4 ms·

You might as well blame this on Tim Berners-Lee. It's just absurd, a clueless way of thinking about moral responsibility.

by slibhb 4mo ago

ben_w 4mo ago
Before Facebook subsidised the internet in Myanmar via the internet.org initiative, only 1% of the population had internet. The way Facebook chose to operate in the country made rumour indistinguishable from verified news by its users. Myanmar's Facebook community was also nearly completely unmonitored by Facebook, who at the time only had two Burmese-speaking employees. If TBL had managed to fund a huge rollout of the web, and convinced everyone that a random phpbb forum he made was filled with BBC reporters, and the defence was two full-time moderators, you can bet people would blame him if someone organised a literal genocide on that forum.
- slibhb 4mo ago
  "We shouldn't give Burma the internet because they might commit a genocide" Do you hear yourself? Let's not give them electricity and fossil fuels either. Just keep them in dark age conditions so they don't hurt anyone.
  - ben_w 4mo ago
    > Do you hear yourself? Better than you heard me, given that's not what I said.
    - solid_fuel 4mo ago
      This is an uphill battle, I'm afraid. As evidenced from their other comments, slibhb struggles a lot with basic moral concepts like "you are responsible for the things you do".
    - slibhb 4mo ago
      It's very fashionable for Westerners to evince belief in the idea that inhabitants of third-world countries have no free will and aren't responsible for their actions. We're told that everything bad that happens in those countries is due to large Western companies or a history of colonization. This is all very silly. The genocide in Myanmar (it's a civil war last I checked) isn't Facebook's fault (legally or morally). Facebook has surely made mistakes, but that doesn't make them to blame for people killing each other on the other side of the world.
      - ben_w 4mo ago
        You're still shadow-boxing with what you want me to have written, not what I actually wrote.
        slibhb 4mo ago
        I reread your posts, and no. You seem unaware of what your posts imply about the agency of certain groups of human beings.
solid_fuel 4mo ago
> You might as well blame this on Tim Berners-Lee. You clearly don’t understand this, and maybe you never will (it seems beyond some people), but moral responsibility is assigned here because of the actions facebook and their employees took. It is not assigned to Tim Berners-Lee because, again this is important, Tim Berners-Lee didn’t spend years spreading targeted genocidal propaganda in a country with a violent history and fragile peace. Hope that helps. If you still can’t understand it, I can recommend some philosophy books on morality and our responsibilities to our fellow humans.
- slibhb 4mo ago
  Based on this garbage-level post I have a strong feeling I've read more moral philosophy than you.
  - solid_fuel 4mo ago
    Great counter argument, it really illustrates your thought process - or lack thereof. It’s really sad that you don’t comprehend basic morality, but unfortunately not much can be done in cases like this. The will for change must come from within, but if you ever do find yourself feeling empathy or even sympathy for other humans I promise there are lots of resources available to help you learn and understand more about living like a responsible human. All it takes is asking for help.

You might as well blame this on Tim Berners-Lee. It's just absurd, a clueless way of thinking about moral responsibility.

by slibhb 4mo ago

You might as well blame this on Tim Berners-Lee. It's just absurd, a clueless way of thinking about moral responsibility.

ben_w 4mo ago

Before Facebook subsidised the internet in Myanmar via the internet.org initiative, only 1% of the population had internet. The way Facebook chose to operate in the country made rumour indistinguishable from verified news by its users. Myanmar's Facebook community was also nearly completely unmonitored by Facebook, who at the time only had two Burmese-speaking employees. If TBL had managed to fund a huge rollout of the web, and convinced everyone that a random phpbb forum he made was filled with BBC reporters, and the defence was two full-time moderators, you can bet people would blame him if someone organised a literal genocide on that forum.

slibhb 4mo ago
"We shouldn't give Burma the internet because they might commit a genocide" Do you hear yourself? Let's not give them electricity and fossil fuels either. Just keep them in dark age conditions so they don't hurt anyone.
- ben_w 4mo ago
  > Do you hear yourself? Better than you heard me, given that's not what I said.
  - solid_fuel 4mo ago
    This is an uphill battle, I'm afraid. As evidenced from their other comments, slibhb struggles a lot with basic moral concepts like "you are responsible for the things you do".
  - slibhb 4mo ago
    It's very fashionable for Westerners to evince belief in the idea that inhabitants of third-world countries have no free will and aren't responsible for their actions. We're told that everything bad that happens in those countries is due to large Western companies or a history of colonization. This is all very silly. The genocide in Myanmar (it's a civil war last I checked) isn't Facebook's fault (legally or morally). Facebook has surely made mistakes, but that doesn't make them to blame for people killing each other on the other side of the world.
    - ben_w 4mo ago
      You're still shadow-boxing with what you want me to have written, not what I actually wrote.
      - slibhb 4mo ago
        I reread your posts, and no. You seem unaware of what your posts imply about the agency of certain groups of human beings.

solid_fuel 4mo ago

> You might as well blame this on Tim Berners-Lee. You clearly don’t understand this, and maybe you never will (it seems beyond some people), but moral responsibility is assigned here because of the actions facebook and their employees took. It is not assigned to Tim Berners-Lee because, again this is important, Tim Berners-Lee didn’t spend years spreading targeted genocidal propaganda in a country with a violent history and fragile peace. Hope that helps. If you still can’t understand it, I can recommend some philosophy books on morality and our responsibilities to our fellow humans.

slibhb 4mo ago
Based on this garbage-level post I have a strong feeling I've read more moral philosophy than you.
- solid_fuel 4mo ago
  Great counter argument, it really illustrates your thought process - or lack thereof. It’s really sad that you don’t comprehend basic morality, but unfortunately not much can be done in cases like this. The will for change must come from within, but if you ever do find yourself feeling empathy or even sympathy for other humans I promise there are lots of resources available to help you learn and understand more about living like a responsible human. All it takes is asking for help.