
Engineered for Dystopia - tosh
https://thebaffler.com/latest/engineered-for-dystopia-banks
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salawat
An interesting read to be sure. Definitely some valid points, However, before
we lynch or demonize the Engineers, I'd like to offer a rebuttal.

The article demonizes and laments that the Engineer has no sense of ethical
self-moderation, while not at the same time acknowledging that our society is
driven by financial success, and the incentive structure which rewards
capacity to facilitate capital growth has as it's inputs the wills of those
with the most capital at stake.

Taking the article seriously, if the Engineer is an amoral tool, the tool is
being guided by the hand that guides the majority of capital.

Mind, the Engineer is reacting to the same forces as everyone else. They have
a certain set of skills, and the willingness to apply them, and are driven by
the same desire to achieve success in life.

To make use of his/her skills to create and make real, the Engineer needs
tool, fuel, means of production, workspace, necessities of life for
him/herself and anyone else he/she works with. In our society, this is
rationed out by access to, and ability to acquire capital based on the promise
of positive value output or indirect contribution in some way to positive
value output at some time.

What the article seems to be wishing for is that Engineers stop making things
that can be used for evil. That they choose worthy outlets of their power to
utilize the technology to further anything that could potentially be used, yet
reject anything with the capacity to limit the freedom of it's beneficiaries.

I don't think _anyone_ , most of all engineers, want engineers calling those
shots. If nothing else, no one else has any conception of just how burdensome
it is to be capable of feeding forward models of your own actions through a
mind sufficiently honed with enough engineering know how. It can completely
paralyze you. The making of things is trivial. Detail and clarity of thinking
is needed, yes. However, once you start asking the really tough questions of
engineering, is where the nightmare fuel comes from.

What will other's do with what I would create? Hell, if you want a good
example of an illustrative piece of art that should be seared into every
engineer or scientist's head, look into The Protomen, Act II The Father of
Death.

Look into Dr. Frankenstein, look into Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1984 Brave New
World.

Would you prefer not to have the Internet?

Pharmaceuticals?

Gene therapies?

Robotics?

We (Engineers) hear the cries of those around us, and walk a razor's edge.

"We want safety!"

"We want convenience!"

"We want to be able to spread information!"

"We want strictest secrecy!"

"We want freedom from drudgery, misery, hunger and disease!"

"We want freedom from 'the System' being able to compel us!"

"We want to be brought together and be heard!"

"But not by them!, and don't want to be silenced."

How to hit the right balance of enablement, while keeping the worst potential
outcomes at bay? You can't account for it in the process itself, and once the
genie is out of the bottle, it's out. No going back. Once you proved it can be
done, everyone else knows they can do it.

The hardest thing as an engineer, is to use what faculties they've been gifted
with, to guide their actions in ways that keep the "me and mine's" happy and
alive without sacrificing one's conscience to the gods of financial
expedience.

As long as the survival of the Engineer, and the survival of those around them
is underpinned by fiscal constraints, Mammon will guide the invisible hand.

That's the system that we chose. This is the outcome that decision creates.

A bit fatalistic? Maybe. But it's what we've all got to work with, and
suggestions for alternatives never seem to pass the test of getting past the
action filter of political viability to gain any momentum that can produce a
successful alternative.

Do the world a favor. Get your priorities straight and communicable, and build
consensus. If you want it, it'll be made. Just don't expect the maker's to be
omniscient, or to be particularly in favor of putting their heads on the block
when someone unscrupulous comes around and starts ruining things for everyone.

