
It's not as bad, nor as good, as you think - beepp
https://medium.com/@ccneill/its-not-as-bad-nor-as-good-as-you-think-cb65aa75a798#.3m0s63qka
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coldtea
> A robot or algorithm can only “take” a job if a human builds a
> robot/algorithm capable of it. A human can only build such a robot/algorithm
> if they have at least some vague notion that it won’t wildly hurt their
> fellow citizens, or if they are a sociopath.

Or, you know, if there’s profit to be made by it.

Besides the “hurt” would never register as something directly done by one
human to another (the programmer just does his/her job as best as they can,
it’s not their fault if the new process costs jobs).

And even if there’s any hint of self-doubt about the human cost of what the
developer does, there are tons of excuses to cover it up (e.g.

Tons of factories have been outsourced to China or wherever with the same
ease, leaving behind ghosts of ex-industrial towns and hurting tons of people
in the process (who in their late 40s or 50s can hardly find another job), and
those profiting from it do it without blinking twice.

The “Banality of Evil” book (and tons of psychological experiments like the
Milgram experiment) showed that it doesn’t take a sociopath or a some special
monster to “hurt another human”, just someone doing their job when its
socially perceived as OK is enough. Not that we didn’t already knew that from
real life experience…

~~~
beepp
If you re-read the quote you pasted, you'll see that I accommodate your point
of view (I think) - they human in your scenario BELIEVES that they do no
wrong. I am trying to at least ask the question, "are you sure about that?"

