The Social Network finally made its way to Australian shores and I went to see it at my local multiplex last night. Although I know it's mainly exaggerated drama, something obvious struck me after brushing the popcorn off my lap and shambling out of the cinema:

Mark Zuckerberg is probably a very socially awkward person and has trouble relating to people. He invented Facebook as a prosthesis to correct this problem. How often does this happen, where someone invents something to fix a deficiency that they have inside them? That kind of spark comes from deep inside where fear and hope live.

In the same vein- I was listening to a This American Life episode yesterday about Harry Harlow, that American psychologist in the 60s who did experiments with baby monkeys and wire or cloth mamma monkey dolls. He did a lot to prove that parental love was important - and yet in his own life, he was a cold fish, incapable of giving or receiving affection. I'm sure he never made the connection to his life work - but Mark Zuckerberg probably doesn't either. That type of self-analysis is usually shrugged off by the technical mind.