A person is good or bad depending on their impact on the people around them; as such I don’t consider “misguided” a valid defence.
And while someone can be overall a good person while writing socially harmful and user-hostile software, because they have other qualities that compensate it, writing said software still makes them a worse person.
It’s hard to get someone to understand something when their salary depends on not understanding it
So it’s hard to be good when your salary depends on you being bad.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m analysing this through my moral views, but I don’t think that they’re the only valid ones. Your mileage may vary.
My other comment was mostly on how idiotic the whole defence is, not about morality (as this one).
I was responding to the “Look, they’re all nice people” defense you quoted, not contradicting you. I agree with you in principle.
I don’t consider “misguided” a valid defence.
My view of morality is largely centered on intent, so “I thought it would be a good thing” is a valid defence (though there is also a degree of responsibility to check assumptions; if you never made any effort to check if it actually is a good thing, that’s negligence)
So it’s hard to be good when your salary depends on you being bad.
…and by extension, when your livelihood depends on you being bad, yes. Not everyone’s livelihood depends on their salary, but for many people it does. If it’s hard to find a job that can pay the bills, I don’t fault people for the human reflex of justifying bad things to yourself in the name of survival.
(But if they do have a choice and choose to enrich themselves at the expense of others, they’re obviously pricks - just saying this might not apply to all the devs involved here).
That’s fair - and it’s clear that your moral premises are, like, diametrically opposed to mine (I completely disregard intent - for me responsibility takes the job).
I was aware that you weren’t contradicting me but this sort of discussion is fun, sorry!
A person is good or bad depending on their impact on the people around them; as such I don’t consider “misguided” a valid defence.
And while someone can be overall a good person while writing socially harmful and user-hostile software, because they have other qualities that compensate it, writing said software still makes them a worse person.
So it’s hard to be good when your salary depends on you being bad.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m analysing this through my moral views, but I don’t think that they’re the only valid ones. Your mileage may vary.
My other comment was mostly on how idiotic the whole defence is, not about morality (as this one).
I was responding to the “Look, they’re all nice people” defense you quoted, not contradicting you. I agree with you in principle.
My view of morality is largely centered on intent, so “I thought it would be a good thing” is a valid defence (though there is also a degree of responsibility to check assumptions; if you never made any effort to check if it actually is a good thing, that’s negligence)
…and by extension, when your livelihood depends on you being bad, yes. Not everyone’s livelihood depends on their salary, but for many people it does. If it’s hard to find a job that can pay the bills, I don’t fault people for the human reflex of justifying bad things to yourself in the name of survival.
(But if they do have a choice and choose to enrich themselves at the expense of others, they’re obviously pricks - just saying this might not apply to all the devs involved here).
That’s fair - and it’s clear that your moral premises are, like, diametrically opposed to mine (I completely disregard intent - for me responsibility takes the job).
I was aware that you weren’t contradicting me but this sort of discussion is fun, sorry!