[the_af]

> "It is immoral to not produce weapons of war for western countries and the US in particular"

I cannot imagine that a substantial "many" people believe this. How does it work exactly? If you have any expertise even adjacent to weapons building (e.g. being a programmer) and you are not building weapons for the US due to a lack of effort (as opposed to failing the interview) you're doing something immoral?

I don't think many would agree with this. I suppose his stance is somehow more nuanced? (I wouldn't agree with it either, but at least it would be slightly more reasonable).

[femiagbabiaka]

https://youtu.be/EZLr6EGGTPE?si=5ome3QBCQk20hpJD

This describes it fairly well, although I was thinking of a CNBC interview in particular. He does so many that it’s hard to catalogue.

The argument is roughly that “the west” and “western morality” are critical institutions to be protected, and refusing to protect them is immoral.

And yes, a lot of people support his ideals. Major chunks of the tech investment class, thousands of workers at Palantir, the U.S. State Department, the Acela corridor, etc. It is probably a minority viewpoint amongst normal Americans, but we’re talking about tech workers here. :)

[the_af]

Well, ok, people in the defense industry would agree it's not immoral to make weapons, and the more extremist may even call it immoral not to make weapons (though I doubt many would, this is an extreme view. I also wonder if it's truly heartfelt or simply convenient while they hold defense industry jobs, and forgotten when they start working elsewhere).

It doesn't follow at all that the best way to defend Western institutions is to build weapons.

(Yes, I realize these aren't your views and that you're merely describing them. But this Alex Karp guy isn't here to debate directly with him...)

[femiagbabiaka]

I think Karp would say that events like 9/11 or 10/7 represent attacks on the west by vicious enemies who can’t be negotiated with, and that the only way to defend ourselves is to build weapons and surveillance systems that outstrip their capacity to harm.

To your point about his beliefs not being mine, I think he has a fundamental misunderstanding of how both of those events happened, which is ironic, because the prelude and aftermath of both attacks are revisions on the same theme.

[the_af]

I just googled who Alex Karp is and... well, he has a vested interest in DoD applications. Of course he'd say this. A businessman telling us his business model is a moral imperative...

[wazoox]

> The argument is roughly that “the west” and “western morality” are critical institutions to be protected, and refusing to protect them is immoral.

"The West" as a collective lost all of the moral high ground it was supposed to have during the past few decades and particularly last year.

https://mearsheimer.substack.com/p/the-moral-bankruptcy-of-t...

[metabagel]

The moral high ground was lost when the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq on a pretext.

[BlueTemplar]

That's one that I use as an example too, but maybe only out of ignorance ? (Wasn't the Vietnam War pretty bad too ?)

Though I guess that things were quite different during the Cold War...

[femiagbabiaka]

Agreed.