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by bluefirebrand 26 days ago
> I don't like putting the blame on the builders

Like it or not if you knowingly build stuff that is used for evil purposes you are complicit

You can't build an orphan mulching machine and get away with just a shrug. "I don't really agree with mulching orphans but someone else paid me to build that. If I didn't build it someone else would have" just does not absolve you of your involvement in mulching orphans

1 comments

In reality things are much more mundane. You build a custom blog framework, it can be used for good or bad. You build a better app framework, it can be used for good or bad. There's nothing you can build that will not be used by bad people. Canned food and radar came from war. Depending on which side you were, it was used to do good or to do bad. Technology is just that, technology. People are still under the marketing spell of US companies that invited engineers to "change the world". People assumed in a good way. In reality you just change the world, as the other people see fit.
All I'm saying is you don't get a pass if you helped design a missile guidance system that your government winds up using to bomb children

Or if you're involved in building out mass surveillance that male policemen use to stalk their exes

Yeah, technology is just technology but most of us aren't just working on pure tech for techs sake. We're working on products that have a purpose.