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Comment by marpstar | Hacker News Reader

So what's driving Zuck to stay in the game? Does he really believe in the work he's doing? Is he feeding his narcissism? Does he really want more money? Can he just not let go of his baby?

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This may be debatable and we'll never know how history will remember our time but if you're Zuck, like Jobs/Gates/Musk, you have a potential to be a memorable person in history. Like laymen know the names of a few famous scientists, explorers, artists and politicians from centuries ago (Ceasar, Columbus, Newton). Millions of people have come and gone in the centuries since but only a handful of names are commonly remembered. In a sense, he has a legacy to protect.

Can you name a commonly known businessman from Ceasar's or Columbus' times?

Seneca the Younger

Jakob Fugger the Younger, the most wildly successful link in the Fugger dynasty of bankers to the Habsburgs, and who was immortalised in the 1990s German video game Die Fugger!

The nature of business is so different today that direct comparisons are difficult but you might call Crassus a businessman

We remember people who are the face of things that change the world; inventors/discoverer/scientist/etc. (Edit: it sounds like you're ...) Implying he's a businessman so will not be remembered makes no sense. If Musk colonizes Mars, he will be remembered. Social media may be a footnote in history, or it may be looked back on like the industrial revolution except there is no single frontman for the industrial revolution. Zuck has inspired an Oscar winning movie and now Congressional hearings, so I'm pretty sure he's the face of social media and history will basically be written that he invented it; although we know that's not entirely accurate.

Can you name the person who invented the printing press? The person who invented the cotton gin?

Crassus was one of the three triumvirs with Pompey and Caesar, but was formerly better known as a a famously unscrupulous and fabulously wealthy business man.

Perhaps most notoriously, he invented a fire department that would only put out your house fire if you sold the property at the price he wanted. Negotiations went on as the house burned.

Not quite that early but Isambard Kingdom Brunel is pretty memorable.

Columbus himself was arguably a businessman.

Why does a legacy matter when you're dead? You won't be around to know if you truly are a legacy. Sure, Zuckerberg has a hospital but who knows what civilization will remember of him in 500 years.

To rationalize it my own mind, he must simply continue being CEO since that's what he enjoys doing.

Remember a year ago, when Zuckerberg was doing his goodwill tour to set up a potential presidential run? What a difference a few months make.

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