Yikes! Facebook will run on TELEPATHY, thinks Zuck, in Q&A

Questions from Schwarzenegger and Hawking. Similar guys, really

Not content with wading into virtual reality with his Oculus gobble, Facebook kingpin Mark Zuckerberg wants you to be able to update your Facebook status with the unaided power of your mind - or so the Behoodied One said in a Q&A session on Tuesday.

"One day, I believe we'll be able to send full rich thoughts* to each other directly using technology," he said in response to a question on the future of the company.

"You'll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it too if you'd like. This would be the ultimate communication technology."

Given just how annoying endless Facebook posts about food, children's bowel movements, hilarious household mishaps and what's on telly at the moment can get, this might be seen as a recipe for mental pollution on an epic scale. Zuck could be taking his inspiration from the Belcerebons of Kakrafoon Kappa in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, who were cursed with telepathy and had to chatter incessantly to hide their thoughts.

Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to get a question in, asking Zuck how often he worked out. He also managed to get in a plug for his latest Terminator film by asking if the future of AI meant the machines would win. The Facebook CEO said he works out three times a week, usually just after waking up, and also goes running with his dog.

"And no, the machines won't win," he added.

On a more cerebral plane, Stephen Hawking (aka The Hawk) asked Zuckerberg what big questions in science he would like to see answered in his lifetime. Zuck responded that the big questions – like how we learn, can we live forever, and can we cure all diseases – were of interest, but he was also curious about a grand unified theory of his own.

"I'm also curious about whether there is a fundamental mathematical law underlying human social relationships that governs the balance of who and what we all care about," he said. "I bet there is."

Deep. ®

*Like HD telepathy? -Ed