[genghisjahn]

Maybe think of it this way, if you were a construction worker and helped build an interstate, you'd be helping all sorts of criminals do all sorts of horrible things. Plus innocent people would die in car crashes on the road you helped to build. But we can agree that the utility of an interstate far outweighs these drawbacks.

[nekopa]

I get the analogy, but it just doesn't quite... fit this problem for some reason (maybe because there are a lot of crimes I feel aren't crimes, and crashes are just random fate most of the time).

Plus I could think of numerous ways to argue against the analogy that would literally make me sound like a "think of the children!" person...

Maybe I just need to think more about my internal attitudes and justifications for certain things in a more critical, rational way.

Thank you for giving me food for thought.

[genghisjahn]

I'm still chewing on this myself. The previous interstate analogy was more of a, "I think I think this."

[nekopa]

Fair enough.

[scholia]

The Interstate analogy was used to encourage the adoption of the Internet.

Al Gore Senior "was instrumental in sponsoring and enacting the legislation creating the Interstate Highway System". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gore,_Sr.

Al Gore Junior, the former US vice president, "promoted legislation that funded an expansion of the ARPANET, allowing greater public access, and helping to develop the Internet". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore_and_information_techno...

Al Gore certainly saw the parallels with what his father had done, and the "information superhighway" phrase was a direct reference.

[bitcuration]

When internet first appeared many years ago, it was labelled the "bad" thing too, still is in many parts of world. The "think of ..." is not new and has always been in human history every time there is something new.

Back then, Internet literally made many bad things easier and harder for law and law had to adapt.

You get the point. Why do you think internet today is going back to Aol, technology is always a result of culture.