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> Being as dispassionate as possible Perhaps this is the issue? I know many of us software engineers hate to hear this, but... not everything can be rationaliz
by xvector 8y ago
> Being as dispassionate as possible
Perhaps this is the issue? I know many of us software engineers hate to hear this, but... not everything can be rationalized down to cold, hard algorithms.
Most reasonable people with a shred of empathy would gladly ban censorship in China but also ban Alex Jones. Why? Because empathy tells us what is right and what is wrong.
Empathy is required to make many decisions, and ridding yourself of it in an effort to become more dispassionate does not always make you more correct.
- iamdave 8y agoThis isn't a cold hard algorithm, and my dispassionate stance here doesn't mean I'm lacking empathy-given the specific context I've brought up: there is no decision tree here being pondered. It's also not an endeavor to be correct about the matter. This is an attempt to objectively understand what appears to be an interesting dichotomy in popular responses to who we allow to be the gatekeepers of disseminated information and opinion, and what (un)enumerated power we tacitly give them.