4 ms·

Listen I don't like the ring of it either but we need less engineers building adtech and more engineers building drones and bombs. All of our rivals have absol

Listen I don't like the ring of it either but we need less engineers building adtech and more engineers building drones and bombs. All of our rivals have absolutely no qualms about using AI or other advanced technology to build weapons of war.

cyclecount 2y ago
Fascism won
ParetoOptimal 2y ago
> we need less engineers building adtech and more engineers building drones and bombs. Nope. I'll be doing neither.
linearrust 2y ago
> Listen I don't like the ring of it either but we need less engineers building adtech and more engineers building drones and bombs. The US is the largest weapons manufacturer already with the largest military-industrial complex. How many more drones and bombs do we need? > All of our rivals have absolutely no qualms about using AI or other advanced technology to build weapons of war. You act like we do. Doesn't the US already spend more on military than all our rivals and allies combined?
- nradov 2y ago
  We need a lot more. Actual US manufacturing capacity is very low. We can't even supply Ukraine with enough regular artillery shells https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/10/politics/russia-artillery-shell-production-us-europe-ukraine/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/10/politics/russia-artillery-she... The Navy's fleet is actually shrinking because we lack shipyard capacity, and can't even maintain the ships we already have. https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/navys-new-30-year-shipbuilding-plan-sketches-2-paths-for-future-manned-ship-fleet/ https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/navys-new-30-year-shipbu...
  - linearrust 2y ago
    [flagged]
woooooo 2y ago
Is there no third option here?
- ryandrake 2y ago
  Regardless of what side you are on the "warfighting software good" or "warfighting software bad" spectrum, what we really need as an industry is more individual software engineers questioning and judging the ethics of the use cases they are supporting with their software. Too many techies just want a "challenging problem" to work on, and as long as the technical problems are complex and challenging, that's where their judgment ends. We should be more willing to look at the end uses of our creations and refuse to work on things that go against our own ethics. I have quit a job where I knew that my software was going to be used by the military and law enforcement in order to target people, among other reasons. Yes, I am lucky and privileged to be in a financial position where I am free to up and quit a company, but I'd like to think that even if I weren't I'd do the right thing and refuse.
rightbyte 2y ago
There is like the middle ground of both don't do ads and don't do war, too.
- nradov 2y ago
  Unfortunately, our enemies also get a vote. Perhaps you can convince them not to do war? Because telling them not to hasn't worked. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-vladimir-putin-moscow-russia-europe-7e06c808f644679afcfe64f66bc83792 https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-vladimir-putin-moscow-r...
  - rightbyte 2y ago
    That is not an example of "don't do war" policy of the Biden admin going horribly wrong. Rather the opposite.
notaustinpowers 2y ago
So our options are either "consume consume consume" or "kamikaze drones". We're fucked...

cyclecount 2y ago

Fascism won

ParetoOptimal 2y ago

> we need less engineers building adtech and more engineers building drones and bombs. Nope. I'll be doing neither.

linearrust 2y ago

> Listen I don't like the ring of it either but we need less engineers building adtech and more engineers building drones and bombs. The US is the largest weapons manufacturer already with the largest military-industrial complex. How many more drones and bombs do we need? > All of our rivals have absolutely no qualms about using AI or other advanced technology to build weapons of war. You act like we do. Doesn't the US already spend more on military than all our rivals and allies combined?

nradov 2y ago
We need a lot more. Actual US manufacturing capacity is very low. We can't even supply Ukraine with enough regular artillery shells https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/10/politics/russia-artillery-shell-production-us-europe-ukraine/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/10/politics/russia-artillery-she... The Navy's fleet is actually shrinking because we lack shipyard capacity, and can't even maintain the ships we already have. https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/navys-new-30-year-shipbuilding-plan-sketches-2-paths-for-future-manned-ship-fleet/ https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/navys-new-30-year-shipbu...
- linearrust 2y ago
  [flagged]

woooooo 2y ago

Is there no third option here?

ryandrake 2y ago
Regardless of what side you are on the "warfighting software good" or "warfighting software bad" spectrum, what we really need as an industry is more individual software engineers questioning and judging the ethics of the use cases they are supporting with their software. Too many techies just want a "challenging problem" to work on, and as long as the technical problems are complex and challenging, that's where their judgment ends. We should be more willing to look at the end uses of our creations and refuse to work on things that go against our own ethics. I have quit a job where I knew that my software was going to be used by the military and law enforcement in order to target people, among other reasons. Yes, I am lucky and privileged to be in a financial position where I am free to up and quit a company, but I'd like to think that even if I weren't I'd do the right thing and refuse.

rightbyte 2y ago

There is like the middle ground of both don't do ads and don't do war, too.

nradov 2y ago
Unfortunately, our enemies also get a vote. Perhaps you can convince them not to do war? Because telling them not to hasn't worked. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-vladimir-putin-moscow-russia-europe-7e06c808f644679afcfe64f66bc83792 https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-vladimir-putin-moscow-r...
- rightbyte 2y ago
  That is not an example of "don't do war" policy of the Biden admin going horribly wrong. Rather the opposite.

notaustinpowers 2y ago

So our options are either "consume consume consume" or "kamikaze drones". We're fucked...