How We Live Now: May 2025

30 May 2025

Real life horror film

2073, Directed by Asif Kapadia

Written by Asif Kapadia and Toni Grisoni

Music by Antonio Pinto

The part of Ghost played by Samantha Morton

In an interview with Santilla Chingaipe, Asif spoke of the difficulty of getting finance to make the film. The audience wants entertainment and the films that sell the most are horror films. He told them he had horror, but it's real.

As he said, it is a scary film that makes you feel very uncomfortable. But there is at the heart of it, a strange tenderness. The main protagonist is living underground in a partly destroyed, abandoned former department store. She is living with nothing, not even hope — well, not for herself. She is free — with nothing to lose. Practically a ghost. She knows it is over for her — and in that the tenderness of what it is to be human is fully available.

It is for the preservation of this tender, fragile and persistent human essence that she leaves a message:

I hope someone finds this.

No one said or did anything to stop them.

It's too late for me.

I was alone.

It may not be too late for you.

It is as is expressed by the character Irina, an artist, in Ayn Rand's first novel published in 1936 and set in Russia, We The Living. Charged with counter-revolutionary activity and sentenced to ten years in a Siberian prison, she said to her cousin before she was transported, 'There's something I would like to understand. And I don't think anyone can explain it. You see, I know it's the end for me. I know it, but I can't quite believe it, I can't feel it. It's so strange. There's your life. You begin it, feeling that it's something so precious and rare, so beautiful that it's like sacred treasure. Now it's over, and it doesn't make any difference to anyone, and it isn't that they are indifferent, it's just that they don't know, they don't know what it means, that treasure of mine, and there's something about it that they should understand. I don't understand it myself, but there's something that should be understood by all of us. Only what is it? What?'

Most of the film consists of recent archival footage. This is the horror part and it is very real and right upon us now. There are commentaries by journalists. They are the intermediaries between power and the people. They need more than ever to be responsible, courageous, unbiased, dedicated to facts and accuracy, and knowledgeable enough to ask the right questions.

2073 - Official Trailer

Ghost asks, 'Could this world and my life have been different if I'd have done something, stood up, fought back?'

'What difference could I make on my own?'

The film is a declaration that 'our duty as people who care about other people is to oppose those who don't care about anyone except themselves. Because if we do nothing we face mass extinction.'

When you combine hostility to democracy and institutional norms with the power and wealth of billionaires you unlock a horror story. This techno-monarchy robs us of our attention, infiltrates our consciousness, and we forget who we are, what we are.

It is not somebody else who will step in and stop the horror, it is each one of us waking to the beauty and intelligence we all have within us that can be used to create a world in which goodness thrives for everyone.

27 May 2025

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative lost on the road

On 13 May, 2025 it was reported by Emily Shugerman and Kali Hays in The San Francisco Standard that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, one of the largest philanthropies in the Bay Area, has suspended funding to nonprofits across California, and the country.

Chan and Zuckerberg founded the initiative in 2015 with the mission of 'advancing human potential and promoting equal opportunity.' It has three core focus areas — science, education, and community. San Mateo County where Meta has its headquarters was a beneficiary with substantial contributions being made to movements for criminal justice reform, housing equity, and educational advancement.

While in recent years there has been an indication that Chan and Zuckerberg would shift CZI's focus toward a 'science-first philanthropy', on 18 February a letter from COO Marc Malandro was posted on its website stating that its social advocacy work had been wound down entirely and funding was discontinued. From its mission statement it has removed 'build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone', as well as mentions of 'improving education' and 'addressing the needs of our local communities.'

https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/13/nonprofits-furious-chan-zuckerberg-initiative-slashes-funding/

It is claimed that the organisation's strategy is 'driven by our science vision to cure, prevent, and manage all disease by the end of this century.' 'Except, perhaps, the disease of bigotry,' suggested Laura Newcombe, 13 May 2025, Gizmodo, Tech News.

https://gizmodo.com/chan-zuckerberg-is-reportedly-killing-funding-for-non-profits-associated-with-dei-2000601849

Omoleye Omorvyi (Technext, 16 January 2025) in How Mark Zuckerberg transitioned from a revolutionary to pragmatist in 17 years, suggests that Zuckerberg came to an understanding that 'idealism without power is fragile' and that there has to be learning when to align with power and when to resist it. Furthermore, that 'to remain relevant, one must constantly evolve even if it means sacrificing parts of the vision that sparked the journey in the first place.'

https://technext24.com/2025/01/16/mark-zuckerberg-chameleon-of-tech/

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Commencement Address | Harvard Commence...

Today I want to talk about purpose. But I’m not here to give you the standard commencement about finding your purpose. We’re millennials. We’ll try to do that instinctively. Instead, I’m here to tell you finding your purpose isn’t enough. The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.

... ... ...

Purpose is that sense that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we are needed, that we have something better ahead to work for. Purpose is what creates true happiness.

... ... ...

You’re graduating at a time when this is especially important. When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. Membership in communities is declining. Many people feel disconnected and depressed, and are trying to fill a void.

As I’ve traveled around, I’ve sat with children in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out differently if they just had something to do, an after school program or somewhere to go. I’ve met factory workers who know their old jobs aren’t coming back and are trying to find their place.

To keep our society moving forward, we have a generational challenge — to not only create new jobs, but create a renewed sense of purpose.

... ... ...

Today I want to talk about three ways to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose: by taking on big meaningful projects together, by redefining equality so everyone has the freedom to pursue purpose, and by building community across the world.

... ... ...

Every generation expands its definition of equality. Previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. They had the New Deal and Great Society. Now it’s our time to define a new social contract for our generation.

We should have a society that measures progress not just by economic metrics like GDP, but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful. We should explore ideas like universal basic income to give everyone a cushion to try new things. We’re going to change jobs many times, so we need affordable childcare to get to work and healthcare that aren’t tied to one company. We’re all going to make mistakes, so we need a society that focuses less on locking us up or stigmatizing us. And as technology keeps changing, we need to focus more on continuous education throughout our lives.

And yes, giving everyone the freedom to pursue purpose isn’t free. People like me should pay for it. Many of you will do well and you should too.

... ... ...

Purpose doesn’t only come from work. The third way we can create a sense of purpose for everyone is by building community. And when our generation says “everyone”, we mean everyone in the world.

Every generation expands the circle of people we consider “one of us”. For us, it now encompasses the entire world.

... ... ...

This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom, openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism, isolationism and nationalism. Forces for the flow of knowledge, trade and immigration against those who would slow them down. This is not a battle of nations, it’s a battle of ideas. There are people in every country for global connection and good people against it.

This isn’t going to be decided at the UN either. It’s going to happen at the local level, when enough of us feel a sense of purpose and stability in our own lives that we can open up and start caring about everyone. The best way to do that is to start building local communities right now.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/05/mark-zuckerbergs-speech-as-written-for-harvards-class-of-2017/

20 May 2025

Careless People

Careless People, is a work memoir written by Sarah Wynn-Williams and published by Macmillan in 2025. The workplace was Facebook. Wynn-Williams, a former diplomat, and a New Zealander, held an idealistic belief that the burgeoning social network of 2011 had the potential to become a global political network enabling connections and disseminating information that improved lives and empowered people; a world revolution, no less. While Facebook at the time seemed unaware of or uninterested in how powerful it might become and that governments would want to be setting rules, Wynn-Williams wanted to be there riding that wave, putting to good use her expert knowledge, experience and connections to help make Facebook as she believed it could be - world changing for the benefit of all.

In 1996 US Congress enacted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It was to provide immunity to online platforms both for third-party content on their services and for removal of certain categories of content. The statute was meant to nurture emerging internet businesses while also incentivising them to regulate harmful online content. Now those start-ups have grown up and as Wynn-Williams foresaw governments around the world want to make their own rules to control them.

She put a lot of time and effort into trying to convince Facebook that it needed someone like her. She believed what Mark Zuckerberg had said about it not being created to be a company but to accomplish a social mission. But when eventually she did meet with the vice president of global public policy at Facebook she found that the focus was global business force rather than global political force.

Eventually her evangelistic persistence got her a job as Manager of Global Public Policy. However, resistance to the ideas she was presenting and trying to enact was still strong.

Early on there was a visit from the German minister of consumer protection. Germany's tragic history with the Gestapo and the Stasi naturally make them wary of anything that gathers large amounts of personal information which they see as a surveillance tool requiring rigorous oversight. The meeting took place at Facebook's Washington office and the Germans were not impressed. It had been a properly fitted and furnished office but Facebook had it stripped back to exposed ducts and pipes and concrete. There was graffiti and Nerf guns and toy weapons scattered about and posters saying, 'THINK WRONG, MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS'. Then the woman who hired Wynn-Williams added to the delegates' discomfort by proclaiming unnecessarily her Jewishness and furthermore implying that all Germans like to sunbathe nude and share nude images. As described by Wynn-Williams the scenario appears to be intentional or careless sabotage of Wynn-Williams efforts. A few weeks later the German government opened an investigation into Facebook.

For seven years Wynn-Williams struggled to try to shape these technology and business orientated people into human beings with awareness of the consequences locked within and the possibilities presented by these tools they had created and unleashed. She sums up her time there as having 'started as a hopeful comedy and ended in darkness and regret'.

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/14/nx-s1-5318854/former-meta-executive-barred-from-discussing-criticism-of-the-company

17 May 2025

'I don't have a friend who feels at ease/I don't know a dream that's not been shattered'

Simon & Garfunkel - American Tune (from The Concert in Central Park)

https://genius.com/Paul-simon-american-tune-lyrics

Since President Trump took control of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, firing the board, on the basis that they are people who 'do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture' and installing loyalists who appointed him chairman, his administration has scaled back some programs and fired around 40 employees. The president's budget proposal has also called for getting rid of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Addressing the board in March, he reminisced about a performance of Cats that he had once attended. He mentioned Betty Buckley, who though she had known for a long time that the song Memory was played at Trump's rallies she had not realised that it was her version from the 1982 Broadway production that was his favourite.

The once glamorous but now shunned Grizabella sings a yearning for connection that is the emotional highpoint of the musical. Charitably, in an interview with Michael Paulson, theatre reporter for The Times, she said, 'My theory is that Trump, on a deeper level, wants to connect. He’s trying to be seen and to be loved. So for a while there, I felt this kind of glimmer of hope that wouldn’t it be great if he could allow us, as theater artists, to share with him that which we know in storytelling to assist him to see things a bit differently.' She wishes that he could build on the feeling that he has for the song and translate it into good feelings for all others.

Unfortunately, as is revealed in Stephanie Grisham's work memoir, I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw At The Trump Whitehouse, as well as having a Music Man on hand to soothe his moods, there was also a willing pool of flatterers available to boost his delusional ego.

As Ms Buckley says, it is Paul Simon's American Tune that is a better fit for 'what's happening these days, which is weird.'

'I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees'

'And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me, smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above, my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying'