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Comment by toochietoo

3 years ago

Will anyone know who one of the most influential founders in technology in history is in 100 years? I think yes…

4 comments

toochietoo

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harimau777  3 years ago

This isn't necessarily an exact comparison, but looking at the list of 1934 robber barons on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_baron_(industrialist)

I only recognized a three of them: J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. Three more I recognized universities named after them: James Duke (Duke University), Andrew Mellon (Carnegie Mellon University), Cornelius Vanderbilt (Vanderbilt University).

To the degree that I have a positive opinion of Rockefeller and Carnegie, it's because of their philanthropy rather than their industrialism or politics.

  • sillystuff  3 years ago

    > To the degree that I have a positive opinion of Rockefeller and Carnegie, it's because of their philanthropy rather than their industrialism or politics.

    I've a friend who's grandparents, in Vietnam, were quite ruthless and accumulated sizable wealth. Now, they sponsor Buddhist monks in an effort to avoid being reincarnated as cockroaches. I suspect analogous motivations for people like Rockefeller, Carnegie, or modern equivalents like Gates and Zuckerberg (even if simply a secular motivation to rehabilitate their poor reputations).

    Parton just seems to be a genuinely kind human being.

quesera  3 years ago

I wouldn't assume that at all. One hundred years is a long time.

If people in 2123 are still talking about early social media companies, I'll be shocked. Actually I'll be dead, but I would be shocked.

Zuckerberg and Facebook are relevant in the here and now, but they are not obviously Edison/Bell/Ford-level relevant in the long term.

Unless either he, or his company, does something of lasting significance. Maybe Meta will have a next act. Maybe through his charitable foundation. Very much TBD.