> As software developers and designers, we have a responsibility to the world to think these things through carefully and design software that makes the world better
I’ve seen this opinion, especially in the post-2016 world. I’m not sure I agree completely. I think it totally misses the core issue, which is that somebody was incentivized to be paid to do this work. If you’re an engineer at Facebook who thinks the News Feed algorithm is tearing people apart, quitting is not going to solve the problem. Facebook has an incentive to make the algorithm the way it is. Your refusal just leads to your replacement with someone who will do the work (and get paid well for it).
That’s not to say that you don’t have a moral responsibility to stop doing work that makes the world worse. But “all software engineers in the world should refuse to work on bad things” is hopelessly naive. If you want Facebook to stop showing people crappy news, find a way to stop Facebook from getting rewarded from it. Write laws. Raise awareness. Write a competitor that does better. But refrains like these, I worry, are just hoping that everyone will commit to doing the right thing 100% of the time. There are better solutions.
I’ve seen this opinion, especially in the post-2016 world. I’m not sure I agree completely. I think it totally misses the core issue, which is that somebody was incentivized to be paid to do this work. If you’re an engineer at Facebook who thinks the News Feed algorithm is tearing people apart, quitting is not going to solve the problem. Facebook has an incentive to make the algorithm the way it is. Your refusal just leads to your replacement with someone who will do the work (and get paid well for it).
That’s not to say that you don’t have a moral responsibility to stop doing work that makes the world worse. But “all software engineers in the world should refuse to work on bad things” is hopelessly naive. If you want Facebook to stop showing people crappy news, find a way to stop Facebook from getting rewarded from it. Write laws. Raise awareness. Write a competitor that does better. But refrains like these, I worry, are just hoping that everyone will commit to doing the right thing 100% of the time. There are better solutions.