[hackerspaces] Out with the "hackers"... In with the, "makers" and the "fixers"

[Matt Joyce]

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.

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.

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.

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.

-Matt

On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Will Bradley <bradley.will at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
> On Nov 29, 2011 6:31 PM, "Matt Joyce" <matt at nycresistor.com> wrote:
>
>> b... b.... buy nullspace!?!
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 5:28 PM, Charlie X Wallace <
>> charlie at finitemonkeys.com> wrote:
>>
>>>   nullspace is a hacker country club
>>>
>>>  *From:* Russ Ryba <russryba at gmail.com>
>>> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 29, 2011 4:58 PM
>>> *To:* Hackerspaces General Discussion List<discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org>
>>> *Subject:* Re: [hackerspaces] Out with the "hackers"... In with the,
>>> "makers" and the "fixers"
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
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>>
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