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My old roommate works there on a database/storage team. They are pretty insulated. He doesn't directly interface with the product-side. Sure perhaps on some lev

My old roommate works there on a database/storage team. They are pretty insulated. He doesn't directly interface with the product-side. Sure perhaps on some level he could look at his role and say he's enabling mass collection of user data. But at the end of the day he has no interaction with the actual filesystem contents or what they mean. They're just bits flying around. So, should the graphic designers of the emoji buttons feel responsible for misinformation? The CDN/network folks keeping the websites available? The janitorial and cafeteria staff for cleaning up and feeding the "monsters of humanity" ?

Benjammer 5y ago
>at the end of the day he has no interaction with the actual filesystem contents or what they mean. They're just bits flying around Whatever helps him sleep at night I guess. I doubt history will make this distinction when talking about "legacy," as this sub-thread is. >"monsters of humanity" You have to realize that this exaggeration contributes poorly to the discussion, right? Are you seriously trying to satirically hyperbolize the characterization of Facebook's effects on society in order to make it seem like people are overreacting to the whole thing? This is a wild take on the matter, to me, in 2021.
- jonp888 5y ago
  Only a few posts below this is one where someone unironically equates Facebook engineers defending their choice of employer with SS officers defending their part in the Final Solution. Welcome to HackerNews.
  - goatlover 5y ago
    More like r/news at this point.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
wdb 5y ago
Similarly to working at the database team of an online casino or gambling site. Personally, I wouldn’t want to work for such companies or FB no matter what salary.
KineticLensman 5y ago
I used to work in defence. A colleague of mine said that he didn't have a moral problem because "we didn't make things that went bang". We actually worked on training systems for soldiers. Technically, we didn't make things that went bang. But we enabled their use. So I didn't personally believe that we could escape the moral dilemma using that argument.
freen 5y ago
IBM just flipped some bits for some Germans in the 1940s. No biggie!
jacquesm 5y ago
There is this movie called 'Cube' that deals with this problem. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/ The short version is that a bunch of tech people are asked to design all kinds of man-traps, the buyer then combines the various traps in a shifting maze and the techies are kidnapped and dumped in the maze trying to survive their own creations.

Benjammer 5y ago

>at the end of the day he has no interaction with the actual filesystem contents or what they mean. They're just bits flying around Whatever helps him sleep at night I guess. I doubt history will make this distinction when talking about "legacy," as this sub-thread is. >"monsters of humanity" You have to realize that this exaggeration contributes poorly to the discussion, right? Are you seriously trying to satirically hyperbolize the characterization of Facebook's effects on society in order to make it seem like people are overreacting to the whole thing? This is a wild take on the matter, to me, in 2021.

jonp888 5y ago
Only a few posts below this is one where someone unironically equates Facebook engineers defending their choice of employer with SS officers defending their part in the Final Solution. Welcome to HackerNews.
- goatlover 5y ago
  More like r/news at this point.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

wdb 5y ago

Similarly to working at the database team of an online casino or gambling site. Personally, I wouldn’t want to work for such companies or FB no matter what salary.

KineticLensman 5y ago

I used to work in defence. A colleague of mine said that he didn't have a moral problem because "we didn't make things that went bang". We actually worked on training systems for soldiers. Technically, we didn't make things that went bang. But we enabled their use. So I didn't personally believe that we could escape the moral dilemma using that argument.

freen 5y ago

IBM just flipped some bits for some Germans in the 1940s. No biggie!

jacquesm 5y ago

There is this movie called 'Cube' that deals with this problem. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/ The short version is that a bunch of tech people are asked to design all kinds of man-traps, the buyer then combines the various traps in a shifting maze and the techies are kidnapped and dumped in the maze trying to survive their own creations.