In 2017, Facebook’s former VP for growth Chamath Palihapitiya said he was guilt-ridden over helping push a socially destructive product that fed off “short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops.” Napster founder and fellow onetime Facebook executive Sean Parker said something similar, talking about the “little dopamine hit” that you get from likes and other rewards. It was, he said, an experience designed to exploit human “vulnerability.”
