Zuckerberg: Some Tech Is Worrying, but Not Facebook

The story of Facebook’s founding has entered American legend, but its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t resist briefly rehashing its conception in a Harvard dorm room during a commencement speech at his alma mater on Thursday.

Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook before dropping out of Harvard, also used his speech to explain his view of technology in starkly clear terms: he believes that technological progress as a whole is threatening to many people’s way of life, but certain individual technologies, including Facebook, actually change people’s lives for the better.

It all comes down to a sense of purpose, according to Zuckerberg. Millennials like him have it, while many older people have lost it thanks to technological change.

“When our parents graduated, that sense of purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community,” Zuckerberg said. “But today, technology and automation are eliminating jobs. Membership in a lot of communities has been declining, and a lot of people are feeling disconnected and depressed, and are trying to fill a void in their lives.”