An ethical question...
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Or rather a question about your ethics. Do you have a particularly strong moral stance which dictates which industries, no matter what the reward, you will and won't work in? For example, in my time I've worked in (amongst other things) tobacco and gaming - two industries which a lot of people find highly objectional - which I had no problem with morally and was ultimately very comfortable with. However, I would not want to be involved with a company that manufactures or supplies arms and armaments or a company that specialises in the production of films of dubious artistic merit. There's my, slightly morally ambiguous, line. To broaden the scope a little, are there any tasks that your current employer could set that would see you quit? Example: if you were asked to develop a secret program to spy on your user's activities (effectively spy-ware whose results would be for the sole consumption of your employer) would you be happy to do it, or would you feel compelled to find employment elsewhere?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
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Yes, OK. But what happens when they pass a law that you don't agree with, or that breaks your moral code?
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”
I'm sure there are many laws that I do not agree with. If I feel strongly enough about these laws I'll work within our democratic system to change said laws. However, as a developer (for a corporation) I take my projects as they come and as long as they are legal... I do them. As for my moral code... well let's just say I'm not naive. Weapons are a part of all human societies and always have been. Sometimes having the better weapon makes the difference between a society's survival and extinction. It's foolish to think "the other guy" has the same moral code as you.
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Or rather a question about your ethics. Do you have a particularly strong moral stance which dictates which industries, no matter what the reward, you will and won't work in? For example, in my time I've worked in (amongst other things) tobacco and gaming - two industries which a lot of people find highly objectional - which I had no problem with morally and was ultimately very comfortable with. However, I would not want to be involved with a company that manufactures or supplies arms and armaments or a company that specialises in the production of films of dubious artistic merit. There's my, slightly morally ambiguous, line. To broaden the scope a little, are there any tasks that your current employer could set that would see you quit? Example: if you were asked to develop a secret program to spy on your user's activities (effectively spy-ware whose results would be for the sole consumption of your employer) would you be happy to do it, or would you feel compelled to find employment elsewhere?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
I do not want to work for the insurance industry. If my company asked me to I would try to get out of it but, I would not leave my job over it. There are plenty of other areas that I would not get involved in as well. The question is hard to answer, it's not simple black and white. A blanket yes or no type answer does not really cut it. I would not write the spy program. I would work for the industries that you listed if the employor where legtimate.
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Definitely, but speaking for yourself what's your stance?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
I treat ethics serously. However, I do analyze a particular task first and then make a judgment. Taking "spy on user" as an example, if the software tries to steal user's information, I would not do it. If it prevents a user from doing something that he should not do, I'll do it. Even in this case, I would give adequate warnings to the user before recording his activities. :)
TOMZ_KV
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I work for the military, and I have no issues with it. The gambling industry would disturb me more as they take advantage of people that are bad at math
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I prefer taxing stupid people to taxing myself. Go lottery!
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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I just want to clarify. I don't have a problem with our military. I gladly pay my taxes even though the money is used to buy weapons. I love America and I am damn proud of our military. I just don't want to work for a company that profits by making arms that kill people. I would just rather someone else do that. Also, even though corporations are mostly evil. I'd rather be in a country run by corporations than live in some Fascist state. Business is business but corporations could make decisions with a conscience and sometimes do what is right even if it is not always the most profitable. Honestly, I would much prefer a completely free market to what we have now. It is just sickening to see my government giving away out tax dollars to big banks because they screwed up.
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
ToddHileHoffer wrote:
I just don't want to work for a company that profits by making arms that kill people.
Correction... "Arms" don't kill anyone, they are a just a tool, like a car, or computer. "People" kill people. It is this sentiment that "Guns are bad because they kill" that is causing the the loss of our 2nd amendment rights.
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then you pretty much shouldn't work because your tax dollars go to support the gov't killing machine.
When I lived in Canada, I worked with a guy who had figured out how much of his taxes went to support the Defense Department (aka the war machine). He would then make a monetary gift to the Province of Prince Edward Island. The amount he gave was calculated to generate a tax refund equivalent to the money that would have been his contribution to the Defense Department. PEI didn't have any industries doing war-related stuff. So he figured he was then neutral on contributing to the war effort. Same guy quit when the product we developed got purchased by a foreign military aircraft company. It was used in a lot of industries, but once the first sale went into a military application, he was done. I had to respect him for holding true to his stance, I guess...
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ToddHileHoffer wrote:
I just don't want to work for a company that profits by making arms that kill people.
Correction... "Arms" don't kill anyone, they are a just a tool, like a car, or computer. "People" kill people. It is this sentiment that "Guns are bad because they kill" that is causing the the loss of our 2nd amendment rights.
I said that wrong. I would work for a gun manufacturer with no problem. I just don't want to help make a hydrogen bomb.
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
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Or rather a question about your ethics. Do you have a particularly strong moral stance which dictates which industries, no matter what the reward, you will and won't work in? For example, in my time I've worked in (amongst other things) tobacco and gaming - two industries which a lot of people find highly objectional - which I had no problem with morally and was ultimately very comfortable with. However, I would not want to be involved with a company that manufactures or supplies arms and armaments or a company that specialises in the production of films of dubious artistic merit. There's my, slightly morally ambiguous, line. To broaden the scope a little, are there any tasks that your current employer could set that would see you quit? Example: if you were asked to develop a secret program to spy on your user's activities (effectively spy-ware whose results would be for the sole consumption of your employer) would you be happy to do it, or would you feel compelled to find employment elsewhere?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
No adult stuff no gumbling and no spywares ! :D
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I just want to clarify. I don't have a problem with our military. I gladly pay my taxes even though the money is used to buy weapons. I love America and I am damn proud of our military. I just don't want to work for a company that profits by making arms that kill people. I would just rather someone else do that. Also, even though corporations are mostly evil. I'd rather be in a country run by corporations than live in some Fascist state. Business is business but corporations could make decisions with a conscience and sometimes do what is right even if it is not always the most profitable. Honestly, I would much prefer a completely free market to what we have now. It is just sickening to see my government giving away out tax dollars to big banks because they screwed up.
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
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Or rather a question about your ethics. Do you have a particularly strong moral stance which dictates which industries, no matter what the reward, you will and won't work in? For example, in my time I've worked in (amongst other things) tobacco and gaming - two industries which a lot of people find highly objectional - which I had no problem with morally and was ultimately very comfortable with. However, I would not want to be involved with a company that manufactures or supplies arms and armaments or a company that specialises in the production of films of dubious artistic merit. There's my, slightly morally ambiguous, line. To broaden the scope a little, are there any tasks that your current employer could set that would see you quit? Example: if you were asked to develop a secret program to spy on your user's activities (effectively spy-ware whose results would be for the sole consumption of your employer) would you be happy to do it, or would you feel compelled to find employment elsewhere?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
martin_hughes wrote:
Do you have a particularly strong moral stance which dictates which industries, no matter what the reward, you will and won't work in?
I've worked in pharmaceuticals, sub-prime mortgages and currently corporate trust. In each industry I've found that the users, the work and the coding are all basically the same, but when I worked in pharmaceuticals I went to sleep at night knowing that I *might* have done something in the previous 12-14 hours that *might* have helped save a life. I can't say that anymore. No strong moral stance, just a nagging feeling that I could be doing more "good" with my efforts.
Mike Devenney
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Or rather a question about your ethics. Do you have a particularly strong moral stance which dictates which industries, no matter what the reward, you will and won't work in? For example, in my time I've worked in (amongst other things) tobacco and gaming - two industries which a lot of people find highly objectional - which I had no problem with morally and was ultimately very comfortable with. However, I would not want to be involved with a company that manufactures or supplies arms and armaments or a company that specialises in the production of films of dubious artistic merit. There's my, slightly morally ambiguous, line. To broaden the scope a little, are there any tasks that your current employer could set that would see you quit? Example: if you were asked to develop a secret program to spy on your user's activities (effectively spy-ware whose results would be for the sole consumption of your employer) would you be happy to do it, or would you feel compelled to find employment elsewhere?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
I went from petrochemicals to the finance sector, so I'm the scum of the Earth.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Hey, I like you, man. Finally a voice of reason and reality. People's words say that America is evil, but their feet say that there's no place on Earth they would rather be.
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Or rather a question about your ethics. Do you have a particularly strong moral stance which dictates which industries, no matter what the reward, you will and won't work in? For example, in my time I've worked in (amongst other things) tobacco and gaming - two industries which a lot of people find highly objectional - which I had no problem with morally and was ultimately very comfortable with. However, I would not want to be involved with a company that manufactures or supplies arms and armaments or a company that specialises in the production of films of dubious artistic merit. There's my, slightly morally ambiguous, line. To broaden the scope a little, are there any tasks that your current employer could set that would see you quit? Example: if you were asked to develop a secret program to spy on your user's activities (effectively spy-ware whose results would be for the sole consumption of your employer) would you be happy to do it, or would you feel compelled to find employment elsewhere?
print "http://www.codeproject.com".toURL().text Ain't that Groovy?
I realize I am coming to this late but it’s a fascinating topic. I have to agree with the poster who said they wouldn’t work for a company that makes weapons. And, having said that, I must confess that I do work for a company that makes weapons. To me the saving grace is that I work in a division that supports public health. I justify it like so: another poster said there will always be weapons, and I think (sadly) that may be true. That doesn’t mean I need to help make them. I can work for this company because I do not directly deal in any technology that can kill. Quite the opposite, in fact: my division works at curing disease. But I’m not naïve; this is a business and my contribution to the healthcare bottom line trickles over to the military bottom line as well. We all deal with varying levels of contradiction like this, and that’s the nature of life. I do not morally censure anyone who makes weapons but it’s not for me. One poster suggested that paying taxes was fuelling that military machine, and that’s accurate. But it also fuels healthcare, roads and schools. You get the good with the bad. Namaste
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I said that wrong. I would work for a gun manufacturer with no problem. I just don't want to help make a hydrogen bomb.
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
ToddHileHoffer wrote:
I just don't want to help make a hydrogen bomb.
Well said. I cannot agree with jmussetter. Guns are tools like cars? Just talk about the purpose. Cars - Travel. Guns-Threaten,Kill. There's no point in projecting Guns as a tool.
ToddHileHoffer wrote:
I would work for a gun manufacturer with no problem
I would bomb the factory. :rolleyes:
Starting to think people post kid pics in their profiles because that was the last time they were cute - Jeremy.
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I said that wrong. I would work for a gun manufacturer with no problem. I just don't want to help make a hydrogen bomb.
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
