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> I'm not sure there would be any emotional trauma. I'm pretty sure I will be. I work with a former Boeing employee. Him and a number of coworkers were absolut

> I'm not sure there would be any emotional trauma. I'm pretty sure I will be. I work with a former Boeing employee. Him and a number of coworkers were absolutely devastated that aircraft they sold where used to kill people. Granted, it's a small number of data points but I would be pretty upset knowing something I designed killed people.

anthonyb 15y ago
Really? If you help design a military plane, it's going to be used to kill people at some point, surely? Seems a bit odd that you wouldn't be prepared for that.
- Groxx 15y ago
  What if you designed a cargo plane, or engines for commercial jets, which ended up being / being on bombers? Boeing doesn't just make military planes. Or a simpler case: what about those who made planes that got hijacked, maybe even flown into buildings?
  - anthonyb 15y ago
    Sure, but we're talking in the context of engineers and defence technology. Boeing is a large military contractor, so there's not much question that the work that you do for Boeing as an engineer working on planes is going to be used by the military.
    - Groxx 15y ago
      The one explicit context to this whole thread is this: >... one of the directors of the program, Dale Dougherty, was quick to point out that the students will not be building weapons for the military. The only place I can see actual weapon-engineer context is in rdouble's example - elsewhere there's been plenty of room for non-weapon interpretation. "Military plane" came out of nowhere, except that Boeing makes them, as well as many other non-military planes. It even seems reasonable to me to think that Boeing makes more commercial products (and employs more making them), so an average Boeing engineer may simply never touch or create tech for the military. I have no numbers to that effect though, so I could be off. But why would there be 'not much question' that a 7X7-line engineer would have worked on a military plane?
      - anthonyb 15y ago
        So if you work on a civilian aircraft, which is later repurposed for a military use, why would you be "devastated"? That part makes no sense to me - since it's nothing to do with the engineer in question, and they had no part in the decision.
        Groxx 15y ago
        You may be too much of an engineer, then :) Some people react that way, some don't. Emotions aren't always rational.
        epochwolf 15y ago
        > why would you be "devastated"? Because they feel like they contributed directly to the death of another human being.
        anthonyb 15y ago
        But I bet they keep driving their car. How many Iraqi and Afghani civilians have been killed so far by the US? That's a far more direct contribution to human suffering.

anthonyb 15y ago

Really? If you help design a military plane, it's going to be used to kill people at some point, surely? Seems a bit odd that you wouldn't be prepared for that.

Groxx 15y ago
What if you designed a cargo plane, or engines for commercial jets, which ended up being / being on bombers? Boeing doesn't just make military planes. Or a simpler case: what about those who made planes that got hijacked, maybe even flown into buildings?
- anthonyb 15y ago
  Sure, but we're talking in the context of engineers and defence technology. Boeing is a large military contractor, so there's not much question that the work that you do for Boeing as an engineer working on planes is going to be used by the military.
  - Groxx 15y ago
    The one explicit context to this whole thread is this: >... one of the directors of the program, Dale Dougherty, was quick to point out that the students will not be building weapons for the military. The only place I can see actual weapon-engineer context is in rdouble's example - elsewhere there's been plenty of room for non-weapon interpretation. "Military plane" came out of nowhere, except that Boeing makes them, as well as many other non-military planes. It even seems reasonable to me to think that Boeing makes more commercial products (and employs more making them), so an average Boeing engineer may simply never touch or create tech for the military. I have no numbers to that effect though, so I could be off. But why would there be 'not much question' that a 7X7-line engineer would have worked on a military plane?
    - anthonyb 15y ago
      So if you work on a civilian aircraft, which is later repurposed for a military use, why would you be "devastated"? That part makes no sense to me - since it's nothing to do with the engineer in question, and they had no part in the decision.
      - Groxx 15y ago
        You may be too much of an engineer, then :) Some people react that way, some don't. Emotions aren't always rational.
      - epochwolf 15y ago
        > why would you be "devastated"? Because they feel like they contributed directly to the death of another human being.
        anthonyb 15y ago
        But I bet they keep driving their car. How many Iraqi and Afghani civilians have been killed so far by the US? That's a far more direct contribution to human suffering.