> At the end of the day is anyone arguing it was a bad thing that the Americans got to the bomb (and used it) before the Germans The moral justification for th

> At the end of the day is anyone arguing it was a bad thing that the Americans got to the bomb (and used it) before the Germans The moral justification for the bomb was a concern that Germany was working on a similar project after they stopped exports of uranium[1]. Japan and Russia had little to do with the decision. In fact, several people working on the Manhattan project later commented they regretted the decision to develop the bomb, especially after hostilities ended in the European Theater abating the threat of Nazi Germany developing the bomb first. Feynman has commented[2] specifically that his focus on the work had totally blinded him to this change in moral justification. "What I did immorally, I would say, was not to remember the reason I said I was doing it, so that when the reason changed, which was that Germany was defeated, not the single thought came to my mind at all about that; that that meant now that I had to reconsider why I'm continuing to do this." Just because something is possible doesn't mean it should be done, even if there was a justification in the past. Also, the tools that the NSA wields may not be as bloody - with some exceptions[3] - but the cost in terms of the number of people affected already exceeded the losses due to the bomb, and will continue to grow in the future. Personal-scale tools that can do their work mostly hidden from public view have very little cost to the attacker. People notice and might get angry about using the bomb, while blackmail, threats, and bribery can continue for years and years before enough people notice. (and small casual racism or sexism can continue for centuries, even after people start to think the problem is "fixed") [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szil%C3%A1rd_letter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szil%C3%A1rd_l... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgaw9qe7DEE#t=986 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgaw9qe7DEE#t=986 [3] http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-strikes-kill-1147 http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/24/-sp-us-drone-...