Myhrvold was just as feisty with Bishop as he was with Walt Mossberg earlier in the year. No, he doesn't think the patent system is broken. In fact, he rightly notes, it's just been reformed in the American Invents Act. Myhrvold also rightly notes that big companies aggressively enforce their patents (and really, where is the outcry for patent reform because of the Apple vs. Samsung patent fight?) so why shouldn't the small companies and university professors aligned with Intellectual Ventures have those same rights? And, lest you forget, Intellectual Ventures isn't just connecting you with your friends. It's trying to help the poorest of the poor. Myhrvold testily responded to a question regarding skeptics:

It turns out it's very easy if you have a technology-centric mindset to think, Ah yes, Zynga, they're doing -- I don't mean to call Zynga out in a negative way, but is Zynga doing God's work? Is Facebook doing God's work? Even setting aside what God's work means, I think it's pretty easy to say, those companies are doing wonderful things, but they are for-profit ventures. It's either tools or toys for the rich. There really is a role in taking great technological ideas and trying to harness them for the poorest people on Earth.

Facebook might very well be doing God's work of connecting as many people as possible into a single, interconnected, hive mind.