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Unfortunately every thing has a bad use. Even the knife I am using to cut meat. That is not a reason to forbid it... Forbiding is not the way to go. The way to

Unfortunately every thing has a bad use. Even the knife I am using to cut meat. That is not a reason to forbid it... Forbiding is not the way to go. The way to go is to make people aware of the dangers and implications of their choices and convince them why we should avoid damaging others. Empathy is key here: just do not do to others what you do not want for you seems to me like the most basic of the rules. Imposing a view of what others can or cannot do is absurd, harmful and also we can miss all the good things we can do with things that can also be misused.

ModernMech 5y ago
No one is talking about banning anything, at least I'm not. Yes, everything can be misused, which is why it's important to at least ask the questions about how and in what ways. When some technology can be so badly misused, more so than a knife, it's important to have a culture around the proper handling of that power. Take nuclear energy for example. Yes it can be used for great evil, but we should not ban research into nuclear energy because it can be used for good as well. Nonetheless, there are still grave ethical considerations that go into producing this research. The greater the ethical considerations, the more thoroughly we need to consider all the implications of this technology, good and bad, rather than "move fast and break things". Social media is one of those things. It doesn't present itself with the same raw force of nuclear power, but it has proven to have an undeniable power over the human mind. Despite the evidence we have now, though, it still seems that ethical considerations of social media are not being taken seriously enough by the people with the most power of social media platforms, and this worries me.
- germandiago 5y ago
  > there are still grave ethical considerations that go into producing this research I would like to know which ones. If you do something to not harm, why do you have to be blamed because other misuse it? I do not think this is the right line of thinking if you mean that we should not do it just on the basis that "someone evil could misuse it". Of course, as an individual you can refuse to research if you think it can yield those results, but never blame it on a researcher that someone else misused their invention. Social media is a fight because there is an obsession for censorship from some interested parties, in part. That is why. I do not believe in those super powers as much in the sense that you can always stay away from it as much as you wish. It is a matter of self-discipline also, even if it is indeed a "powerful weapon".
  - ModernMech 5y ago
    What I have in mind is not refusing to do the research at a society level. That’s what I personally chose to do, but others may see it differently. The research will get done if it’s valuable. What I’m talking about is twofold: a cultural recognition and appreciation of the ethical issues, and secondly appropriate safeguards to prevent maluse of said technology, where appropriate. Take nuclear weapons for instance. I personally wouldn’t have involved myself in building them, but others did and here we are. We as a society don’t just let that technology run amok though. There are laws about their proliferation, organizations dedicated to keeping their use in check, and a society-level understanding that their use have such terrible consequences that they can never, ever be taken lightly. With this environment, so far we’ve averted armed nuclear conflict. But it’s important to realize this is a purposeful thing. People dedicate their lives to this pursuit. It takes effort to build this shared understanding of their dangers. I agree with you that an individual researcher is not to blame if they are doing careful, considered research. If the attitude is “the implications of my research are not my concern. That is for someone else to worry about” then I do have a problem with that. And yes, that is a real opinion I have heard expressed by a researcher in deep fakes, and it deeply dismayed me.
    - germandiago 5y ago
      I would say that if you do a research exclusively for harming that is bad. Of you do it and it can be used in several ways, some bad, but you do not do it with that ontention and someone comes grab ur work and misuses it... that is not your bad, I think. I would also refuse to be involved in programs to harm people honestly.

ModernMech 5y ago

No one is talking about banning anything, at least I'm not. Yes, everything can be misused, which is why it's important to at least ask the questions about how and in what ways. When some technology can be so badly misused, more so than a knife, it's important to have a culture around the proper handling of that power. Take nuclear energy for example. Yes it can be used for great evil, but we should not ban research into nuclear energy because it can be used for good as well. Nonetheless, there are still grave ethical considerations that go into producing this research. The greater the ethical considerations, the more thoroughly we need to consider all the implications of this technology, good and bad, rather than "move fast and break things". Social media is one of those things. It doesn't present itself with the same raw force of nuclear power, but it has proven to have an undeniable power over the human mind. Despite the evidence we have now, though, it still seems that ethical considerations of social media are not being taken seriously enough by the people with the most power of social media platforms, and this worries me.

germandiago 5y ago
> there are still grave ethical considerations that go into producing this research I would like to know which ones. If you do something to not harm, why do you have to be blamed because other misuse it? I do not think this is the right line of thinking if you mean that we should not do it just on the basis that "someone evil could misuse it". Of course, as an individual you can refuse to research if you think it can yield those results, but never blame it on a researcher that someone else misused their invention. Social media is a fight because there is an obsession for censorship from some interested parties, in part. That is why. I do not believe in those super powers as much in the sense that you can always stay away from it as much as you wish. It is a matter of self-discipline also, even if it is indeed a "powerful weapon".
- ModernMech 5y ago
  What I have in mind is not refusing to do the research at a society level. That’s what I personally chose to do, but others may see it differently. The research will get done if it’s valuable. What I’m talking about is twofold: a cultural recognition and appreciation of the ethical issues, and secondly appropriate safeguards to prevent maluse of said technology, where appropriate. Take nuclear weapons for instance. I personally wouldn’t have involved myself in building them, but others did and here we are. We as a society don’t just let that technology run amok though. There are laws about their proliferation, organizations dedicated to keeping their use in check, and a society-level understanding that their use have such terrible consequences that they can never, ever be taken lightly. With this environment, so far we’ve averted armed nuclear conflict. But it’s important to realize this is a purposeful thing. People dedicate their lives to this pursuit. It takes effort to build this shared understanding of their dangers. I agree with you that an individual researcher is not to blame if they are doing careful, considered research. If the attitude is “the implications of my research are not my concern. That is for someone else to worry about” then I do have a problem with that. And yes, that is a real opinion I have heard expressed by a researcher in deep fakes, and it deeply dismayed me.
  - germandiago 5y ago
    I would say that if you do a research exclusively for harming that is bad. Of you do it and it can be used in several ways, some bad, but you do not do it with that ontention and someone comes grab ur work and misuses it... that is not your bad, I think. I would also refuse to be involved in programs to harm people honestly.