Mark Zuckerberg may have a reputation of being stiff, but in an unprecedented three-hour interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast he relaxed considerably. They discussed everything from Meta’s plans for the metaverse to Elon Musk’s brain chip company Neuralink.
They also discussed Mark Zuckerberg’s passion for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and how he uses physical activities to reenergize. Read on for highlights from this discussion!
How he got into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Last month, at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament in California, a referee mistakenly believed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had fallen unconscious, only for him and his coach to dispute this assertion and claim the referee misinterpreted a sound he heard as being indicative of unconsciousness in BJJ.
The two insist that any apparent snoring was simply heavy breathing and that Zuckerberg was never knocked out during this fight, yet its significance remains astounding due to how deeply immersed in grappling he is as one component of mixed martial arts (MMA). Last year on Joe Rogan Experience, he described this aspect of martial arts.
Zuckerberg, who holds both white belts in Gi and No-Gi Jiu Jitsu, has been training under professional MMA fighter Khai Wu and competing locally in Jiu-Jitsu events – something Rogan applauded in a recent podcast episode.
Cultural critics have noted how sports like jiu-jitsu draw Silicon Valley individuals because it allows them to reconnect with an ancient fighting spirit within an orderly, structured framework. But for Zuckerberg it goes much deeper; he truly enjoys practicing it and loves how it brings people from various backgrounds together through it.
What he thinks about virtual reality
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg — former Facebook founder — made headlines when he went on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast to promote Horizon Worlds — his virtual reality game that uses VR technology. While much was discussed during that episode about his harsh morning ritual and obsession with Hunter Biden’s laptop, it also provided insight into his empire-building strategy for creating the Metaverse empire-building strategy he is investing so heavily into.
Zuckerberg shared his vision of remote work as the future: “Imagine if every morning you could just teleport to work as an invisible hologram; that would be really awesome.”
He continued, explaining how his new VR headset, scheduled for release this October, can track your face to translate facial expressions to an avatar in the virtual world. Furthermore, he mentioned his company’s plans for smart glasses which would enable control of avatar with just your brain waves.
VR may seem revolutionary, but its potential remains uncertain. Tech companies often promote unproven technologies only to watch them fail spectacularly; and social media has only increased political polarization further in America.
What he thinks about censorship
Content creators have long suspected Big Tech companies of suppressing certain types of information or actively disseminating specific types of material online, yet it was hard to prove due to social media’s opaque platforms. That all changed this week when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted his company algorithmically censored a New York Post story about Joe Biden’s son Hunter during the 2020 presidential election campaign.
The article claimed that Hunter left his laptop at a repair shop with emails that documented him introducing his father to a Ukrainian energy tycoon and setting up a meeting, leading to unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against the elder Biden regarding his business dealings in Ukraine. It was promptly banned on Facebook and Twitter.
Zuckerberg disclosed this information during his podcast interview with Rogan and stated that, following a warning from the FBI regarding election misinformation, he made the decision to rank the New York Post story lower on Facebook newsfeed in order to limit its distribution. While people could still share it and spread misinformation through it, its visibility had decreased substantially. He supported this choice and pointed out that people could still share it but its visibility had decreased considerably.
So it may come as a shock that one of the world’s most widely used social media sites recently took such an unusual step – but it serves as a timely reminder that, contrary to what anti-tech activists might suggest, social media platforms are privately owned businesses which should have complete autonomy when making decisions regarding how best to moderate content.
What he thinks about the future
Zuckerberg also discussed his company’s plans for a virtual-reality headset and his love of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, sharing a sizzle reel of his first competition with Khai “The Shadow” Wu on Instagram last year. Additionally, he revealed he’s been working remotely from Kawai – with reduced commute time being one of his key efficiencies.
He expressed that he hopes the technology behind VR can one day become as portable as eyeglasses, and social media interactions will take place outside an isolated headset. According to Meta (formerly Facebook), they are working towards this end by adding facial and eye tracking features into headsets as well as adding haptic feedback gloves so people can actually feel objects within virtual reality environments.
Rogan also asked Zuckerberg about Elon Musk’s Neuralink project, which involves developing “brain chips” that transmit information directly into our brains. When asked by Rogan about this controversy, Zuckerberg danced around it by saying Meta aims to amplify voices rather than suppress them.
He addressed concerns of censorship by asserting that Facebook should never show only those posts it thinks you want to see; such an approach would be “dishonest”. Instead, as its core business model requires keeping users on its platform for as long as possible.