| I apologize if it appears I've stepped out of line, or if this thread has been difficult for you to moderate; that wasn't the intention. If you go back to my first comment on this post, it seems reasonably clear that my message is not particularly contentious – I'm simply suggesting that people apply some amount of ethical rigor to their work. Sadly, that message was heavily twisted in all sorts of ways that somehow fit within this site's guidelines. Ethics and politics are indivisible from the act of creating software. It clearly stands to reason that software is fractal of the beliefs of the people that create it. By placing intellectual curiosity on a pedestal above morals and ethics, HN has managed to drive away some of the most talented and credible people in the industry from this site – and to promulgate a culture of no accountability for what we do, or fail to do. I've fought year-long battles that have come close to costing me my job, just so I could prevent inaccuracies in systems that likely process your credit score. I've consciously killed projects that would disadvantage entire groups of people, no matter how technically cool or interesting they were. In much the same way that I'm not willing to negligently let someone die, I'm also unwilling to be part of the next Manhattan project – but it's becoming clear to me that I'm in the minority of the Hacker News readership that feels that way, or has ever even considered the impact of their work. Over the past ten years, the attitude of this community has single-handedly convinced me that the end of our world will be because somebody could, so they did. If we can create "deep fakes" on demand, we will. If we can patrol the border with some hastily slapped-together CV and ML, we will. If we can use deep learning to decide who will go to prison, we will. All under the guise of intellectual curiosity. I honestly believed tech was a good thing at one point in my career – now I spend most of my time building systems to protect people from my peers. I know I can't delete my account here yet – I've tried. But I've never felt more disconnected from a community I'm supposed to be a part of. |