Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers politically-driven Havard speech
- Friday, May 26th, 2017
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg got very political during his Harvard commencement address, which saw him receive an honorary doctorate degree from the university that he famously dropped out of 12 years ago.
In his speech, he referred to John F. Kennedy, jobs being replaced by technology and creating new ones, climate change, societal inequalities, a universal basic income, affordable childcare, voting reforms and more. A large portion of his speech was also dedicated to having a 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,” said Zuckerberg.
The words from Zuckerberg will do little to quell the speculation that he is considering a possible presidential campaign ahead of 2020 – despite the fifth richest man in the world being adamant that he won’t.
“So what are we waiting for? Its time for our generation-defining public works. How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet and getting millions of people involved manufacturing and installing solar panels? How about curing all diseases and asking volunteers to track their health data and share their genomes? Today we spend 50 times more treating people who are sick than we spend finding cures so people don’t get sick in the first place. That makes no sense. We can fix this. How about modernizing democracy so everyone can vote online, and personalizing education so everyone can learn,” Zuckerberg continued.
“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 arent tied to one company. Were 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.”