idea isn’t worth the time we’ve already spent on it.’ He looked at his watch and got up. ‘I’ve got a wife and kids. I see too little of them already to waste my time with something like this. You guys can keep talking about it as long as you like. In case you’re wondering, I’m a no on this. No, no, no, no, no! This is not happening while I’m COO. Not on my watch.’ He left, not quite slamming the door but closing it a little too loudly behind him.
There was silence for a moment.
‘You know, the weak point in all this,’ said Kevin, as if James had never even been there, ‘is that you’re using people’s faces in your home page – images you’ve taken off the net. Doesn’t matter how much you Photox them, we still couldn’t do that.’
‘True. Ideally, we’d use computer-generated images.’
‘I don’t know of any software that’s good enough to create images that will stand up to scrutiny.’
‘I don’t either.’ said Chris, relishing the changed atmosphere in the meeting room. With James gone, it suddenly felt as if they were back in La Calle Court, throwing around ideas for whatever merit they might have without consoring themselves because of what a guy in a suit would say. ‘If we did this, the people we hire would have to agree to have their images used. But we could manipulate the images so they wouldn’t be recognizable. It’s an issue, but we could get over it.’
‘I’m not sure this is about Deep Connectedness,’ said Andrei.
‘I dispute that,’ said Chris. ‘You’ve always said we need to have a broad conceptualization. I think this fits that envelope. At the moment, we have a broad conceptualization of what Deep Connectedness can be but a relatively narrow one of who it can be between. You guys started off thinking of it as connectedness between two unique and irreproducible individuals who exist physically in the world. OK, Kevin already pushed us beyond that with palotls, which were his idea – and Andrei, you backed that, rightly, because a broad conceptualization required you to do that. So you expanded the idea to connectedness between as many manifestations of one self as an individual wants to project into cyberspace. And I’m saying, let’s expand that further into connections that include corporate entities, multi-person entities, if you will.’
‘Companies,’ said Ben.
‘In this case, but it could also be other entities. It could be charities trying to get you interested in the cause. It could be consumer groups trying to inform you of your rights. Other social networks allow corporate entities on.’
‘We’ve never done that,’ said Ben. ‘We’ve always said no.’
‘And I’m saying we should reconsider. Not because others do it – because it’s a way of extending Deep Connectedness.’
‘So that companies can sell stuff.’
‘In the case of the example I gave you, but it won’t be in every case. But even if it is, we already do that. We already have advertising. Guys, let’s be honest. We wouldn’t be here today if we didn’t.’
‘When we have Sponsored Baits,’ said Ben, ‘people already know it.’
‘Does that make a difference?’
‘Of course it does.’
‘Why?’ said Chris. ‘And how do you know that’s not a bad thing? We know that some people won’t click on a Bait simply because it’s sponsored. What if that’s depriving them of seeing stuff they actually would want to see? Wouldn’t they be happier if they didn’t know it was sponsored, clicked on it, and then did see it?’
‘That’s their decision.’
‘How can they make that decision if they have an irrational bias against Sponsored Baits? In fact, the very fact that we identify them as such means that we’re recognizing this bias and encouraging it.’
‘Chris, come on …’
‘No, seriously, Ben. We don’t require any other Bait to have an identified motive, and, let’s face it, a lot of people’s motives are exploitative. Some people will click on a Bait because they think the person looks hot and they want to hit on them, or because they want to get some kind of information they might use to their advantage, or because they want to see if they can sell you something, or because they want to convert you to a religion … It’s only advertisers where we say, you’ve got to identify your motive.’ He looked at Andrei. ‘Singling out advertisers is not consistent. Let’s go back to our principles. If we do what I say, does it make the world worse?’
‘Not for