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> "I think these debates tend to dramatically overemphasize the size of group one, to the point of being misanthropic ("grow a spine"?). A fundamental fact of l
by Crito 13y ago
> "I think these debates tend to dramatically overemphasize the size of group one, to the point of being misanthropic ("grow a spine"?). A fundamental fact of life is that people have vastly diverging belief systems and that those in the ivory tower don't always know what's right or best."
You seem to have not fully read my comment, or misinterpreted it.
I am not telling people who consider their (in my opinion, unethical) work to be ethical to grow a spine. Disagreeing with with other people, even me, on matters of ethics does not imply that somebody is spineless.
Performing a job that you consider unethical makes you spineless.
I am telling people to act on their own assessment of their work. Frankly I shouldn't even need to tell people that, it is practically tautological how common sense it is.
- mseebach 13y agoThe quoted line is more responding to your second paragraph, not your first: "Obviously when we tell engineers to consider the ethical implications of the project that they are working on, we are talking to the first group" No, I think when "we" tell engineers that, we're addressing a straw-man, posturing and showing off our superior ethics. Imagining that there's an audience of engineers who just need to be told that what they're doing is unethical is vain.
- Crito 13y agoThe "first group" refers to "The people who agree that the project they are working on is unethical". Telling people to, in essence, 'follow their heart' and do what they think is right is not "posturing and showing off our superior ethics". If they think that their work is unethical, then they should not do it. The third paragraph is the paragraph that endorses posturing and showing off our superior ethics.