Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by BlackFly 854 days ago
Even if you can tell with absolute knowledge that changing the graphics of that packaging increases conversion (removing the disgusting graphics of cancer patients), perhaps we shouldn't be selling more cigarettes?

Data informs your values, but your values are a choice. Already from the beginning, data will never define your values. Even with perfect knowledge, your decisions are still going to be a choice. Combine that with the fact that our knowledge is imperfect (our data is incomplete, biased, a single and partial perspective)...

"A company should seek to maximize its profits," is a normative statement, not a truth. It is a choice of values.