Flicker Fusion

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Friends don’t let friends use pink balls.”

– Rick Santorum, to a young man while bowling with college Republicans in Wisconsin. (via officialssay)

Here’s a long bet I’d put (a little bit of) money on: by 2020, Rick Santorum will have revealed himself to be a Banksy-like performance artist who spent three decades trolling the Republican party.

The scientific community … has been concerned about this growing distrust in the public with science. And what I found in the study is basically that’s really not the problem. The growing distrust of science is entirely focused in two groups—conservatives and people who frequently attend church.

The scientific community … has been concerned about this growing distrust in the public with science. And what I found in the study is basically that’s really not the problem. The growing distrust of science is entirely focused in two groups—conservatives and people who frequently attend church.

—

Gordon Gauchat, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina, says conservatives, even those with college degrees, distrust science now more than ever.

It’s interesting to me that Gauchat uses the term “distrust” in regard to the 40-year attack on science. It’s accurate, in a sense, but I hear the word “belief” used far more often, as in “I don’t believe that global warming is caused by humans” or “I don’t believe in the theory of evolution”. Which is so incredibly telling because science, unlike the pseudo-intellectual pillar of conservatism that is religion, doesn’t need to be believed to be true.

If science is a process for understanding how the world around us works and politics is an attempt to solve the problems pluralistic societies face in that world, this is troubling. That one half of the political spectrum is simply going to ignore established fact leaves little hope for consensus. Even as conservative ideology and policies make less and less sense in the face of broad scientific consensus, having one side simply dig in won’t lead to much meaningful progress.

And then I wondered: why was I even trying to compromise? Zynga has an Austin studio, where several good friends of mine work. Yet I had never applied to Zynga. Why? Because the company’s values are completely opposed to my own values, professionally and creatively. Because I believe that developers are at the front lines of game development and deserve to be treated well, and I didn’t trust Zynga to do so. All this was still true – except that their complete unwillingness to negotiate with me only confirmed my concerns. Why on earth was I even considering joining?

It’s not easy to pass up a lucrative salary and solid benefits, of course. But I realized that ultimately I was letting myself be guided by simple inertia. I was part of a herd, and that herd was all going in one direction (and doing so with great urgency). I would really only be doing it for the sake of going with the flow, and responding to pressure to either conform to corporate expectations, or be left behind.

These are not good reasons to join a company whose values are the opposite of your own, or to compromise your ideals, or to give up control of something you rightfully own.

And then I wondered: why was I even trying to compromise? Zynga has an Austin studio, where several good friends of mine work. Yet I had never applied to Zynga. Why? Because the company’s values are completely opposed to my own values, professionally and creatively. Because I believe that developers are at the front lines of game development and deserve to be treated well, and I didn’t trust Zynga to do so. All this was still true – except that their complete unwillingness to negotiate with me only confirmed my concerns. Why on earth was I even considering joining?

It’s not easy to pass up a lucrative salary and solid benefits, of course. But I realized that ultimately I was letting myself be guided by simple inertia. I was part of a herd, and that herd was all going in one direction (and doing so with great urgency). I would really only be doing it for the sake of going with the flow, and responding to pressure to either conform to corporate expectations, or be left behind.

These are not good reasons to join a company whose values are the opposite of your own, or to compromise your ideals, or to give up control of something you rightfully own.

—

Game designer and programmer Shay Pierce turned down a job from Zynga when they acquired Draw Something maker Omgpop.

I really admire that kind of courage, to do what you really feel is the right thing.

You might consider spending a buck on his game, Connectrode. It looks awesome.

As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job. And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job.

As a user, you shouldn’t be forced to share your private information and communications just to get a job. And as the friend of a user, you shouldn’t have to worry that your private information or communications will be revealed to someone you don’t know and didn’t intend to share with just because that user is looking for a job.

—Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, who says that Facebook will fight employers and others who ask users for their passwords. Good on Facebook for standing behind their users on this.