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Comment by SolaceQuantum | Hacker News Reader

If you're working on a technology that you know is created in contract with the military, is that not concerning?

I have written software that is being used by the military and I didn't find it concerning. I find the anti-military sentiment on this website more concerning.

I'm pretty liberal but I do not think the military is a vestigial organ. Your worldview is not the only worldview. Your morality is not the only morality.

When did I claim a morality or worldview? You may be reading my posts in bad faith.

Your post implies that a person ought to be concerned if the military wants to use software that person has written. To me, it seems obvious that that perspective follows from various propositions about the world and about morality.

If you meant anything other than that by your post, feel free to explain. But I don't see any other way to interpret what you wrote. I don't think I'm guilty of misinterpretation, and certainly not "bad faith" i.e. willful misinterpretation.

I meant it could be reasonable to be concerned.

Concerned why? Because of moral reasons? If not, you need to explain further.

The examples you chose (TCP/IP, airplanes, etc.) show pretty clear willful misinterpretation, and I think you know that.

i worked on software used by military police to record criminal interviews. should i be concerned that it's used by the military, or should i be relieved that the military courts have more accurate/complete recordings?

I think there should be concern that surveillance is also used by the military on leaders in progressive movements, also. Military force has been used against domestic social movements in the near past and possibly continues to be used in the present.

it wasn't surveillance software, and couldn't have been repurposed to that end. it was for recording people being interviewed in connection with military police investigations. it even did its best to prevent the investigators from tampering with the recordings. concerning, or not?

I don't understand, it wasn't surveillance, but it was for recording people?

Have you ever seen a TV show or movie with an interrogation scene? I assume that's what the poster is referring to. Not recording people in their homes or anything untoward like that

You mean the military that has helped ensure the affluence and security of the Western world? The military isn't bad just because it's the military. It serves important and necessary functions, ones that don't go away just because you want it to.

I never claimed to make a position. I merely said that maybe a position against the military is not entirely unreasonable.

"It is not unreasonable for it to be concerning." is a position, by the way.

What's your line? Do you work on contracts for police? What about the United Nations? Any government contract at all, including local? I can find examples of all of them acting against populations and causing harm, as well for good.

My line is merely understanding and allowing others to protest things they find hurtful and believing they are valid in doing so. I never said I shared this view and I'm concerned you took my words so far from their face value.

> If you're working on a technology that you know is created in contract with the military, is that not concerning?

Implies to me that I should feel bad morally. Just my reading of it, but if lots of people are reading it that way as well, you may want to work on the wording if people are attributing more than you intended.

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