Facebook: Making Friends in the USAF
December 31, 2021
This is a short post sparked by this Financial Times’ article: “Facebook to Build Metaverse with Start-Up That Had US Military Contracts.”
The main idea is that Facebook bought a company. The firm — Reverie— will work with Meta Facebook thing’s Reality Labs. But the bonus move is that the Meta Facebook thing was terminated when the Meta Facebook thing bought Reverie. The venerable and generally respectable Financial Times pointed out that the Meta Facebook thing would “not be involved with any future defense or military AI development.”
Okay. My hunch is that a Meta Facebook thing employee whose child seeks to enter the Air Force Academy may find that some of those involved in the selection process may remember this “not be involved with any future defense or military AI development.”
Who likes this type of business decision? Maybe the Chinese and Russian military leadership? But that’s just a thought from the wilds of rural Kentucky. The Meta Facebook thing knows what’s best for itself and, of course, the US government.
Stephen E Arnold, December 31, 2021