Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

mayrhofer.eu.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 292 posts

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#191

Post by tristanj »

qnleigh wrote: post #189
tristanj wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have thought about this a lot, and concluded that the peace we have today largely stems from all major powers having nuclear weapons, and leadership in each understanding that avoiding nuclear war is the utmost priority. All foreign policy choices are aligned to prevent military confrontation and avoid nuclear war. Thus there is an overemphasis to resolve disputes through diplomacy. But the plebeians do not underst…

Economic interdependence is also a big factor. If you depend on someone selling you things or buying them from you, you have a lot more to lose by invading them.

That's the Capitalist peace theory, proposed in 1795 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_peace_theory

It has some truth to it, but it doesn't survive looking at European history. In 1913 Germany and Britain were each other's largest trading partners, but a year later they ended up fighting each other in WWI. They fought again in WWII. Nuclear deterrence is a better explanation of post-WWII peace.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#192

Post by hhjinks »

tastyface wrote: post #162
hintymad wrote: post #123

Personally, I don't get why people blindly reject any collaboration with the military. I understand that they are pacifists, but I still don't get it. When I look at history, I see so many tragedies caused by being weak. Both Germany and the Soviet Union were able to invade Poland, for instance, and the Katyn massacre is a national scar. And who wouldn't want to defeat invaders like Genghis Khan? Have you ever heard…

I can't speak for anyone else, but as a Christian, it's really quite simple: any death that you help cause is a black mark on your soul. Maybe you can repent for it, someday. But it's not something that will just be let go when the day of reckoning comes. Incidentally, I'd feel the same way about killing someone in self-defense.

I thought accepting and believing in Jesus as Lord was all you needed to enter heaven?

John 6:40 (KJV) 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#193

Post by sevenzero »

nixon_why69 wrote: post #181
rayiner wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because Americans and many Europeans under the shield of the U.S. military and have never in their lives felt a moment of fear about external threats.[1] They never have to meaningfully confront the central fact of their existence: that they enjoy a vastly disproportionate share of the world's bounty in a way that would be impossible without overwhelming military power. I suspect people living in say Ukraine don…

The Colonel Jessup character was guarding a fence in Cuba. Seriously. Cuba. Imagine hearing that sanctimonious speech about "the manner in which I defend you" and then you find out it's a fence in Cuba. There hasn't been an existential threat to the United States since the Civil War, and that one was self-inflicted. Obviously we need to maintain a military but 99% of what the current military does is either for econo…

Isn't every nuclear bomb an existential threat to all human life? How can one say there are no existential threats while countries people consider "The Enemy" have enough nukes to kill all human life multiple times? Also global warming is an existential threat. It's really telling how little people care about the world's problems not seeing their very own existence endangered.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#194

Post by emodendroket »

hintymad wrote: post #123

Personally, I don't get why people blindly reject any collaboration with the military. I understand that they are pacifists, but I still don't get it. When I look at history, I see so many tragedies caused by being weak. Both Germany and the Soviet Union were able to invade Poland, for instance, and the Katyn massacre is a national scar. And who wouldn't want to defeat invaders like Genghis Khan? Have you ever heard…

> When I look at history, I see so many tragedies caused by being weak. Both Germany and the Soviet Union were able to invade Poland, for instance, and the Katyn massacre is a national scar. And who wouldn't want to defeat invaders like Genghis Khan? Have you ever heard of the Yangzhou massacre or the Three Massacres of Jiading? Why would we let civilization succumb to barbarism?

Well, what if people had refused to lend their talents to Hitler or Genghis Khan?

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#195

Post by emodendroket »

hhjinks wrote: post #192
tastyface wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for anyone else, but as a Christian, it's really quite simple: any death that you help cause is a black mark on your soul. Maybe you can repent for it, someday. But it's not something that will just be let go when the day of reckoning comes. Incidentally, I'd feel the same way about killing someone in self-defense.

I thought accepting and believing in Jesus as Lord was all you needed to enter heaven? John 6:40 (KJV) 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Do you honestly think you're raising a novel point and not just being trite? If so, try reading Luther's Concerning Christian Liberty, where he dispenses with this argument. Or if you want a short version of what he says, if you just claim to "believe in" God but that doesn't affect your behavior in any way, then you don't really believe.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#196

Post by ryukoposting »

zerobees wrote: post #94
localhoster wrote: post #33

Not that I care in particular But claiming that google lost it's "moral compass" just now is a claim only rich people can make because they retire, not quit. Google is literally the largest, most organized, tracking and profiling company in the world. Which they tend to grow even larger with the rise of LLMs. Turning a blind eye of that for the opportunity or whatever, and than claim that _just now_ they lost their m…

Right. I have respect for Rene, but going by the "HN quitting manifestos" like this, Google has lost its moral compass at least 50 times at various points in the last 20 years. The company is constantly changing, but also hasn't changed all that much. It always talked the talk and was eager to tell others how to behave, but was almost never willing to give up any real revenue to do the right thing. The usual justific…

Welcome to Silicon Valley. We fuck up the environment, we tear apart the fabric of democracy to line shareholders' pockets, and we knowingly build the modern tools of fascist oppression. But look at us! We elected a progressive Democrat!

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#197

Post by laughing_man »

emodendroket wrote: post #194
hintymad wrote: post #123

Personally, I don't get why people blindly reject any collaboration with the military. I understand that they are pacifists, but I still don't get it. When I look at history, I see so many tragedies caused by being weak. Both Germany and the Soviet Union were able to invade Poland, for instance, and the Katyn massacre is a national scar. And who wouldn't want to defeat invaders like Genghis Khan? Have you ever heard…

> When I look at history, I see so many tragedies caused by being weak. Both Germany and the Soviet Union were able to invade Poland, for instance, and the Katyn massacre is a national scar. And who wouldn't want to defeat invaders like Genghis Khan? Have you ever heard of the Yangzhou massacre or the Three Massacres of Jiading? Why would we let civilization succumb to barbarism? Well, what if people had refused to l…

What if you're on the receiving end and don't get a choice?

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#198

Post by nixon_why69 »

sevenzero wrote: post #193
nixon_why69 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Colonel Jessup character was guarding a fence in Cuba. Seriously. Cuba. Imagine hearing that sanctimonious speech about "the manner in which I defend you" and then you find out it's a fence in Cuba. There hasn't been an existential threat to the United States since the Civil War, and that one was self-inflicted. Obviously we need to maintain a military but 99% of what the current military does is either for econo…

Isn't every nuclear bomb an existential threat to all human life? How can one say there are no existential threats while countries people consider "The Enemy" have enough nukes to kill all human life multiple times? Also global warming is an existential threat. It's really telling how little people care about the world's problems not seeing their very own existence endangered.

All true, I meant threats in conventional military terms which our military and public rhetoric are all centered around.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#199

Post by laughing_man »

tristanj wrote: post #191
qnleigh wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economic interdependence is also a big factor. If you depend on someone selling you things or buying them from you, you have a lot more to lose by invading them.

That's the Capitalist peace theory, proposed in 1795 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_peace_theory It has some truth to it, but it doesn't survive looking at European history. In 1913 Germany and Britain were each other's largest trading partners, but a year later they ended up fighting each other in WWI. They fought again in WWII. Nuclear deterrence is a better explanation of post-WWII peace.

Yep. People want to believe this, because it means the world will generally become more peaceful as it becomes more integrated. But the numbers just don't hold up -- the closest trading partners are just as willing to go to war as anyone else.

Re: Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass

#200

Post by sevenzero »

nixon_why69 wrote: post #198
sevenzero wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't every nuclear bomb an existential threat to all human life? How can one say there are no existential threats while countries people consider "The Enemy" have enough nukes to kill all human life multiple times? Also global warming is an existential threat. It's really telling how little people care about the world's problems not seeing their very own existence endangered.

All true, I meant threats in conventional military terms which our military and public rhetoric are all centered around.

Yea I didn't consider the public rhetoric, good catch!
Post reply on HN