Mark Zuckerberg says he'll spend much of 2017 touring the United States


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
After spending one year learning Mandarin and another building a "simple AI" to run his house, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's personal challenge for 2017 seems like a breeze.
On Tuesday, Zuckerberg shared on his Facebook page that he sets personal challenges in the beginning of every year so he can "learn new things and grow outside of my work," and his goal this time around is to have visited every state in the union by Dec. 31. To reach this milestone, Zuckerberg said he'll have to travel to around 30 states. "After a tumultuous last year, my hope for this challenge is to get out and talk to more people about how they're living, working, and thinking about the future," he said.
To Zuckerberg, it seems as though "we are at a turning point in history. For decades, technology and globalization have made us more productive and connected. This has created many benefits, but for a lot of people it has also made life more challenging. This has contributed to a greater sense of division than I have felt in my lifetime. We need to find a way to change the game so it works for everyone." Over the course of his adventure, Zuckerberg will at times be accompanied by his wife, Priscilla Chan (the two have long enjoyed going on road trips together, he said), and will stop at places suggested by his Facebook followers. There's also going to be an interactive aspect — Zuckerberg said on Wednesday, he'll post about "how everyone around the world can join in" on the journey.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance review
The Week Recommends Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition features lives affected by the Atlantic slave trade
By The Week Staff Published
-
Comedians to see on tour this fall
Stand up and head to see these hilarious comics on tour
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
Asteroid sample on way to Earth may help answer Big Bang questions
Speed Read Capsule of dust from Bennu will probably show signs of water and carbon: the building blocks of life
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
Elon Musk used Starlink, which saved Ukraine, to thwart a Ukrainian attack on Russia's Crimea fleet
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Fitch downgrades US credit rating, citing 'repeated debt-limit political standoffs'
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Bed Bath & Beyond relaunches online following bankruptcy
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
San Francisco's iconic Anchor Brewing is closing after 127 years
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Lawmakers say tax prep companies illegally shared taxpayer data with Meta and Google
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Microsoft wins FTC battle to acquire Activision Blizzard
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published
-
Tesla reports record quarter for sales
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
48 states sue telecom company over billions of robocalls
Speed Read
By Theara Coleman Published