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And yet it has primarily been a negative so far with terrible stewards, so forgive me for not being so optimistic.

Of course it is, because our society is pretty much structured to place sociopaths on top. Why is it at all surprising that any technological advancement is going to be used by them in a way that doesn't benefit the rest of us?

But it's equally obvious that this has nothing to do with the tech itself.

If the tech enables certain behaviors then it can’t be casually divorced from a discussion of how people use it. “Tech” isn’t inherently neutral. It’s made by people with intent for a purpose and how else it can be used must also be considered.

This is like separating “the use case” of killing people from guns and still trying to have a coherent discussion about them. You simply can’t handwave it away with “well that’s not the tool’s fault.” It’s unproductive and sidesteps the conversation.

Killing things is literally the sole purpose of guns, though.

And even then we still need them because sometimes you do need to kill someone who's trying to kill you, which is not morally wrong.

The question, again, is how they are used.

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