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Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

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671–680 of 756 posts

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#671
post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Obviously there's the cognitive dissonance aspect to point out, but we are all doing that to some extent. Not necessarily. I mean, the people who give out an uncomfortable laugh do exhibit signs of cognitive dissonance. I don't have an issue with accepting both statements: factory farming is awful, and I still eat meat. There is no cognitive dissonance. The logic is straightforward: I do not believe that me, an indi…

Basically this boils down to "I don't feel responsible for the meat I eat being factory farmed." Not that I'm in any position to criticize; I'm in the cognitive dissonance camp. Have you considered consuming "ethical" animal products (e.g. free range eggs or whatever?) That doesn't seem like martyrdom; compared to what you want (government mandated livestock welfare) it only costs you marginally more (due to missing…

Just FYI, the designation "free range" on eggs means essentially nothing. It means the hens have access to the outdoors, but that could still mean a tiny, packed space, just missing a roof.

"Cage free" and "no antibiotics" are probably the only USDA-regulated terms worth caring about, but they're fairly low bars. "Certified Humane" designation is a higher, well-audited bar, but many farms that might qualify forgo it due to the costs associated.

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#672
post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

man look at everyone getting weird as hell about it under here. Good gravy!

This comment section is actually pretty good and it's generally well intentioned so I'm not mad but it's the same stuff every time. It's like how a tall person I know hears the same "how's the weather up there" joke over and over and got tired of it. The only thing people will say that annoys me is the "but animals eat other animals" argument from otherwise intelligent people (no worries if children say it). I've yet…

I like your 6,000 foot view.()

Most people get proseltyzed abt veg before independence. As adults, few reconsider, replaying childhood scripts.

Then, society papers over reality.

() oops just realized that tracks your tall person analogy.

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#673
post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically this boils down to "I don't feel responsible for the meat I eat being factory farmed." Not that I'm in any position to criticize; I'm in the cognitive dissonance camp. Have you considered consuming "ethical" animal products (e.g. free range eggs or whatever?) That doesn't seem like martyrdom; compared to what you want (government mandated livestock welfare) it only costs you marginally more (due to missing…

To the extent that I can, I do try to pick ethical products (like the aforementioned free-range eggs). It's not an all-or-nothing thing indeed; there's a huge spectrum between veganism and not at all thinking (or caring) about where the animal products come from. But yes, I, as a consumer, am not responsible for what is already heavily regulated in favor of factory farmers. Heard of the ag gag laws? You can't vegan t…

> like the aforementioned free-range eggs

I noted this in another comment, but the "free-range" designation means almost nothing. Hens have access to the outdoors, but that can mean a packed coop with no grass where part is missing a roof.

Look for "Certified Humane" or research the farm directly.

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#674

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is that people will be able to justify anything that is "normal". I went vegan after learning too much of how the literal sausage is made and the amount of people who have unprompted (people are weird about it so I try to avoid talking about being vegan except for mentioning it quickly while declining food) said something along the lines of "factory farming is awful but I just love bacon" and laugh is l…

I'm disconcerted from the opposite direction, because it seems people feel uncritical compassion for anything with a face, and they want to prevent suffering but instead of caring about the complexities of human anguish they seem to define it as "pain signals in vertebrates", and they call this ethics, but they just base it on vibes, and so maybe all their morality is incoherent intuition.

Maybe it's a cultural thing but I've never met anyone like you describe at all (certainly none of the vegans I've met). What you describe is obviously a dumb way to think about ethics but I'm also skeptical any significant amount of people think that way

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#675

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience is that people will be able to justify anything that is "normal". I went vegan after learning too much of how the literal sausage is made and the amount of people who have unprompted (people are weird about it so I try to avoid talking about being vegan except for mentioning it quickly while declining food) said something along the lines of "factory farming is awful but I just love bacon" and laugh is l…

They are letting perfect be the enemy of good. If they respond with "I love bacon" then tell them to eat plant-based + bacon. It's still a vast improvement environmentally than what they were doing previously.

[dead]

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#676

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you acknowledge the former but can't get past the latter. Got it. I wonder how the judges will score.

sorry for the stupid question, but what is "the former" and what is "the latter"? Did you mean I acknowledge the sentience of plants but not animals? I believe that all life might be conscious, but life that is "very different" from me I have a hard time imagining what that consciousness might be like. For animals, especially mammals, I can easily imagine what they must be feeling and empathize with them. I can under…

It's never stupid to clarify what someone means if they communicate in a way that's unclear to you.

'Former' and 'latter' were in reference to the two questions I posed to you.

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#678

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't vegetables cheaper than meat? I'd assume poor people also like the taste of meat, as was evolutionarily advantaged, not that it's the cheapest.

>Aren't vegetables cheaper than meat? Do you even do any grocery shopping where you live? Not long ago, I could get chicken for $0.99/pound, same as the cheapest tomatoes, whereas quality tomatoes sold for $2.99/pound. Now the prices for meat are up, but chicken still costs $1.99/pound[1], while decent tomatoes are $3.99/pound[2]. Even if you are thrifty and find cheaper tomatoes, they are incomparable to chicken in…

Bro you're picking the most yuppy veggies you can find to strain to make your point. "I can't just eat the cheap tomatoes, I demand the finest!"

Quit being such a fruit.

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which part specifically?

Pick one.

I can't really, because I read the whole thing and I don't see what you're saying at all. Like not even the worst one could I interpret as anti human. I don't get it.

Re: Palantir employees are starting to wonder if they're the bad guys

#680
post #662

When your mortgage, everything you eat, the clothes your wife and children wear all come from one company, it is not hard to convince yourself that "this company might not be moral, but if I weren't here, someone else would be." And most people never even consider the ethics and morals of their workplace.

they fuckin should, since most legit engineering schools have an "ethics in engineering" course
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