Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg believes there is a formula that explains how people think.
During a wide-ranging online question-and-answer session on his Facebook page on Tuesday, Zuckerberg told physicist Stephen Hawking he would like to find that equation.
“I’m most interested in questions about people,” Zuckerberg said after Hawking asked him what big questions in science he would like to know the answers to.
Zuckerberg responded with a list that included how the brain works and immortality.
“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,” Zuckerberg added. “I bet there is.”
Hollywood star and fitness champion Arnold Schwarzenegger asked about Zuckerberg’s exercise routine.
Zuckerberg said he works out at least three times a week, usually in the mornings. He added that he takes his dog running whenever he can “which has the added bonus of being hilarious because that is basically like seeing a mop run”.
The online Q&A session drew so many visitors that it stumbled technically, going offline for a few minutes due to what Facebook said was “an overload of likes”.
When asked for his take on happiness, Zuckerberg said it was doing things that he believes in with people he loves.
“I think lots of people confuse happiness with fun,” Zuckerberg said. “I don’t believe it is possible to have fun every day. But I do believe it is possible to do something meaningful that helps people every day.”
While sharing thoughts on the future of Facebook, Zuckerberg said that immersive experiences such as virtual reality will become mainstream and that people will eventually able to share what they are sensing or feeling.
“One day, I believe we’ll be able to send full, rich thoughts to each other directly using technology,” Zuckerberg said.
“You’ll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it, too, if you’d like.”
