Careless People (Grizzly Gazette Book Review)

30 Dec, 2025

"Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism" © Sarah Wynn-Williams; published by Flatiron Books (Macmillan).​ All rights belong to their respective rights holders.​ This blog post is an independent review/commentary. Any quoted text, cover images, and referenced materials remain the property of their respective owners and are used only as necessary for purposes of criticism, commentary, and review under applicable copyright exceptions (e.g., fair use/fair dealing).

I formally hate Meta (formerly Facebook) and Mark now. I needed to fight the urge to insult the prick that ruined society and did not even show sorry about that right at the start of a blog post (I failed). And why would he? He got himself an island and other untold measures of wealth for doing that. We even thank him for it.

"Evil does not knock to get in, but picks locks to get out. And sometimes, as it walks out, we even cheer for it."

But Meta (formerly Facebook) was not evil from the start, just like Google did not even need "Don't do evil" as some kind of PR from the start. Sarah Wynn-Williams with Careless People has done us a service, by providing (maybe more than) a glimpse into the early Facebook, a time of hope and optimism, from some of the people actually tried to make Facebook useful.

Unhinged begin

Few people could say that the most interesting thing about themselves is they have survived a shark attack. Our author could say that. Despite the adults around her's best effort to ensure she became unalive as soon (and painful) as possible after a shark attack, she survived. That's the worst way, but also the most effective way to learn high agency: there's no adults coming for you, just do it.¹

"Days later I wake up from a coma in an intensive care unit. I can hear a nurse calling my mother as I slowly take in my surroundings. My mother leans over me, looks into my eyes, and says, “Aren’t you lucky the doctors saved you?” I can’t talk because I’m on life support and a ventilator is helping me breathe. So I gesture for a pen and paper. I make eye contact with her to be sure she’s watching, and write slowly and deliberately, drawing a thick black line under each word for emphasis: I SAVED MYSELF I’m not sure I can name all the ways this experience changed me, but I think at the very least it probably made me bolder. Any time I glimpse a possible adventure and have to decide, do I go for this? I do."

I think she was clever to include her shark adventure right at the start because I became immediately interested in what she had to say.

Revolution

When Facebook came out, she already foresaw the political revolution Facebook would unleash and its eventual impact². However, she was even more ahead of the time than Mark. At that time, Facebook was still just a new way for a Harvard drop-out and other nerds to actively turn venture capital into time wasted online for a group of people³. But it's obvious that more people would move to Facebook. Politics organically arises out of a group large enough, so it's obvious politics would be carried out on Facebook eventually. It was before big data, but Facebook has already been collecting a massive amount of previously private data about everyone and everything. Facebook could enable anyone to control, steer, and manipulate everyone and everything. It's so glaringly obvious that it should only be a matter of time. And Sarah was the first to wake up to that fact, so much so that she had to pitch Marne Levine and other executives to have a position created for her (the nerve!). She succeeded, but things only went downhill from there. In the end, Facebook became the worst possible version of itself, Mark Zuckerberg became the subject of Money Game 2⁴, and Sarah got fired to cover for her boss' sexual harassment⁵. The whole affair left a bad taste in the mouth.

The book makes me put the "now" into "I formally hate Meta (formerly Facebook) and Mark now". Because Mark was not a despicable person at the start. He was just a socially inept nerdy dorky naive spoilt brat. He bombed the meeting with New Zealand prime minister, thought that missing the birth of his first child was normal, did not see that his employees are spoiling him on purpose, felt genuinely dejected when people neither recognized nor wanted a photo with him the way a puppy is sad you don't want to throw Pom-Pom for it to catch. Then there's the karaoke session. I suppose I felt a bit more than usual, because that's how Singaporean adults⁶ I know relax after work - drinking and singing, rinse, lather, repeat.

"Mark is back at it again with the Backstreet Boys, interspersed with Adele and Disney—'A Whole New World' from Aladdin—and I perch at the back of the plane just trying to make myself as invisible as possible, not sure what the etiquette of this situation requires. I suppose I could find this charming and vulnerable, Mark trying so earnestly to sound like a Disney cartoon character and the Backstreet Boys. But somehow it makes him seem so much smaller. Like a kid. Honestly it feels a little sad. This is what he does to cut loose?"

In the end, the disaster Sarah foresaw came about. With Facebook, even a nobody like Jokowi could go from a carpenter to head of state. But the only way that happened was because the old politicians was not updated yet. Once the old power with their old money wakes up, it's over. That's why we have Donald Trump. It's the same old marketing principle: the "truth" is what gets repeated enough times. It's no wonder that Mark wanted to run for President himself. He had become the kingmaker, and he certainly could crown himself.

President Peña Nieto chides, as he interrupts John Key to get Mark’s attention. He’s double-booked for the session and came by to personally apologize to Mark for missing it and to get a photo with him. Canadian president Justin Trudeau approaches and also asks for a photo, as does Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull. It’s like Mark’s a kingmaker, and they’re there to bend the knee. I drag Mark into the Grand Hall for the session he will chair. It’s a vast space, with large red screens reminiscent of the Chinese flag projecting the APEC logo. In the middle of the room a circle of wooden tables has been assembled, with microphones, chairs, and nameplates for each of the presidents and prime ministers. At the center is Mark Zuckerberg. I sit directly behind Mark, with Elliot perched beside me. Once we’re settled in with all these heads of state, it’s surprising how many are familiar faces. People I’ve met either with Mark or in my own role. We know that many of the global leaders we’ve built relationships with are coming to the end of their terms; some are already gone, and in some cases we’ve already successfully transitioned to their successors. I’m struck by the impermanence of importance. And yet Mark could conceivably continue to hold his place chairing world leaders for another fifty years. He’ll see these leaders off and the generations of leaders that follow them. Like the queen.

Mark did not become the king himself. But kept the worst on the throne. So did the other pricks of Silicon Valley⁷.

“3 Americans own more wealth than the bottom 170 million Americans. Those 3 people stood behind Trump during inauguration. That is an Oligarchy.”. Bernie Sanders put it best https://xcancel.com/krassenstein/status/1904631041002004734. Image from Al Jazeera.

You and me

I don't want to rant about go into details of all the horrible things that have gone wrong at Facebook⁸. The details are in the book, and I don't want to rewrite the book myself. I want to focus on the lesson.

Facebook was a great tool. But a tool is a multiplier of intention, both good and bad. It undoubtedly can bring about benefits to this world, and already did so at the start. But after Cambridge Analytica, Trump, and a bazillion other scandals, Facebook's legacy is already leaving the world a worse place. And it started with you and me. We give over our sovereignty and judgment to others we idolize. It's hard being alive, so much that we hold firmly to the belief that there are adult figures out there who have sorted things out and know what's best for us. Well here's some news: There're no adults. They are deep in their cesspool too, no matter how much intelligence and money and status they have. So grow up yourselves, and help others.

It could have gone different, if people were more like Sarah. Tell Mark that with great power comes great responsibility, not the ability to eat endangered species or drink Andrew Jackson's wine. Tell Mark there are duties and values more important than VC's money and need upholding no matter what. Maybe all of them would have gotten fired before Mark learnt to grow up. But maybe it could have prevented "being a little careless" from becoming "couldn't care less".

Footnotes

#book #post