[JavaBatman]

The problem with "Don't Be Evil" is that it assumes everyone agrees on what the definition of "evil" is. But that is absolutely not the case. We live in a post-Christian/post-religious society where - aside from the basic human instinct of survival - no one agrees on First Principles. The dominant ideology in society now is Liberalism. And I don't mean American liberalism. I mean actual Liberalism - freedom of speech, expression, assembly, religion, etc. Because of this, there is a diversity of thought and moral relativism, so "evil" means different things to different people. A rural, socially conservative Christian's idea of "evil" will likely be very different than an urban, secular, and progressive definition of "evil." Without a dominant ideology guiding society using a set universal moral code, there will always be conflicts regarding First Principles, different sets of facts, etc.

[chickenpotpie]

We definitely don't live in a post-christian/post-religious society. Lawmakers regularly cite the bible and other religious texts when making laws.

[Flankk]

I think a socially conservative Christian's definition of evil is almost the same as that of a secular progressive. Moral relativism is about using a small grey area as an example for how the massive overlap is wrong.

[gweinberg]

Sure, but there's a huge gap between "we all precisely agree on what 'evil' means and 'nobody has a clue what evil means'.

It's pretty unreasonable for somebody to say "I personally think this is evil so I can't be fired for refusing to do it, even though I'm the only one", but it's a lot more reasonable if most people would agree that it is in fact evil.

I could see a judgement for the former employees if Google were helping an authoritarian government identify and punish dissidents. Working with US customs? Probably not.

[sophacles]

You make a good attempt at joking here, but ultimately fail. Your absurd position: "we live in a post-Crhistian/post-religious society" is just way way too far as an initial gambit. Maybe try toning it down at first? Or alternately going way further at the start. This just hits poe's law too hard.

[vineyardmike]

I agree with your point but i'm not sure i agree that people disagree on first principles that much, and i think people mostly pay lip-service to liberalism more than practice and believe it.