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Reminds me of the song about Wernher von Braun who built rockets for the Nazis and the US. ”Don't say that he's hypocritical Say rather that he's apolitical ’O

by pimmen 7y ago

Reminds me of the song about Wernher von Braun who built rockets for the Nazis and the US. ”Don't say that he's hypocritical Say rather that he's apolitical ’Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department’ says Wernher von Braun” I think we tech people need to be more interested in what the technology we build ultimately will be used for. I’m not saying we should be paralyzed before every task out of worry, or that we can be morally perfect, but I don’t think we should just throw our hands in the air and pretend that only the person pulling the trigger could’ve done differently.

abraae 7y ago
> I think we tech people need to be more interested in what the technology we build ultimately will be used for. I don't think that's a universally sound position, unless you hold extremely pacifist views. It's too hard to predict the end game for military technology, given that the world is full of bad guys. Should techies work on rockets/guns/missiles? Yes - your country might need them to defend itself against an invading force, or even to menace/subdue a threatening force. Perhaps one day, far in the future, your country will need those weapons when it joins a coalition to invade an otherwise peaceful country that refuses to stop burning fossil fuels.
- pimmen 7y ago
  I’m willing to concede that it can be hard to speculate what the technology will be used for, but sometimes it’s very easy. Wernher von Braun knew about the Holocaust and that the missiles he built was going to be used by the same regime. The person who works at Facebook in the comment I responded to, who doesn’t want to get all political and just write code, could still have heard about what the technology is used for. Once you have confirmation that what you build will be used for harm I think you should reflect on that. Sure, it might be that the technology is used for so much good that you can defend building it even if it’s also used for harming people, and that’s good. As long as you actually did some thinking and didn’t just say ”I don’t really care about all the bad stuff it’s used for, I just want to make cool code”.
  - wpietri 7y ago
    Totally. If we are building a technology that could be used for good or bad, I think it's especially important that we find out which, rather than just throwing up our hands and cashing the paycheck.
- ryandrake 7y ago
  The phrase “your country” complicates things even more. Suppose you have an engineer born in Country A, lived most of his life in Country B, currently works in Country C, for a company based in Country D, on technology being sold to Country E. How should that employee think about country loyalty and the potential applications of his code? I think a good rule of thumb could be: Ask yourself how you would feel if the software you are writing were deployed against you? In other words if the designed purpose of your software application results in winners and losers, put yourself in the shoes of the loser. I think we would have a lot fewer people willing to work on weapons if everyone thought about this a little.

by pimmen 7y ago

abraae 7y ago

> I think we tech people need to be more interested in what the technology we build ultimately will be used for. I don't think that's a universally sound position, unless you hold extremely pacifist views. It's too hard to predict the end game for military technology, given that the world is full of bad guys. Should techies work on rockets/guns/missiles? Yes - your country might need them to defend itself against an invading force, or even to menace/subdue a threatening force. Perhaps one day, far in the future, your country will need those weapons when it joins a coalition to invade an otherwise peaceful country that refuses to stop burning fossil fuels.

pimmen 7y ago
I’m willing to concede that it can be hard to speculate what the technology will be used for, but sometimes it’s very easy. Wernher von Braun knew about the Holocaust and that the missiles he built was going to be used by the same regime. The person who works at Facebook in the comment I responded to, who doesn’t want to get all political and just write code, could still have heard about what the technology is used for. Once you have confirmation that what you build will be used for harm I think you should reflect on that. Sure, it might be that the technology is used for so much good that you can defend building it even if it’s also used for harming people, and that’s good. As long as you actually did some thinking and didn’t just say ”I don’t really care about all the bad stuff it’s used for, I just want to make cool code”.
- wpietri 7y ago
  Totally. If we are building a technology that could be used for good or bad, I think it's especially important that we find out which, rather than just throwing up our hands and cashing the paycheck.
ryandrake 7y ago
The phrase “your country” complicates things even more. Suppose you have an engineer born in Country A, lived most of his life in Country B, currently works in Country C, for a company based in Country D, on technology being sold to Country E. How should that employee think about country loyalty and the potential applications of his code? I think a good rule of thumb could be: Ask yourself how you would feel if the software you are writing were deployed against you? In other words if the designed purpose of your software application results in winners and losers, put yourself in the shoes of the loser. I think we would have a lot fewer people willing to work on weapons if everyone thought about this a little.