5 ms·

I wonder if "Don't be evil" is still in their code of conduct...

by jedimastert 9y ago

alslsls 9y ago
Pacifism is evil.
- coldtea 9y ago
  Yeah, the untold victims of pacifism... oh, wait...
  - Turing_Machine 9y ago
    You could start with the victims of Nazi Germany. If Neville Chamberlain and his cronies had strangled the infant Nazi regime at its birth, rather than appeasing Hitler, many of those people would have lived. Instead, the appeasement just meant that the war, when it inevitably came, was vastly more horrible and cost vastly more lives than it otherwise would have.
    - portofcall 9y ago
      Are you seriously claiming that Neville Chamberlain and the UK were pacifists?
    - vixen99 9y ago
      And let's not forget people like William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy (JFK's father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon (head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush, National City Bank, and General Electric. http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of_the_europ.htm http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of... And then there's IBM whose Hollerith card system so effectively allowed the Nazis to document Jews. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/black-ibm.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bl...
      - coldtea 9y ago
        All of those are not examples of "pacifism". All those are just people who were in favor of the Nazi Germany as a model of governance and/or profiteering from it.
    - coldtea 9y ago
      >If Neville Chamberlain and his cronies had strangled the infant Nazi regime at its birth, rather than appeasing Hitler, many of those people would have lived. That wasn't pacifism. That was a mix of avoiding the cost, a miscalculated idea about the long-term plans of Germany, and being OK with having Germany thwart the reds. Not to mention that it could have been even worse for the victims if they had gone to war immediately, as they were unprepared ("Some recent historians have taken a more favourable perspective of Chamberlain and his policies, citing government papers released under the Thirty Year Rule and arguing that going to war with Germany in 1938 would have been disastrous as the UK was not ready.").
PurpleRamen 9y ago
It starts with them: https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html
- em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
  Wow, they've sure watered-down "Don't be evil": "Yes, it’s about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can." But what if your users belong to an organization known for doing bad? "But [Don't Be Evil] is also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably" But what if the law itself is evil? And what if you are acting honorably to further something evil?

I wonder if "Don't be evil" is still in their code of conduct...

alslsls 9y ago

Pacifism is evil.

coldtea 9y ago
Yeah, the untold victims of pacifism... oh, wait...
- Turing_Machine 9y ago
  You could start with the victims of Nazi Germany. If Neville Chamberlain and his cronies had strangled the infant Nazi regime at its birth, rather than appeasing Hitler, many of those people would have lived. Instead, the appeasement just meant that the war, when it inevitably came, was vastly more horrible and cost vastly more lives than it otherwise would have.
  - portofcall 9y ago
    Are you seriously claiming that Neville Chamberlain and the UK were pacifists?
  - vixen99 9y ago
    And let's not forget people like William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy (JFK's father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon (head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush, National City Bank, and General Electric. http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of_the_europ.htm http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of... And then there's IBM whose Hollerith card system so effectively allowed the Nazis to document Jews. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/black-ibm.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bl...
    - coldtea 9y ago
      All of those are not examples of "pacifism". All those are just people who were in favor of the Nazi Germany as a model of governance and/or profiteering from it.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    >If Neville Chamberlain and his cronies had strangled the infant Nazi regime at its birth, rather than appeasing Hitler, many of those people would have lived. That wasn't pacifism. That was a mix of avoiding the cost, a miscalculated idea about the long-term plans of Germany, and being OK with having Germany thwart the reds. Not to mention that it could have been even worse for the victims if they had gone to war immediately, as they were unprepared ("Some recent historians have taken a more favourable perspective of Chamberlain and his policies, citing government papers released under the Thirty Year Rule and arguing that going to war with Germany in 1938 would have been disastrous as the UK was not ready.").

PurpleRamen 9y ago

It starts with them: https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.html

em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
Wow, they've sure watered-down "Don't be evil": "Yes, it’s about providing our users unbiased access to information, focusing on their needs and giving them the best products and services that we can." But what if your users belong to an organization known for doing bad? "But [Don't Be Evil] is also about doing the right thing more generally – following the law, acting honorably" But what if the law itself is evil? And what if you are acting honorably to further something evil?