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>Either way this kind of drama would seem par for the course for people who view software development through political and philosophical lenses If you are a s

>Either way this kind of drama would seem par for the course for people who view software development through political and philosophical lenses If you are a software developer and don't think about the social impact of what you do then you're being irresponsible.

wongarsu 10y ago
You can even generalize that statement to "If you don't think about the social impact of what you do then you're being irresponsible."
- davexunit 10y ago
  Yes, even better!
- iopq 10y ago
  You can further generalize it to "If you don't think then you're not being responsible."
digi_owl 10y ago
Yes and no. Libreboot in this instance seems have crap all to do with the issue, expect being used as leverage for one individual in the dustup.
tbrownaw 10y ago
If you are a software developer and don't think about the social impact of what you do then you're being irresponsible. That seems a bit egotistical. If I'm trying to make some in-house enterprisey thing run twice as fast, chances are there isn't much in the way of societal impact for me to think about. If I'm building a sub-sub-component of some new system, chances are I don't have enough information to even start guessing at the overall effects of the complete system as it will eventually end up being used.
- kstrauser 10y ago
  I think you always have to consider the effect of what you do. There are many situations - like the ones you describe - where that might be as simple as thinking "huh, this doesn't affect anything" and getting to work. That's still a valuable exercise because it gets you in the habit of at least weighing it.
debatem1 10y ago
I can't tell if you're missing the point deliberately or not, so forgive me if I just politely assume that you were raised in a national park by a family of confused barn owls and have never encountered a group of humans before. Being political and thinking about the consequences of your actions are not the same thing and frequently conflict. Being philosophical and making a positive change in the world are not the same thing and often conflict. Appearing philosophical as a means of being political is a common tactic, and often leads to the aforementioned conflicts. All of which is a long winded way of telling you that sometimes people stir up drama not because it's the surest path to a good technical or social outcome but rather because they can't be bothered to put in an honest hour's work and would rather snipe from the sidelines about things that are neither here nor there but can be made to appear so if sufficiently determined. Or, as your mother would have put it: hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot HOOT.
- tbrownaw 10y ago
  ...y'know, if you'd left off the gratuitous insults that would've been a good, insightful comment.
  - debatem1 10y ago
    I guess stirring up drama wasn't the surest path to a good technical or social outcome after all.
- sctb 10y ago
  Personal attacks (sarcastically illustrative or not) are not OK on Hacker News. No matter what sort of discussion we find ourselves in, we have the responsibility to treat each other as members of a community—which we are. This is even more important on divisive or controversial issues.

wongarsu 10y ago

You can even generalize that statement to "If you don't think about the social impact of what you do then you're being irresponsible."

davexunit 10y ago
Yes, even better!
iopq 10y ago
You can further generalize it to "If you don't think then you're not being responsible."

digi_owl 10y ago

Yes and no. Libreboot in this instance seems have crap all to do with the issue, expect being used as leverage for one individual in the dustup.

tbrownaw 10y ago

If you are a software developer and don't think about the social impact of what you do then you're being irresponsible. That seems a bit egotistical. If I'm trying to make some in-house enterprisey thing run twice as fast, chances are there isn't much in the way of societal impact for me to think about. If I'm building a sub-sub-component of some new system, chances are I don't have enough information to even start guessing at the overall effects of the complete system as it will eventually end up being used.

kstrauser 10y ago
I think you always have to consider the effect of what you do. There are many situations - like the ones you describe - where that might be as simple as thinking "huh, this doesn't affect anything" and getting to work. That's still a valuable exercise because it gets you in the habit of at least weighing it.

debatem1 10y ago

I can't tell if you're missing the point deliberately or not, so forgive me if I just politely assume that you were raised in a national park by a family of confused barn owls and have never encountered a group of humans before. Being political and thinking about the consequences of your actions are not the same thing and frequently conflict. Being philosophical and making a positive change in the world are not the same thing and often conflict. Appearing philosophical as a means of being political is a common tactic, and often leads to the aforementioned conflicts. All of which is a long winded way of telling you that sometimes people stir up drama not because it's the surest path to a good technical or social outcome but rather because they can't be bothered to put in an honest hour's work and would rather snipe from the sidelines about things that are neither here nor there but can be made to appear so if sufficiently determined. Or, as your mother would have put it: hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot hoot HOOT.

tbrownaw 10y ago
...y'know, if you'd left off the gratuitous insults that would've been a good, insightful comment.
- debatem1 10y ago
  I guess stirring up drama wasn't the surest path to a good technical or social outcome after all.
sctb 10y ago
Personal attacks (sarcastically illustrative or not) are not OK on Hacker News. No matter what sort of discussion we find ourselves in, we have the responsibility to treat each other as members of a community—which we are. This is even more important on divisive or controversial issues.