Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by DistressedDrone 1816 days ago
As a programmer with morals, I would never work in pharma, defense or media. I can't be the only one.
1 comments

I'm curious to hear to objection(s) to working in "pharma" if you have the time.
Well, it's all relative. Assuming all corporations are equally amoral (or close enough), defense means war profiteering, whereas (traditional) media is a blight on our society that has largely abandoned any pretense of social function and actively holds us back by playing on our collective fears.

On the other hand, pharma as a concept certainly needs to exist to save lives. As a Canadian, pharma is not so bad here, but I believe their existence as a for-profit* entity is contrary to the purpose of universal healthcare, which I think is a common enough sentiment. American pharma, however, actively profits from the inequality inherent to the (rather evil) lack of universal healthcare system. Any positives for society seem strictly incidental, as exemplified by the price of insulin.

I could not agree with you more regarding media. And no, not "big media" just media. It's absolutely miserable and has let us all down.

I also agree with your point regarding profiteering. This behavior can be observed in many industries, not just pharmaceutical, but it seems a more egregious violation when it affects our health or the well-being of someone we know.

Your comment grabbed my attention because I couldn't immediately think of anything to support the sentiment of it being immoral to work in the pharmaceutical industry so I was naturally curious to find out.

Thanks for taking the time to share your perspective.