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“I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

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11–20 of 145 posts

Re: “I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

#11
post #6

As a former writer of telemarketing software it's nice to have missile guidance software developers that I can feel somewhat morally superior to. But in their defense at least missiles can be used in a non-evil way, but I'm not so sure about telemarketing software.

I am curious as to how missiles (or any weapon for that matter) could be used in "non-evil" way

Re: “I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

#13
>i don't remember what it was exactly that he said after that but he explained to us the value of considering the ethics of the software you're writing prior to writing it, and it was one of the most impactful things i ever learned in school, period

How is the US having accurate weapons unethical? These hypocrites never seem all that concerned about the war-making capacity of China, Russia, Iran, or other rogue states.

Re: “I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

#14
post #5

I don't agree with this mentality. If you are helping a dictator or authoritarian regime, sure. I think it is in the wrong side of the story. But helping out the US in developing high-precission weapons does the opposite. 1. It might save lifes, as the alternative is dumb carpet bombing. As we know during WW2, carpet bombing killed mostly civilians and destroyed cities. 2. Most weapons that the US has, are there for…

In my opinion your defense of US is completely unacceptable and wrong but i don't want to start a discussion about that: i want you to consider that in general, it's better to spend energy, focus, money and any other constructive effort in creating something that helps people instead of something that kills people, even if you consider those people bad ones. It's better to spend efforts in education and culture inste…

If everyone that is good had this mindset then the world would be ruled by the most vicious and authoritarian. The axis powers would've won WW2. Clearly some people need to work on weapons and history has shown that it can deliver net good in the world (allies victory in WW2 for example). A dose of pragmatism is sorely needed.

Re: “I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

#15
post #11
post #6

As a former writer of telemarketing software it's nice to have missile guidance software developers that I can feel somewhat morally superior to. But in their defense at least missiles can be used in a non-evil way, but I'm not so sure about telemarketing software.

I am curious as to how missiles (or any weapon for that matter) could be used in "non-evil" way

To blow up the evil people, of course.

Re: “I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

#16
post #10
post #5

I don't agree with this mentality. If you are helping a dictator or authoritarian regime, sure. I think it is in the wrong side of the story. But helping out the US in developing high-precission weapons does the opposite. 1. It might save lifes, as the alternative is dumb carpet bombing. As we know during WW2, carpet bombing killed mostly civilians and destroyed cities. 2. Most weapons that the US has, are there for…

Does this extend to all countries that the US sells weapons to? Are you happy about the use of US weapons by Saudi Arabia against Yemen, for example?

The U.S. selling weapons to Saudi Arabia doesn't harm U.S. interests in any way, but it's profitable and benefits the weapons industry, which is good from a self-defense perspective.

Re: “I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

#17
post #11
post #6

As a former writer of telemarketing software it's nice to have missile guidance software developers that I can feel somewhat morally superior to. But in their defense at least missiles can be used in a non-evil way, but I'm not so sure about telemarketing software.

I am curious as to how missiles (or any weapon for that matter) could be used in "non-evil" way

Anti-ballistic missiles seem fairly non-evil.

Re: “I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

#18
post #11
post #6

As a former writer of telemarketing software it's nice to have missile guidance software developers that I can feel somewhat morally superior to. But in their defense at least missiles can be used in a non-evil way, but I'm not so sure about telemarketing software.

I am curious as to how missiles (or any weapon for that matter) could be used in "non-evil" way

I think he's referring to putting satellites into space for civilian use, but I could be mistaken.

Re: “I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.”

#19
post #13

>i don't remember what it was exactly that he said after that but he explained to us the value of considering the ethics of the software you're writing prior to writing it, and it was one of the most impactful things i ever learned in school, period How is the US having accurate weapons unethical? These hypocrites never seem all that concerned about the war-making capacity of China, Russia, Iran, or other rogue state…

It's rather unfortunate that you have to sacrifice your HN score by recieving downvotes to fight propaganda.
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