And as I said earlier... by all means DO THAT. But I don't want you to write off all forms of government research or service simply because of the nebulous fear your work may be misused by others. You need to choose the path that's right for you. We all have differing moral compasses and we all see the options before us from a different perspective. But we do each and every one of us need to take some time occasionally to reflect upon the work we do and whether or not we really do believe in it.<br>
<br>I have a general rule of thumb when it comes to making tough decisions. Make the best choice I can at the time. Go with it until I have reason enough not to. If it turns out for the worst, I may not be happy about it, but I can't regret making the choice I did, because at the time I believed it was the best choice I could make.<br>
<br>Does that work in practice... for the most part it does. But as I said... it doesn't mean you are happy with the choices you make. It just means you have one less regret ripping you apart should things go to hell.<br>
<br>I think that's the best any of us can really hope for. Spider man was right... with great power comes great responsibility. We live today. And because of that we are responsible for what we do. But we can't let that paralyze us either. Hackers gotta hack.<br>
<br>-Matt<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Will Bradley <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bradley.will@gmail.com">bradley.will@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<p>You can throw slippery slope arguments and justifications at it, but in my mind the instant you aren't honest with yourself about the human impact of your work, both potential and actual, or when you start accepting support from organizations with agendas, you'll wake up a few years later with an Einstein-sized moral quandry. "I didn't know they'd use it for evil!" or "I didn't think they'd actually do it!" are the kinds of things people like us say when we realize we've enabled... oh, every truly horrible thing in the past century.</p>
<p>I'm not saying don't make axes because axes can be used as weapons. I'm just saying we have a lot of power and we have to be mindful of how it's being used. Maybe you can justify working on drones, even weaponized drones... but if the government came to me and asked me to make drones for them, I'd have a pretty good idea of what they'd be used for. The search and rescue industry doesn't have billions of dollars to throw around.</p>
<p>Adolf Eichmann didn't feel any guilt for coordinating the Holocaust; he just coordinated. His superiors just suggested. Those below him were just following orders. Spread the responsibility thin enough and it's very easy for the human race to justify atrocities.</p>
<p>I just don't want to wake up in a world where a hackerspace's logo is on some shrapnel lodged in another hacker's face.</p><div><div></div><div class="h5">
<div class="gmail_quote">On Nov 29, 2011 6:31 PM, "Matt Joyce" <<a href="mailto:matt@nycresistor.com" target="_blank">matt@nycresistor.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
b... b.... buy nullspace!?!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 5:28 PM, Charlie X Wallace <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:charlie@finitemonkeys.com" target="_blank">charlie@finitemonkeys.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="FONT-FAMILY:'Courier New';COLOR:#000000;FONT-SIZE:10pt">
<div>nullspace is a hacker country club</div>
<div style="FONT-STYLE:normal;DISPLAY:inline;FONT-FAMILY:'Calibri';COLOR:#000000;FONT-SIZE:small;FONT-WEIGHT:normal;TEXT-DECORATION:none">
<div style="FONT:10pt tahoma">
<div> </div>
<div style="BACKGROUND:#f5f5f5">
<div><b>From:</b> <a title="russryba@gmail.com" href="mailto:russryba@gmail.com" target="_blank">Russ Ryba</a> </div>
<div><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, November 29, 2011 4:58 PM</div>
<div><b>To:</b> <a title="discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org" href="mailto:discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org" target="_blank">Hackerspaces General Discussion
List</a> </div>
<div><b>Subject:</b> Re: [hackerspaces] Out with the "hackers"... In with the,
"makers" and the "fixers"</div></div></div>
<div> </div></div>
<div style="FONT-STYLE:normal;DISPLAY:inline;FONT-FAMILY:'Calibri';COLOR:#000000;FONT-SIZE:small;FONT-WEIGHT:normal;TEXT-DECORATION:none"><div>This
is an interesting thread. Personally I've started explaining it to people
as a community workshop to avoid having to explain the whole hacker / maker
thing that this thread is full of. Everyone gets it, but it has
significantly less glamour compared to hackerspace or makerspace.
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
</div><p>
</p><hr><div>
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