[pjc50]

The effect of tech matters. It always has. We spent much of the middle of the 20th century working out the downsides of chemical technology, and the ever present risks from nuclear physics; digital tech can have its toxic waste spills and weaponisation like everything else.

[52-6F-62]

Every time this even becomes a question, I also feel compelled to point to the same things.

Including one of my more important figures in those questions surrounding chemical technology and nuclear physics, paraphrasing an old Buddhist proverb:

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“To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven. The same key opens the gates of hell.

And so it is with science.”

Richard Feynman

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I'm continually baffled, though less surprised lately, how many people still think that they can shirk all responsibility. It's important to take time to consider what effects your work can have on the world, and not think anything and everything justified in the name of making money. At some point, we're all in it together.

[domevent]

Responsibility is hard, and most people are machines designed to find paths of least resistance.

[domevent]

You know how it goes, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

It’s all over this place, regrettably.

[mankash666]

You're completely wrong. Facebook's stock has crashed in the past week - perception very much matters. While virality is facebook's USP, there's no evidence that an alternative viral tech option would not have resulted in a similar outcome.

It's convenient to blame facebook, and ignore the goverment's actions. And it's convenient to ignore the fact that facebook is infrastructure, like roads and electricity. When bad people use roads and electricity, you do not cut it off for the rest of society, or blame the roads for bad things

[anigbrowl]

Facebook isn't infrastructure like roads and electricity because it's not neutral. I don't hate FB, but it's a privately owned platform. Real infrastructure uses protocols, not platforms.

[conradev]

> When bad people use roads and electricity, you do not cut it off for the rest of society, or blame the roads for bad things

No – instead, the government passes regulation to minimize the number of people that die on the roads. Your car needs to meet safety standards to drive on the road, it needs to be registered with the government, and you need to be licensed to drive it.

Things that become interwoven in the fabric of society don't automatically just get a free pass. I would say the opposite happens, actually.