If there's a place people can go to escape technology, it's the middle of Lake Tahoe. But this is the setting where Zuckerberg shows how oblivious he is to most of humanity. — Reuters
Mark Zuckerberg spends a lot of time in Lake Tahoe. So much time that a bear's "grrr" was among the first words Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, taught their 1-year-old.
This is the kind of endearing story that any new parent would share with their close friends. I'm a new parent, too, and my son recently saw his first bear in Lake Tahoe. I've shared this with any friend who wanted to listen. But Zuckerberg isn't telling this story in a private conversation. It's the opening anecdote of a 10-minute video by Bloomberg, where a journalist visits Zuckerberg at his Lake Tahoe "retreat" (it's actually a massive, lakefront compound) to talk about "life, history and being human."
The video contrasts Zuckerberg's ambition and futuristic vision for humanity with a glimpse of his life outside of his Silicon Valley office. Lake Tahoe is a starring character in the video – and I couldn't help but think this was intentional. A sunny day in Lake Tahoe is the prop that softens up Zuckerberg's image.
The cloudless day, the clear water, the sunwashed green of the pine trees. It's the kind of scene that might be used to convey someone as down-to-earth, outdoorsy, relatable and friendly – even if this person is walking on their private pier at their pair of lakefront properties that cost a combined US$59mil (RM264.94mil).
I grew up a few miles down the road from Zuckerberg's Tahoe compound, in a neighbourhood that used to be affordable for locals. Tahoe has always been a destination for wealthy tourists. But interspersed between the second homes, my neighbors were teachers, firefighters, housecleaners, plumbers and contractors. People chose to live in Tahoe because they were looking for a different way of life, opting out of the corporate grind. It used to be possible to work at a ski resort or a restaurant and make enough money to afford rent on an old A-frame. But that way of life is getting harder to find, in large part because of Silicon Valley's influence. Now, more than half of Tahoe's workforce commutes from outside of the basin; many live in Nevada cities where housing is cheaper.
As locals continue to get pushed out by rising housing costs, I often wonder who Tahoe is meant for – billionaires like Zuckerberg or the local who still drives an old Subaru? Which is probably why this video hit a nerve. Tahoe shouldn't be a prop in Zuckerberg's story.
"Is this like your escape, your oasis, from the real world, from your virtual world?" Bloomberg journalist Emily Chang asks Zuckerberg as they stroll down a pier on his lakefront property.
"I don't know, I like being in Palo Alto and out there, too. But it's just kind of nice to spend time up here over the summer and get the kids out on the lake and teach them some different sports," Zuckerberg says.
Then Chang follows up with the obvious next question: "You've got Tahoe, you've got Hawaii, you've got the yacht. Are you officially sort of embracing your billionaire era?"
Zuckerberg dodges the question, then goes on to list all the other ways he's more well-rounded than you think he is. He talks about ranching in Kauai – insisting his doomsday bunker there is a basement or a "little shelter." He explains his fascination with the Roman Empire – the man is obsessed with Augustus, even named one of his daughters after the emperor.
All the while, he's wearing board shorts and a sun protection hoody with an American flag outlined on the chest —–perfectly on brand, considering that other pieces of footage he's shared from Lake Tahoe also prominently display the American flag. His eyes are shielded behind dark sunglasses, just like your stereotypical Tahoe bro.
In one scene, Chang goes wake surfing with Zuckerberg and Chan. Wake surfing is like water skiing and wakeboarding, but the goal is to eventually drop the rope and use the momentum of the boat's wake to surf. It's not easy to do, especially on the first try. Zuckerberg and Chan give Chang their best coaching advice: "Your body will know what to do once you get up," Chan said.
This is the moment where I feel for Chang. She struggles in the water. There are face plants, body flops. Then, Zuckerberg jumps in the water and effortlessly surfs the wake of his fancy boat, doing the party trick where he catches a can of – is it beer? I can't tell. He cracks it open and drinks.
At the end of the Bloomberg segment, Chang asks Zuckerberg if he thinks technology will change the "very essence of what it means to be human." They're floating on the back of the motor boat, far away from a sterile office. This, too, makes Tahoe seem like a stage prop.
If there's a place people can go to escape technology, it's the middle of Lake Tahoe. But this is the setting where Zuckerberg shows how oblivious he is to most of humanity:
"I guess it depends on what you mean by 'more human,' but it makes us, it frees us up to, I think, be more creative and more focused on living out our values. If technology continues, then we'll get more productive, which means that we'll be able to provide for people's basic needs with a smaller and smaller portion of all of human labour, which means that people will be freed up to do more creative work and more of the stuff that they want, which I think is great.
"Obviously, there's all these challenges that we'll need to navigate along the way, but I'm pretty optimistic about the kind of grand arc here."
Maybe if you're a billionaire, artificial intelligence will free up more time for creative pursuits, like wake surfing. For the rest of us, I'm not so sure. – SFGate, San Francisco/Tribune News Service
