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This is really quite offensive. One thing that I hear from foreign aid groups is requests for money. And some hardworking person is giving most of his money to

by pnathan 13y ago

This is really quite offensive. One thing that I hear from foreign aid groups is requests for money. And some hardworking person is giving most of his money to them. Well and good. I hope he can choose groups that are corruption-resistant. And this cad from the NYT claims its better to go be another aid worker and beg money than to execute what you know and leverage the power of money gained from that? Absolute claptrap.

md224 13y ago
Here's a thought experiment: Think of a large organization that you find rather immoral or generally harmful. It could be a corporation, it could be a government. Now imagine that all the employees of this organization contribute a sizable portion of their resulting income to charity. Would you feel that the employees are, overall, acting morally?
- pnathan 13y ago
  I'm not convinced that morality can be added/substracted ala forum karma, so I question the presupposition of your question. :-/ I would say, however, that a company which damaged other people's livelihoods, but on their own time worked to ensure that the displaced people had other ways to live was acting reasonable right. --- Many things we do fall in a moral grey area. Suppose my genetic computation software that I've released as open source is used to optimize logistics for (say), a concentration camp in North Korea. Boy, that makes me feel a bit ill. On the other hand, I did not exercise the choice to choose to specifically give away my software to that particular group. But it could, theoretically, be used for that: it's a github download away. Here's another one; suppose the company I work for sells devices (let's say these devices are internet routers) to Foxconn, who uses it in a plant where they work people for excruciatingly long hours. Well.... Is selling routers harmful? No. But is supporting the exploiting of the working people harmful? Yes. Can I personally refuse to work on the router? Sure. But that's a generic tech. Can I personally refuse to work on the sale? I think that's within reason, but as an engineer, I doubt I'll have that luxury. In other words, for a lot of mundane businesses, I think it's very grey.

by pnathan 13y ago

md224 13y ago

Here's a thought experiment: Think of a large organization that you find rather immoral or generally harmful. It could be a corporation, it could be a government. Now imagine that all the employees of this organization contribute a sizable portion of their resulting income to charity. Would you feel that the employees are, overall, acting morally?

pnathan 13y ago
I'm not convinced that morality can be added/substracted ala forum karma, so I question the presupposition of your question. :-/ I would say, however, that a company which damaged other people's livelihoods, but on their own time worked to ensure that the displaced people had other ways to live was acting reasonable right. --- Many things we do fall in a moral grey area. Suppose my genetic computation software that I've released as open source is used to optimize logistics for (say), a concentration camp in North Korea. Boy, that makes me feel a bit ill. On the other hand, I did not exercise the choice to choose to specifically give away my software to that particular group. But it could, theoretically, be used for that: it's a github download away. Here's another one; suppose the company I work for sells devices (let's say these devices are internet routers) to Foxconn, who uses it in a plant where they work people for excruciatingly long hours. Well.... Is selling routers harmful? No. But is supporting the exploiting of the working people harmful? Yes. Can I personally refuse to work on the router? Sure. But that's a generic tech. Can I personally refuse to work on the sale? I think that's within reason, but as an engineer, I doubt I'll have that luxury. In other words, for a lot of mundane businesses, I think it's very grey.