4 ms·

This is a bit of a slippery slope. Take gas chambers for example. We all know what they were designed to do, and what they were used to. So was it ok to design

by ndh2 9y ago

This is a bit of a slippery slope. Take gas chambers for example. We all know what they were designed to do, and what they were used to. So was it ok to design them, because only those who used them were at fault? Was it ok to build them? Was it ok to execute the command of pushing the button, because you didn't issue the command? Who's at fault here? Why is it ok to design and build algorithms that make people unhappy?

TulliusCicero 9y ago
I mean, how much harm has to be done before some tech is unethical? Take World of Warcraft, for instance: no one will dispute that the game was designed to keep you playing a very long time, and that many players were (are) addicted and wasted an excessive amount of time on the game, many people lost jobs, got kicked out of school, even ended marriages. That's real damage. But, many people also simply enjoyed the game, spent time with friends, one of my old school buddies even found his wife playing the game. So, was creating WoW an unethical move on the developers' part?
vorpalhex 9y ago
Before the gas chamber was the firing squad. Before that was the noose, the axe, and the guillotine. Humans have a long history of killing each other, and typically over time (with a few exceptions such as the electric chair) the methods have generally gotten more humane (if state sanctioned punishment resulting in death can ever be considered humane) and when those methods failed to be available, no human government has ever held off on using a more barbaric act of killing in it's place. Technology will either evolve without us, or less humane methods will continue to be used. Progress is both a promise and a threat.
- musage 9y ago
  > Before the gas chamber was the firing squad. Before that was the noose, the axe, and the guillotine. That doesn't answer any of the questions posed.
  - vorpalhex 9y ago
    Right, you need to continue reading. Even if the Gas Chamber had never been designed, those people would of still been marched outside and shot by firing squad.
    - confounded 9y ago
      “But does it scale?”
    - musage 9y ago
      Technology, and the obesssion with it and being "dynamic" was absolutely a cornerstone of Nazism. You don't know the first things about it is all.

by ndh2 9y ago

TulliusCicero 9y ago

I mean, how much harm has to be done before some tech is unethical? Take World of Warcraft, for instance: no one will dispute that the game was designed to keep you playing a very long time, and that many players were (are) addicted and wasted an excessive amount of time on the game, many people lost jobs, got kicked out of school, even ended marriages. That's real damage. But, many people also simply enjoyed the game, spent time with friends, one of my old school buddies even found his wife playing the game. So, was creating WoW an unethical move on the developers' part?

vorpalhex 9y ago

Before the gas chamber was the firing squad. Before that was the noose, the axe, and the guillotine. Humans have a long history of killing each other, and typically over time (with a few exceptions such as the electric chair) the methods have generally gotten more humane (if state sanctioned punishment resulting in death can ever be considered humane) and when those methods failed to be available, no human government has ever held off on using a more barbaric act of killing in it's place. Technology will either evolve without us, or less humane methods will continue to be used. Progress is both a promise and a threat.

musage 9y ago
> Before the gas chamber was the firing squad. Before that was the noose, the axe, and the guillotine. That doesn't answer any of the questions posed.
- vorpalhex 9y ago
  Right, you need to continue reading. Even if the Gas Chamber had never been designed, those people would of still been marched outside and shot by firing squad.
  - confounded 9y ago
    “But does it scale?”
  - musage 9y ago
    Technology, and the obesssion with it and being "dynamic" was absolutely a cornerstone of Nazism. You don't know the first things about it is all.