4 ms·

That is incredibly depressing. Good chance you're right, but that doesnt mean we should give up. Politics is critical, and as technologists we can't just opt o

• finid 10y ago
  But we can't really discuss these type of issues at length on HN. It'd be deemed to political.
• ACow_Adonis 10y ago
  As technologists, we're often the ones implementing and designing the systems, infrastructure and algorithms that make such a thing not only possible, but likely :(
  • battlebot 10y ago
    I have witnessed that very thing more times than I like to admit. I fail to understand what, other than sheer greed, motivates tech people to help build these police states. It's going to come back at us in terrible ways. Technology doesn't care whether it kills us all, it is completely value neutral. Only we can make the right choices. I once worked at a place that was bidding on surveillance tech for some public transit systems in Australia and the cavalier attitude that management had about privacy was sad, to say the least. They just didn't think it was their job at all to decide what is right or make any ethical judgements whatsoever. To them, mass surveillance was merely a way to make a lot of money and that's all. They didn't care who got hurt when that tech eventually makes it to less democratic nations to be used to suppress and destroy the human spirit. Well, that company went under, but others succeeded.