There seem to be a lot of defensive comments, which I guess, seem to be coming from the focus on individual guilt. Focussing too much on individual choice is examining a particular solution approach and not the problem itself which needs to be solved. Lack of awareness is not a valid excuse, because even when some people speak out on the harmful consequences of technology(people have long talked about the surveillance state), they are ignored since we dont have systems in place to do a cost-benefit analysis and coordinate around a solution. Sure, there are many problems with the individual approach(what if somebody else is hired?, what if opponents develop a weapon technology?). But this only highlights the difficulty of the problem. This is why the 'we' becomes appropriate, because individuals are weak(unless they are at some critical stage).
There are potentially many developments in areas like nanotech, bioengineering, ai with which humanity might face big troubles. For this, there needs to be some strategy identifying such potential problems, and putting precautionary measures on r&d. Something like this happened with nuclear scientists hiding their research before WW2. This is harder to replicate now, with the science and engineering community distributed more widely between competing nations. So, a first step could be to acheive a shared understanding of common interests and ways to coordinate with each other.
Alternatively, energy can be poured into defensive measures for defeating harmful technologies. We already have many engineers developing counter-technologies. Also, Snowden himself was an example of exposing something which he considered harmful.
There are potentially many developments in areas like nanotech, bioengineering, ai with which humanity might face big troubles. For this, there needs to be some strategy identifying such potential problems, and putting precautionary measures on r&d. Something like this happened with nuclear scientists hiding their research before WW2. This is harder to replicate now, with the science and engineering community distributed more widely between competing nations. So, a first step could be to acheive a shared understanding of common interests and ways to coordinate with each other.
Alternatively, energy can be poured into defensive measures for defeating harmful technologies. We already have many engineers developing counter-technologies. Also, Snowden himself was an example of exposing something which he considered harmful.