For the 25 years I was a software engineer, I refused to work on software whose application was immoral (e.g., it monetized destroying privacy or it enabled the tracking of all a person's contacts or exchanges or it made the slaughter of animals more efficient), and I had to quit a few jobs in the process when decisions up top turned neutral work into evil work. Over the course of my career I knew hundreds of engineers and I never met a single other one who cared about the implications of their work on society. In conversations, when I would mention how software "features" could be misused, when I discussed how software gives people more power and that puts the onus on the user to be ethical, but power corrupts, when I posited how our product could be misused, say, against our domestic population, inevitably my colleagues would shrug. "But it's cool," they would say. I would raise the principle that without enablers, evil people in power can't implement their nefarious schemes. "If I don't write it, someone else will," they would say, "I might as well profit from it." I never met a colleague who cared. Eventually I reached a point where I couldn't even find a job anymore where the product was morally neutral and I left the field.
"You can't stop progress," they say, without examining what they define as "progress." So much facile thinking.
I read a headline in the WSJ today that Houti terrorism in the Red Sea is hampering repair to the cables that carry international web traffic. People who aren't in technology aren't aware how vulnerable the whole system is, how the electric grid and the internet have surprisingly few points of failure, and what the ramifications of a disruption would be, given that we have become completely dependent on electricity and the internet for just about everything. When I left software, I went to the Maine woods, where we frequently lose both electricity and internet. I learned preindustrial skills. Is that going to keep me safe? I don't think so.
I actually think our biggest danger soon will be violence. The internet has enabled the worst in propaganda, it has divided the country — the world — with lies and stoked their fears. As resources get tighter, as weather gets worse, there's going to be a lot of murder and war. It will be part of how the earth rights itself, textbook Malthus. Our system, which we have so "intelligently" devised for its cool factor, our system which is so out of control, is going to be a big part of what wipes out most of humanity, brings us back to a few scattered groups of at most a few hundred souls each, just like when humans first developed. And when we are out of the way, the earth will heal.
I wish we were more intelligent, I wish more people in positions of power would make wise decisions for the good of all creatures and the land, but I am sure we are going to continue on our course as long as there is a drop of oil to sell, a people to squeeze, a resource to steal, a profit to be got. But the earth thinks in geological time, and she seeks balance. She will find it.
Wonderful essay! It was the headline that drew me in. Like you, recovering from a recent illness, all symptoms gone -- except the fatigue. So many things I "should have done" today, good things, things that might make the world or at least my world a little easier, safer, more integrated. Today I couldn't overcome the forces of inertia and got "stuck on the sidewalk, unable to cross the street." Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Thank you for reigniting my memories of growing up outside NYC (northern NJ) and my feisty, tough little grandmother taking me and my sister to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockets or to Times Square to see a Broadway show. I try to do as much for my grandchildren, show them the world but also make them appreciate what we've still got here in Maine (in places, at times) that is so precious.
For the 25 years I was a software engineer, I refused to work on software whose application was immoral (e.g., it monetized destroying privacy or it enabled the tracking of all a person's contacts or exchanges or it made the slaughter of animals more efficient), and I had to quit a few jobs in the process when decisions up top turned neutral work into evil work. Over the course of my career I knew hundreds of engineers and I never met a single other one who cared about the implications of their work on society. In conversations, when I would mention how software "features" could be misused, when I discussed how software gives people more power and that puts the onus on the user to be ethical, but power corrupts, when I posited how our product could be misused, say, against our domestic population, inevitably my colleagues would shrug. "But it's cool," they would say. I would raise the principle that without enablers, evil people in power can't implement their nefarious schemes. "If I don't write it, someone else will," they would say, "I might as well profit from it." I never met a colleague who cared. Eventually I reached a point where I couldn't even find a job anymore where the product was morally neutral and I left the field.
"You can't stop progress," they say, without examining what they define as "progress." So much facile thinking.
I read a headline in the WSJ today that Houti terrorism in the Red Sea is hampering repair to the cables that carry international web traffic. People who aren't in technology aren't aware how vulnerable the whole system is, how the electric grid and the internet have surprisingly few points of failure, and what the ramifications of a disruption would be, given that we have become completely dependent on electricity and the internet for just about everything. When I left software, I went to the Maine woods, where we frequently lose both electricity and internet. I learned preindustrial skills. Is that going to keep me safe? I don't think so.
I actually think our biggest danger soon will be violence. The internet has enabled the worst in propaganda, it has divided the country — the world — with lies and stoked their fears. As resources get tighter, as weather gets worse, there's going to be a lot of murder and war. It will be part of how the earth rights itself, textbook Malthus. Our system, which we have so "intelligently" devised for its cool factor, our system which is so out of control, is going to be a big part of what wipes out most of humanity, brings us back to a few scattered groups of at most a few hundred souls each, just like when humans first developed. And when we are out of the way, the earth will heal.
I wish we were more intelligent, I wish more people in positions of power would make wise decisions for the good of all creatures and the land, but I am sure we are going to continue on our course as long as there is a drop of oil to sell, a people to squeeze, a resource to steal, a profit to be got. But the earth thinks in geological time, and she seeks balance. She will find it.
Brilliant essay, K! Restacking to Notes where everyone can read and learn from it.
Wonderful essay! It was the headline that drew me in. Like you, recovering from a recent illness, all symptoms gone -- except the fatigue. So many things I "should have done" today, good things, things that might make the world or at least my world a little easier, safer, more integrated. Today I couldn't overcome the forces of inertia and got "stuck on the sidewalk, unable to cross the street." Maybe tomorrow will be better.
Thank you for reigniting my memories of growing up outside NYC (northern NJ) and my feisty, tough little grandmother taking me and my sister to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockets or to Times Square to see a Broadway show. I try to do as much for my grandchildren, show them the world but also make them appreciate what we've still got here in Maine (in places, at times) that is so precious.
Loved this piece! Thank you!
Your blog leads to much thought and wonderful comments. Thanks!