Apple, NeXT veteran Joanna Hoffman calls today's technology leaders 'remarkably ignorant'

Former Apple, NeXT, and General Magic marketer says Facebook is "peddling in an addictive drug called anger," and many modern tech firms are "flawed," or "devious."

Joanna Hoffman was a key figure at the start of three of the most significant companies of the entire technology industry, starting with Apple and the Macintosh in 1980, and then moving on to both General Magic, and NeXT. Compared to those firms, she says that today's technology companies are responsible for the harm social media has caused.

"As I look at Facebook, for example, I keep thinking are they really that ignorant is this motivated by something... darker than it what appears?" she said at 2020 CogX, where, according to CNBC she appeared alongside former General Magic colleagues.

She said that she does have "enormous respect" for what Facebook has achieved overall. However, certain elements of its work are "destroying the very fabric of democracy, destroying the very fabric of human relationships, and peddling in an addictive drug called anger."

"You know it's just like tobacco, it's no different than the opioids," she continued. "We know anger is addictive, we know we can attract people to our platform and get engagement if we get them p****d off enough. So therefore what, we should capitalize on that each and every time?"

Asked about the culture of big technology firms and how they are led, Hoffman says that, "individuals make a huge difference." Without a strong individual leader, as she worked with in Steve Jobs at Apple and NeXT, and Marc Porat at General Magic, "then nothing productive results in the end."

She says many of today's technology leaders are "genius in what they've accomplished and what they have done at a very young age [but] remarkably ignorant on what they are sowing in the world." They're also flawed, she argues, adding "The question is, how flawed, how ignorant, and how devious?"

Hoffman features heavily in the General Magic documentary, and in Aaron Sorkin's "Steve Jobs" drama, where she was portrayed by Kate Winslet.

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37 Comments

DAalseth 3012 comments · 6 Years

About 4 years ago

The companies she worked for sold things.
The companies she is talking about sell us. Our eyeballs. Our attention.
Nothing gathers a crowd as well as a train wreck.
So FB et.al. are allowing train wrecks to flow freely to earn more money, though hiding behind the fig leaf of free speech.
In reality the "something...darker" is called greed.

jrc 766 comments · 23 Years

I have never stepped a toe into facebook/linkedin, snapchat, instagram.... and on and on... just for these and other various reasons. Move your lives towards being a responsible, mature, kind individual; and productive enough to support yourself and where possible those you love.

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

It is not ONLY social media peddling fear and anger to advance their cause and self interest....

While FB & others have learned to profit from it, thugs (both paid and radicalized fools) patrol it looking to attack anything and anybody who does not toe the line they set.

We learned from Cambridge Analytica and the Internet Research Agency how social media can be used by professional propagandists to support and propagate a political agenda. And, since then, the political propagandists have become even more proficient at using it to manipulate public opinion. They are at war and use multiple fronts and means on social media to advance their agenda. FB and Social media are now just one of those fronts.

Meanwhile, the founder of FB says he can't stand what FB has become -- but will do nothing to rein it in. He knows if he does, he will be attacked -- on FB.

fahlman 706 comments · 22 Years

Facebook is a medium to express oneself. If that expression is anger, it is not Facebook's fault. What she is suggesting is corporate censorship. She wants to pass final judgement over what someone says based on whether she agrees with it. Heck, I do not agree with a lot of stuff I read on Facebook. It is trash. But I am smart enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. It's a slippery slope. Not one I am willing to jump on.

dws-2 277 comments · 22 Years

fahlman said:

Facebook is a medium to express oneself. If that expression is anger, it is not Facebook's fault. What she is suggesting is corporate censorship. She wants to pass final judgement over what someone says based on whether she agrees with it. Heck, I do not agree with a lot of stuff I read on Facebook. It is trash. But I am smart enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. It's a slippery slope. Not one I am willing to jump on.

I get what you're saying in that Facebook shouldn't be the one censoring things.

I think the real problem is that we, as humans, are inexplicably drawn to pain and anger, and Facebook's algorithms magnify that tendency in unhealthy ways. I suspect that Facebook tried to find a way to rein it in or refocus it, but could not, so they gave up. The fact is that as long as Facebook tries to "surface" things that interest people, it will "surface" divisive, angry topics. Because that's what draws people in. People crave being right and getting upset at all the wrong people.