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The tools I love are made by awful people

ankursethi.com

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Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#21

Post by imgabe »

dheerajvs wrote: post #6
imgabe wrote: post #4

There’s this modern affliction where people believe they are morally responsible for the actions of every person they buy anything from. For your own sanity, please let this go. You are responsible for your own actions. If you buy a pen from a psychopath and he uses the money to buy a bullet and shoot someone, that’s not your fault. He’s responsible for his actions. It’s like everyone somehow forgot that other humans…

While I agree with the sentiment, just out of curiosity, would you buy a Tesla if it meets your needs and even if you disapprove of Elon's actions?

Yes. If you determine a Tesla is the best car to fit your needs, there are far better ways to influence Elon's actions than depriving yourself of the best car for you. You could write your Senator / Congressperson to support laws that would curtail Elon's actions. You could speak publicly and propose better things than what Elon is doing or publicize how and why they're harmful, etc. Buying or not buying a Tesla is very unlikely to influence Elon at all.

Also consider: There are thousands of employees at Tesla and thousands of shareholders. Do you also need to individually vet every one of their opinions before you enrich them by buying a Tesla? What if they don't all have the same opinion? Are you supposed to take a poll and go with the majority? This is silly.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#22

Post by ninetyninenine »

imgabe wrote: post #4

There’s this modern affliction where people believe they are morally responsible for the actions of every person they buy anything from. For your own sanity, please let this go. You are responsible for your own actions. If you buy a pen from a psychopath and he uses the money to buy a bullet and shoot someone, that’s not your fault. He’s responsible for his actions. It’s like everyone somehow forgot that other humans…

I feel the opposite. I feel I am responsible if I know the psychopath will use the money to buy a bullet and shoot someone.

I think what you're not realizing is that most people don't care. They don't care and they don't think about it. They just scaffold really weak logic to justify the whole thing and then go about their day. So when you ask them they have convoluted reasoning why they're ok with it. This blog post is that convoluted reason.

Ultimately the real reason is that we just don't care.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#23

Post by adastra22 »

akho wrote: post #20

> Things will only change when democratically elected governments across the world step in with regulation, drag Big Tech through the courts, and fine them billions of dollars. How will that help you install Linux.

How will it help anything, really? The law of unintended consequences will strike once again.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#24

Post by safety1st »

Animats wrote: post #8

I've been entirely on Linux for over fifteen years now. And I used to develop for Win32.

Same here! I'd love to know why the author keeps crawling back to Mac after trying Linux. I feel grateful that Linux exists and would never contemplate moving away from it. I totally understand that I am an esoteric techie and other people may have different experiences, of course. But in the ~14 years Linux has been my daily driver, it has improved so much.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#26

Post by eggnet »

cweagans wrote: post #19
mastazi wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can be pragmatic and choose not to buy from certain companies whose behaviour you consider egregious, while at the same time not having to worry about each single expense you make. Deciding what bank you will get your home loan from -> not something you do every day, it's ok to do some research Deciding what cafe you will get your next lungo from -> not worth your time

Isn’t that the same as “just avoid things you’re morally opposed to as time and energy allows”? Why even bother with taking a moral stand if you only do it when it’s convenient?

The definition of slippery slope, right here.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#28

Post by spaqin »

The part about melding human and machine feels awfully pretentious.

Just use the tools that let you be productive. It's okay to separate the art from the artist. And if you really do care about the global well-being, then... force yourself to the switch (for the moral greater good, after all!) and don't complain about it on the internet?

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#29

Post by Epa095 »

cweagans wrote: post #19
mastazi wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can be pragmatic and choose not to buy from certain companies whose behaviour you consider egregious, while at the same time not having to worry about each single expense you make. Deciding what bank you will get your home loan from -> not something you do every day, it's ok to do some research Deciding what cafe you will get your next lungo from -> not worth your time

Isn’t that the same as “just avoid things you’re morally opposed to as time and energy allows”? Why even bother with taking a moral stand if you only do it when it’s convenient?

It's less of 'when it's convenient' and more 'when it's worth the effort'. Perfection is the enemy of good and all that.

Re: The tools I love are made by awful people

#30

Post by realusername »

lenkite wrote: post #12

I would love it if I could use Linux on the Desktop. Windows 11 feels a practical joke played on humanity by Nadella. The new Macbooks have amazing hardware, but the software quality has deteriorated considerably - even spotlight has bugs nowadays. However, I need basic sleep/restore to work on my laptop - and it feels like this is a Mars-mission-effort level problem for Linux to solve. If the Linux Software Foundati…

It depends on your laptop probably, I don't have any issue with sleep/suspend with my thinkpad.

I do think that power management isn't there yet though on the other hand.

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