How embarrassing. I couldn’t even begin someone asking me to refer to them as a metamate. I don’t think I am capable of taking that scenario seriously.
Employee names are always cringy at first. You have to get over the irony hump and then Googler, Xoogler, Softies, Twits, Yahoos, and Amazonian become normal after a bit.
You know CEX the train company — they’re CEX workers.
That legitimately surprises me. When I worked there a few years ago, the big thing was removing gendered language (such as “ninja” and “pirate” and “Jedi”).
this is how authoritarian regimes and cults work; they make you do and say ridiculous things as a shibboleth. this serves multiple purposes:
- alienates you from outsiders
- costly signal of in-group membership
- breaks down your sense of self-worth
- creates a false group consensus
evergreen dalrymple quote:
>the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control.
this isn't just limited to communism, it's a pathological feature of many groups. your embarrassment is a feature not a bug.
Will 'meta' increase their employees comp to compensate for the tanking stock? If you were making 400-500k 6 months ago, you're only making 300-400 now.
It's not clear how much this is going to stick. When Google became Alphabet the leadership came up with the idea that employees would refer to each other as "characters", but I can count on one hand the number of times I saw that in 4 years at Google. Also, Microsoft's demonym is "Microsoftie" which is no better and didn't seem to be too popular among folks I knew there.
> Microsoft's demonym is "Microsoftie" which is no better and didn't seem to be too popular among folks I knew there.
It is certainly popular enough in the Seattle area at places that are not Microsoft. There are enough ex-MSFT people floating around (really, a lot of them) that you hear it often.
These cultish identities are always fake.
Nobody authentically believes in them and usually they only pretend to in order to signal dedication.
I`ve only seen this work at Musk`s companies with new hires.
As funny as that video is, it really made me feel bad for Zuck.
He really has no idea what acting natural is, his whole life really is just tied up in "They just give it to me, the dumb f----". Regardless of how much power/money he has, that feels sad.
> He really has no idea what acting natural is, his whole life really is just tied up in "They just give it to me, the dumb f----". Regardless of how much power/money he has, that feels sad.
I've never really thought about about it in quite that way before, but there is a weird way in which Zuckerberg comes off as genuinely tragic character. Which is really odd, him being a wildly successful billionaire and all.
Yep. It's really sad that he ended in a position where he'd been able to inflict the most damage he possibly could. In a better world he'd be workaholic middle manager annoying 20 or so reports instead of billions.
> last value, and I am not making this up: "Meta, metamates, me"
I can't get the "Is this good for the company?" scene out of my head[↓]. Maybe Zuckerberg is trying to set up the perfect environment for Office Space 2?
It’s actually a riff on a Navy saying, according to folks at Meta.
And what is the difference between a rip-off and an homage? I think your underlying feelings leaked through what would have been an otherwise reasonable comment.
Is there no one there at all who would tell him this was a terrible idea? That it's an absolute parody of working in a corporate hell? If I had any kind of stake in FB, that would be the most worrisome part of this.
Sure, I don't think he actually came up with it himself. I'm saying it didn't happen without Zuck's sign off. If no one told him it was awful, that's worrisome. If they told him and he ignored it, that's even worse.
A guy who gives out business cards at the start saying "I'm CEO Bitch" and then takes over the world is probably surrounded by complete "yes people" at this point.
Everything about the Metaverse pivot smells to me like a team that thinks their best interest is to just agree with the Emperor.
"At Facebook, we have finally created the perfect high-tech workforce: genetically engineered apes that we call 'Metamates'. Tireless. Genius intellect. Loyal to the death. And...completely non-unionized!"
Please read Dan Lyons’ book Disrupted about what life is like working for a cult-y startup and seeing the insanity while having to wait for your options to vest.
The chapter on the bozos is worth the cost of the book alone.
"Facebook is full of true believers who really, really, really are not doing it for the money, and really, really will not stop until every man, woman, and child on earth is staring into a blue-bannered window with a Facebook logo. Which, if you think about it, is much scarier than simple greed. The greedy man can always be bought at some price, and his behavior is predictable. But the true zealot? He can’t be had at any price, and there’s no telling what his mad visions will have him and his followers do."
That seems like a reinterpretation of the classic C. S. Lewis quote:
"Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under the omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”"
Didn't at one point Marissa Meyer read to the whole company a children's book, out loud? That was the best moment to quit imaginable, right in that meeting, just by interrupting "I quit!".
Might as well hear a pilot tell you the itinerary for the flight you're on was changed to the side of the tallest mountain in the range the plane had fuel for--and there was no need for the parachutes tucked behind the bathroom in the very back. You could call it "the Kool-Aid moment."
"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."
"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."
I wonder if there is a compendium of what different companies call their own workers internally. Do all companies do this? Also kinda interesting how it doesn't seem Googlers ever became Alphabeters or whatever
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[ 0.16 ms ] story [ 329 ms ] threadYou know CEX the train company — they’re CEX workers.
I’ve worked in the tech industry for 8.5 years now — including two as an “Amazonian” — and those are just as cringey to me as they ever have been.
- alienates you from outsiders
- costly signal of in-group membership
- breaks down your sense of self-worth
- creates a false group consensus
evergreen dalrymple quote:
>the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, not to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is in some small way to become evil oneself. One's standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control.
this isn't just limited to communism, it's a pathological feature of many groups. your embarrassment is a feature not a bug.
For all the other comments, as an employee, would you really care?
It might sound dumb, but it’s also fun, self-deprecation humor if one worked there.
This is Meta's way of keeping you in to continue destroying lives.
It is certainly popular enough in the Seattle area at places that are not Microsoft. There are enough ex-MSFT people floating around (really, a lot of them) that you hear it often.
Similar deal to most other corporate culture.
He really has no idea what acting natural is, his whole life really is just tied up in "They just give it to me, the dumb f----". Regardless of how much power/money he has, that feels sad.
I've never really thought about about it in quite that way before, but there is a weird way in which Zuckerberg comes off as genuinely tragic character. Which is really odd, him being a wildly successful billionaire and all.
I can't get the "Is this good for the company?" scene out of my head[↓]. Maybe Zuckerberg is trying to set up the perfect environment for Office Space 2?
https://youtu.be/dA5rB63Mzc8
And what is the difference between a rip-off and an homage? I think your underlying feelings leaked through what would have been an otherwise reasonable comment.
A guy who gives out business cards at the start saying "I'm CEO Bitch" and then takes over the world is probably surrounded by complete "yes people" at this point.
Everything about the Metaverse pivot smells to me like a team that thinks their best interest is to just agree with the Emperor.
"At Facebook, we have finally created the perfect high-tech workforce: genetically engineered apes that we call 'Metamates'. Tireless. Genius intellect. Loyal to the death. And...completely non-unionized!"
The chapter on the bozos is worth the cost of the book alone.
"Facebook is full of true believers who really, really, really are not doing it for the money, and really, really will not stop until every man, woman, and child on earth is staring into a blue-bannered window with a Facebook logo. Which, if you think about it, is much scarier than simple greed. The greedy man can always be bought at some price, and his behavior is predictable. But the true zealot? He can’t be had at any price, and there’s no telling what his mad visions will have him and his followers do."
"Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under the omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”"
Might as well hear a pilot tell you the itinerary for the flight you're on was changed to the side of the tallest mountain in the range the plane had fuel for--and there was no need for the parachutes tucked behind the bathroom in the very back. You could call it "the Kool-Aid moment."
It's a beautiful gift.
edit: Welcome to the Meatverse
https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/think...