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While it's unreasonable to expect too much from tech, as some of the most privileged workers on the planet, we do actually have an obligation to pay attention t
by wardedVibe 4y ago
While it's unreasonable to expect too much from tech, as some of the most privileged workers on the planet, we do actually have an obligation to pay attention to whether the mission statement of the place we work is net positive. Don't help build a corporate panopticon just because there's a big number.
- yadoomerta 4y agoThank you for saying this.
- dgfitz 4y agoAm I the only one cynical enough to think that all mission statements can be translated to: "make money" and they exist simply because everyone else does it? If google had kept the same exact same mission statement from day one, would that mission statement actually have an impact on protentional employees? Or would the court of public opinion have more sway? I can say as an n=1 data point, mission statements mean nothing to me.
- wardedVibe 4y agoyes, but how you make money is important. If there's a clear way to make money in a way that's principled, and not just "we'll figure it out later". For example, as a consumer, I trust discord somewhat more than I trust facebook, since they've clearly had a revenue stream from the beginning that wasn't (just?) exploit their users. And biotech has the potential to be significantly better, since there's a clear product. And palantir is significantly worse in that they're explicitly working to build a police state. I guess I'm saying it's important to think critically about the business case, and not just take founders at their word that they "won't be evil".