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I'd hope some of these employees are looking at what is happening to Ukraine and reconsidering their positions. Without weapons of your own, you're beholden to

I'd hope some of these employees are looking at what is happening to Ukraine and reconsidering their positions. Without weapons of your own, you're beholden to unfriendly nations with their own weapons. Certainly I get the sense that a lot of Ukrainians have reconsidered their own views. There's people I know who I doubt would have ever involved themselves in weapons development, who have gotten into it and related things.

AnarchismIsCool 3y ago
What's used in Ukraine today may be killing Gazans tomorrow. I'm not an absolutist, I'm still in the industry, but I have rules on what I'll build for people.
- shiroiushi 3y ago
  It might be, or it might not be. Weapons can be used for good or bad, just like most things. Also, some weapons are less useful for bad purposes than others: a missile-defense or air-defense system, for instance, isn't terribly useful for bombing civilian populations, and it's kinda hard to criticize someone for wanting to shoot down incoming missiles. Dumb bombs, on the other hand, are great for bombing ground targets, which could be either Russian invaders or cities with trapped civilians. However, if you're a SWE as many people here probably are, and you get into the business of building weapons for war, a lot of the stuff you'd work on probably isn't that useful for killing Gazans. To kill lots of Gazans, you just need things like dumb bombs, artillery shells, etc. Those things don't use software; they've been using those weapons since WWI or before. The "smart" weapons the expensive SWEs work on aren't so useful for indiscriminate killing of civilian populations: they're much more accurate, but also much more expensive, so if your goal is just to kill civilians, they're not a very good way to spend your money. It's much easier to just get lots of artillery shells and shoot them in the general direction, just like Russian troops do. Engineers in many different industries can be blamed for enabling awful things. Facebook engineers, for instance, I think have a lot to answer for, for being instrumental in destabilizing society and increasing radicalism. Engineers in the petrochemical industry have worked to cause climate change and pollution.
- petertodd 3y ago
  What I said re: Ukrainians also applies to Israelis... Israel would not exist if they weren't armed, because people - including Gazans - irrationally hate Jews and want them to cease to exist. It's a good thing that Israel has the capability to defend itself. Which means killing a lot of Gazans.
  - runarberg 3y ago
    I can’t tell if you are being sarcastic or not. But are you actually generalizing over an entire group of people who are currently undergoing a Genocide, and using that to justify their killings?
    - Tostino 3y ago
      That's what it sounded like to me. I really hope I was missing some sarcasm.

AnarchismIsCool 3y ago

What's used in Ukraine today may be killing Gazans tomorrow. I'm not an absolutist, I'm still in the industry, but I have rules on what I'll build for people.

shiroiushi 3y ago
It might be, or it might not be. Weapons can be used for good or bad, just like most things. Also, some weapons are less useful for bad purposes than others: a missile-defense or air-defense system, for instance, isn't terribly useful for bombing civilian populations, and it's kinda hard to criticize someone for wanting to shoot down incoming missiles. Dumb bombs, on the other hand, are great for bombing ground targets, which could be either Russian invaders or cities with trapped civilians. However, if you're a SWE as many people here probably are, and you get into the business of building weapons for war, a lot of the stuff you'd work on probably isn't that useful for killing Gazans. To kill lots of Gazans, you just need things like dumb bombs, artillery shells, etc. Those things don't use software; they've been using those weapons since WWI or before. The "smart" weapons the expensive SWEs work on aren't so useful for indiscriminate killing of civilian populations: they're much more accurate, but also much more expensive, so if your goal is just to kill civilians, they're not a very good way to spend your money. It's much easier to just get lots of artillery shells and shoot them in the general direction, just like Russian troops do. Engineers in many different industries can be blamed for enabling awful things. Facebook engineers, for instance, I think have a lot to answer for, for being instrumental in destabilizing society and increasing radicalism. Engineers in the petrochemical industry have worked to cause climate change and pollution.
petertodd 3y ago
What I said re: Ukrainians also applies to Israelis... Israel would not exist if they weren't armed, because people - including Gazans - irrationally hate Jews and want them to cease to exist. It's a good thing that Israel has the capability to defend itself. Which means killing a lot of Gazans.
- runarberg 3y ago
  I can’t tell if you are being sarcastic or not. But are you actually generalizing over an entire group of people who are currently undergoing a Genocide, and using that to justify their killings?
  - Tostino 3y ago
    That's what it sounded like to me. I really hope I was missing some sarcasm.