How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
buttondown.com
How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
1–10 of 42 posts
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#2If you build the Torment Nexus, it might even be ever so slightly less tormentful[1] than it otherwise could have been because you're a good person, perhaps even slightly better than most.
This thing you eventually come to believe, of course, is exactly what one must believe for the Torment Nexus to be made.
Sure, there are structural and economic incentives that tilt the playing field, but this is the belief that is easier to accept than to turn down the high pay, deal with the hassles of insurance or lack of, or have to encounter the immigration authority.
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#3I have a friend who's working at the torment nexus factory, and whilst he knows he's helping kids getting blown to literal pieces, material conditions "dictate" him that he has little other choices besides closing his eyes and hardening his heart. Or quitting and working for someone else, but that's a tough argument to make.
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#4I have a friend who's working at the torment nexus factory, and whilst he knows he's helping kids getting blown to literal pieces, material conditions "dictate" him that he has little other choices besides closing his eyes and hardening his heart. Or quitting and working for someone else, but that's a tough argument to make.
It's telling how little discussion this post is generating on HN. Perhaps a little too uncomfortable for a large portion of the crowd?
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#5>But surely the real problem is a systemic one and you can’t blame the workers for participating. After all, they are just trying to feed themselves and get healthcare. And, that is correct, of course. What’s also correct is that systems are powered by people. They rely on the labor of people to function
That statement is pivotal and one which people really need to be called out on when they use it as a crutch.
"Don't hate the player, hate the game"... Motherfucker there's only a game because of the players!
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#6I have a friend who's working at the torment nexus factory, and whilst he knows he's helping kids getting blown to literal pieces, material conditions "dictate" him that he has little other choices besides closing his eyes and hardening his heart. Or quitting and working for someone else, but that's a tough argument to make.
It's telling how little discussion this post is generating on HN. Perhaps a little too uncomfortable for a large portion of the crowd?
I think it's just the over-simplification, not of tradeoffs of type of work vs one's own health insurance, but of just classifying some jobs as pure evil, and also the nowadays-tepid lesswrong writing style.
And no gods no masters is the sort of thing you might see someone say right before they become the leader, ban religion, and cause mass starvation.
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#7It's pretty wild that software is the only "engineering" discipline without any concept of professional ethics or loyalty to human safety that superceeds the whims of the employer.
Why do people think that is? Have there been any attempts to change this from the inside over the past decade? Where are professional associations like the ACM in all of this? It's a shameful state of affairs and reflects poorly on the whole discipline.
People who design bridges and vehicles have real responsibilities and standards they are held to, yet somehow the software that actually runs these things is exempt.
This is how Boeing negligently murdered hundreds of people with MCAS. By taking responsibility for safety away from actual engineers and misplacing it with people who write software.
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#8[deleted]
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#9I have a friend who's working at the torment nexus factory, and whilst he knows he's helping kids getting blown to literal pieces, material conditions "dictate" him that he has little other choices besides closing his eyes and hardening his heart. Or quitting and working for someone else, but that's a tough argument to make.
It's telling how little discussion this post is generating on HN. Perhaps a little too uncomfortable for a large portion of the crowd?
Usually when crazy people get on the metro and start yelling their political opinions at no one, we all know it’s best to ignore them.
Re: How to Not Build the Torment Nexus
#10I have a friend who's working at the torment nexus factory, and whilst he knows he's helping kids getting blown to literal pieces, material conditions "dictate" him that he has little other choices besides closing his eyes and hardening his heart. Or quitting and working for someone else, but that's a tough argument to make.
It's telling how little discussion this post is generating on HN. Perhaps a little too uncomfortable for a large portion of the crowd?
I believe that, especially in software, we don't ask ethical questions up front and just start solving puzzles.
If and when people start asking themselves these questions, their only options are to rationalize away the harm their work has done entirely, engage in moral relativism, or consider "the big picture" at a zoom-level where nothing ever really matters.