I disagree; I think that approach does not work. Building powerful tools and then using them ethically doesn't reduce the amount of "unethical evil" done by ot

I disagree; I think that approach does not work. Building powerful tools and then using them ethically doesn't reduce the amount of "unethical evil" done by others. Quite the contrary. And it doesn't deny them "spoils", as though there's a zero-sum prize, because there isn't one. If you're really good at building tools, it will result in the creation of new, powerful tools which may be wielded for good or evil. If most other actors out there will wield those tools you're building for more evil than good, the mere act of building those tools will lead to more evil than good. So I'm with cageface on this. Deciding which tools to build does have consequences, and it's other people who primarily decide how those tools will be used, not the toolmaker. Sometimes you can already see what choices others look likely to make. Some would argue this doesn't place an ethical burden on the toolmaker, because you can't and shouldn't control other people. That's a different argument though. Ethical or not, there are undeniably consequences from building tools when you can see how they are likely to be used.