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   Lorewegian 📚 (lore@berserker.town)'s status on Monday, 24-Apr-2023 13:59:33 JST Lorewegian 📚

   you know, your average engineer thinks much, but doesn't THINK much.

   he is smart and he solves the problem, but he doesn't question what he's doing and why he's doing it.

   • Embed this notice
     Sir Nedwood - Sydney 🇦🇺 (ned@noagendasocial.com)'s status on Monday, 24-Apr-2023 13:59:31 JST Sir Nedwood - Sydney 🇦🇺

     in reply to

     @lore it's not about the thing you make, it's how you use it.

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     Lorewegian 📚 (lore@berserker.town)'s status on Monday, 24-Apr-2023 13:59:32 JST Lorewegian 📚

     in reply to

     this is how and why Darth Vader was able to hire engineers for the Death Star.

     "eh, i'm just clocking in and clocking out. it's a job!"

   • Embed this notice
     Sir Nedwood - Sydney 🇦🇺 (ned@noagendasocial.com)'s status on Monday, 24-Apr-2023 15:45:28 JST Sir Nedwood - Sydney 🇦🇺

     in reply to

     • Atomic Birdseed

     @atomicbirdseed @lore The problem with bump stocks is their design was inevitable. Anyone could come up with that idea. It's like trying to make perfect forward encryption for chat messages illegal. good luck. The prime example for this ethical conundrum is atomic fission, or AI. should we open up that pandora box despite it's potential for unimaginable horrors? In some ways no, it's not worth the risk. But the people working on it don't see it that way do they. They think they are doing good.

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     Atomic Birdseed (atomicbirdseed@berserker.town)'s status on Monday, 24-Apr-2023 15:45:29 JST Atomic Birdseed

     in reply to

     • Sir Nedwood - Sydney 🇦🇺

     @ned @lore I was faced with questions of “ethical data analysis” some years ago, and my view was the same: it’s not the question, and it’s not the answer, it’s the what you do with the information.

     I’ve since shifted a bit, I now think you can ask if a piece of work is ethical to engage with based on likely outcomes and the decision making or functions it enables.

     A radical example: Bump Stocks were created to increase semi automatic rifle fire rates to automatic fire rates, there’s no practical domestic use beyond entertainment value. Was the risk position of these products in the wild assessed before building and productionisation? It’s the US, so what knows. After Los Vegas and 860 odd direct and indirect casualties the sale of these products was suspended, for a month, until they were used again before permanent sales suspension. There’s no governmental ban, the manufacturer decided it was unethical to continue sales, and even defended their patent to prevent another manufacturer picking it up.

     Should Slide Fire have predicted the risk the the community? Yes. Should they have done something to mitigate the risk (including filing the patents and never building bump stocks)? Well, yes. They made the right decision, but only after ~1 thousand people were injured and scores killed across two incidents.