
i dont think that he is that crazy :)
I think Mark Zuckerberg will be president with his simplicity makes me admire him.
and he has managed to control the mind more than just understanding people and how they will react to certain inputs to produce predictable outcomes.
i think no.
MArk zukerberg didnt have ablity to do ploitics .
@qami
Probably the best clickbait title I've seen since arriving on Steemit.
I'm assuming Zuck is a democrat? Even if he's a successful businessman I'm not sure I would vote for him (this comment from knowing nothing of his political views).
I would be interested if he ran 3rd party. If nothing else just to stick it to the establishment I could see myself voting for him then (if he's for smaller government).
I thin if he does run and runs for the democratic ticker, I could see him being a real threat to the MAGA man himself.
Win!
Oh wait, I forgot I hate clickbait titles. Heheh. At least we're having fun.
Interesting. When I read your comment it sounds like you would vote purely based on part affiliations. Sounds like tribalism to me. I don't think voting actually does much as I discussed here as well.
wow this is a very shocking review
money is one of the requirements to become a ruler, that is the reality
Facebook is doomed in the future if it doesn't fix itself. Only a matter of time before people in the world wake up, and follow the the decentralize way of social media.
Sounds good to me.
Decentralize all the things!
Yes I cant wait!
Now this was some thing new , fascinating to hear about Matk zuckerberg!
I remember polls at the end of the 80s that stated: if BONO were to run for president of the USA, he would win, obviously BONO (Irish by birth) and he could not even be president of the USA.
With these polls what was intended was to create a mediatic impact to enhance the figure of BONO / U2 and its social initiatives.
Probably the beginnings of Mind control at the media level without using the current technological means.
So I fully agree with you @lukestokes the mind control added to the media success and the new technologies can make you reach the white house.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens, especially as technological advances exponentially grow.
true, sometimes I feel jealous of you developers who can read the true matrix of tech with much anticipation
It's never too late to learn something new. :)
My NI (Natural Intelligence) says he is still young,powerful,passionate..So how can we flatly Deny him running for president in near or far future?? As you said rightly,no one understood the world and its movement better than both Google and Facebook combinely does!
but it's also trying to control and manipulate you and take away your privacy..
informative post.i apricate your blog.
thanks a lot for sharing...
please go ahead...
I truly dislike this guy. I think that anyone with his $ worth who does not walk and live a totally business-hassle-free life is to certain degree "sick". there was a study that proved that most of politicians are psychopaths. I believe Zuck is one of them too. Power is the strongest drug in the world they say. I say it's pure ego. I just read an article that he wants to do a facebook crypto token- FB coin.....sounds scary to me! Thanks for great article Luke bro!
Thanks Jan. Yeah, I think we should all be skeptical of those with too much power. It is like a drug and it can corrupt good-natured people. At the same time, I do respect and appreciate genuine, voluntary leadership. I wouldn't use Zuck as an example of that, but I am a fan of Elon Musk. I think he's using power to actually improve our chances as a species for survival. I like that.
Elon is a definitely my choice over Zuck, hands down!
Mine too!! Elon for President!
First trump, than Mark Zuckerberg, even though i don't think the guy is a bad dude, i think there are better candidates, a president shouldn't be a billionaire, billionaires don't know what normal, or poor people suffer, they just want more money and to remain in power... the government should work for the people not the other way around
But, but... he went on a 50-state tour to get to know "real" people. That should be enough, right?
saracasm
I'd personally rather have no rulers at all. I don't think voting really does much. I didn't vote in the last election on principle.
If i had his money i would go on a 195-countries tour to get to know "real" vacations
Hahaha definitely a very click baiting title but it works for me lol.
Yes not every billionaire should be president, but you don't need to be president to have a lot of power in the country, which he has attained through a massive social platform with MOUNDS of data.
Glad it worked for you. At least I was up front about it. :)
The thing here is...he has both money and data. That's scary powerful.
Zuckerberg it's doing well with what he does right now. Be president of USA it's not easy, media will try to f*** him and he intend to have a soft life. So no, I think he's not interested.
Irina V.
Yeah, that may be true. It might all just be a coincidence. I guess we'll find out eventually. If he gets bored running Facebook, maybe he'll turn to space travel like Elon Musk.
For some strange reason that these technocrats really made me sick whenever news reports about them...
Why do you think that is? I'd be curious to know more.
I couldn't pin point but there is something that I should be wary about them in a certain degree. Sure thing that they've change our lives thru their innovative products and services that makes out lives simple and better but then as it goes by that people have become overly reliant to technology (as if their lives depend on it rather mindlessly) that constant disruption have occur every now and then.
Coming from with special needs (I have Aspergers), I can't help but felt despair of sorts for them (people with special needs especially with the low functioning ones) and wonder how can they offer or to be productive people to society if every job that was available to them was completely wipe out (based on their capacity). You can't just say that universal basic income is the solution to this because there is always strings attached. You can't just say government will help them because they were the ones whom they're making needless rules and regulations that discourages to create new businesses and hire more people (due to the fact that it expensive to maintain an employee) And can't just say that there always jobs created, true that jobs will be created but these jobs required qualifications that was way beyond their capacity which is impossible.
There is no easy solutions especially that governments who ran on funny fiat currency as if it has power to control the average person which is why that I'll do everything to not being overly reliant to these entities. Going back regarding with Mark's speech that I felt that I'm going to throw up (impressive at the same time terrifying) along with the invasive surveillance that I must be away from them.
Thanks for responding. You might enjoy reading the links in my post regarding AI and UBI. I think there are ways we can do good things without government and it's use of violent threats. I think there's hope. There are ways we can improve the world.
I did although that I can see certain reason "it needs to be done" it's just that relying on UBI makes me felt that the system is my master which I will not going to take that route (even if it kills me). I'm just starting about journey toward independence.
Wow, great post. It seems to me like Zucks will run for president at some point - I mean, why not, given the success he has achieved so far? By the time he's 50, somewhere between here and now, he will have given it a serious attempt.
2020 seems too soon though. He's extremely young by presidential standards, so I'm betting on 2024 instead.
Yeah, that may make more sense.
Hello my witness @lukestokes.
All your analysis and projections are near reality than fiction. I was most surprised by this line...
I can only say that if that's the wishes of people, let it happen. Amen
Upv by
@eurogee, the Steemivangelist and the founder of @euronation Newbie's Support Team
Cool... If Mark Zuckerberg tries... he will be the new President.. haha..
I can easily see that happening 20-30 years from now. By then Facebook will have transitioned more into a virtual reality news aggregator and will probably work directly for DARPA lol
good post...like your work...By the way look at my work recently on BUY silver/gold. Zuckerberg pres? no chance.
Hard to swallow the words MZ for president. He is a master manipulator. I suppose anything is possible. Hoping when the masses start looking into steem his popularity will go way down. 🐓🐓
The best thing about Mark is he is one man army. I do believe this by my heart , otherwise its not easy to take decisions like dropping out and not selling your fortune for short term profit. He is awesome and what i think is future of US will be safe hands if he go for that. And it would an inspiration for all to work with heart and get indulged in what your passion is, what the person likes the most
I think the democratic party is putting out feelers right now for a candidate to support for 2020. They just tried it with Oprah as well.
I would love to see Zuckerberg go up against Trump. He would have no social justice cards to play. He's white, rich, male, and straight. Outside of Bernie's democratic socialism, the only thing the democratic party has left to play is identity politics. Zuck has no points on that scoreboard.
USA invites you to a war.
ISIS, Israel and 2 other countries liked your post.
Post idea : Ruling the world on Facebook.
Syria left the group.
Great articles
If that happens I'm finally gonna leave Facebook. Though I'm from Germany. Maybe mind control is about understanding people. But is the intention to do something good for them or to get their money? Can both be possible at the same time? I'm not so sure about that.
Good question. Many see money as evil, but I see it as a certificate of appreciation. If I’m paying for something willingly without regret it’s becuase I value that thing and how it benefits my life. I think it can be both, but it’s a fine line to walk, one we always have to view skeptically.
Thanks for your reply. I guess you are right. In Germany people often complain about our difficult time right now. About being spammed with information coming trough the internet. I just thought because of your reply: I don't think the world wasn't less complicated before. We now have the great opportunity of becoming aware of so many things. Realizing that viewing something skeptically makes sense is a plus not a minus. Thank you for making me concious about that! Greetings!
A decade or so ago, I would've probably laughed this one off. But, with the current state of affairs, I wouldn't be surprised about this happening. In fact, I may be even more surprised if this doesn't happen!
Stranger things have happened. :)
good friend social networks make us addicted without being influenced by anybody is that you sit down to write and you hit. since I met steemit I do not pair with the computer
What's interesting about this is that Trump already set a precedent of sorts, becoming a major "social media President."
Zuck for President is not unthinkable, and made me think of a short-lived Canadian TV show named "Continuum." It was basically sci-fi/time travel, but the believable premise was a future (2077) dominated by a social media mogul who essentially ruled over a corporatocracy. And (almost) everybody pretty much "ate up" their own demise, being "excited" to wait for the latest release and features of something that was actually taking everything from them.
The "devil" wears many disguises... including one of being generous and kind to humanity (UBI, good lifestyles, etc.) but it's in exchange for your soul...