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0 pointsdexen5y ago0 comments

I hear your objections, and I should have worded my idea better.

The gist was, a bare messaging+microblogging platform is, by its own nature, morally neutral[1]. Of course if the operator starts doing editorial decisions - like algorithmic timelines, or propping up/pushing down content, or manipulating user mood - then the operator clearly is making moral judgements & decisions.

Funny how respecting user privacy does, at least partly, absolve the operator from a lot of risks related to making moral judgements on a mass scale in a hurry.

[1] with the only caveat that, if somebody believes facilitating communication to be evil or good, then it would be considered respectively evil or good.

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kelnos5y ago

I agree that the mere concept of a bare messaging+microblogging platform is morally neutral, but frankly I just don't see what the point is of making that observation, because we don't have one of those, at least not something that's wildly successful enough to matter. (By that I mean that a platform that has 100 or 1000 or even a million users can do whatever it wants; unethical behavior just doesn't move the needle on a global scale.)

It's the classic argument, "technology is neutral; how it's used determines the ethics". Well, yes, I agree with that, but here we have a company that's using it unethically, and has no desire or need to stop their bad behavior. And that bad behavior has been instrumental to their success. That's what matters.

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0 pointsdexen5y ago0 comments

I hear your objections, and I should have worded my idea better.

Funny how respecting user privacy does, at least partly, absolve the operator from a lot of risks related to making moral judgements on a mass scale in a hurry.

[1] with the only caveat that, if somebody believes facilitating communication to be evil or good, then it would be considered respectively evil or good.

0 comments

kelnos5y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse