4 ms·

Pragmatist must mean greed over morality. I don't see how you can turn a blind eye to the ethically dubious actions of the US Military.

dwaltrip 9y ago
It's unproductive to cast aside as malevolent the opinions of reasonable people who disagree with you.
- pretendscholar 9y ago
  It's unproductive to sneeringly cast aside the concerns of Google Employees as starry eyed activism but here we are. Its uncontroversial to state that the US military has committed war crimes and engaged in military campaigns across the world in spite of international law. Google is working the military to expand the capabilities to carry out these attacks and to work on these projects is to either agree ideologically that the U.S. military should have these capabilities or to turn a blind eye to its uses for a cushy salary and a chance to play with state of the art toys for your day job. Between the two, the later is far more palatable to me so I feel I'm being quite generous by labeling it as greed.
  - dwaltrip 9y ago
    > Its uncontroversial to state that the US military has committed war crimes and engaged in military campaigns across the world in spite of international law. I don't disagree with this. The question I'm trying to figure out -- which powerful nation should we look to for an example on how to do better? Also, are there are any benefits to the U.S. maintaining hegemony as the top military power that we need to weigh in this analysis? I definitely am not fully up to speed on the details of this debate, but it does appear fairly complex at first glance.
    - pretendscholar 9y ago
      Sure in the same way that the Macedonians and Mongols were good for the Silk Road, the United States and the Bretton Woods system is fantastic for international shipping and suppressing regional conflicts. Even if the US is a net positive I believe that almost none of the campaigns it has engaged in the last 20 years have done anything to contribute to that. I can't abide by that and would urge anyone with a conscience to do the same.

dwaltrip 9y ago

It's unproductive to cast aside as malevolent the opinions of reasonable people who disagree with you.

pretendscholar 9y ago
It's unproductive to sneeringly cast aside the concerns of Google Employees as starry eyed activism but here we are. Its uncontroversial to state that the US military has committed war crimes and engaged in military campaigns across the world in spite of international law. Google is working the military to expand the capabilities to carry out these attacks and to work on these projects is to either agree ideologically that the U.S. military should have these capabilities or to turn a blind eye to its uses for a cushy salary and a chance to play with state of the art toys for your day job. Between the two, the later is far more palatable to me so I feel I'm being quite generous by labeling it as greed.
- dwaltrip 9y ago
  > Its uncontroversial to state that the US military has committed war crimes and engaged in military campaigns across the world in spite of international law. I don't disagree with this. The question I'm trying to figure out -- which powerful nation should we look to for an example on how to do better? Also, are there are any benefits to the U.S. maintaining hegemony as the top military power that we need to weigh in this analysis? I definitely am not fully up to speed on the details of this debate, but it does appear fairly complex at first glance.
  - pretendscholar 9y ago
    Sure in the same way that the Macedonians and Mongols were good for the Silk Road, the United States and the Bretton Woods system is fantastic for international shipping and suppressing regional conflicts. Even if the US is a net positive I believe that almost none of the campaigns it has engaged in the last 20 years have done anything to contribute to that. I can't abide by that and would urge anyone with a conscience to do the same.