Reflections on ethics discussion

Prompt: make an entry in your blog reflecting on our discussion in class about personal ethics. You might elaborate on things you did not get to talk about in class, give your overall impression of the discussion, identify the highlights of the discussion, or whatever you think would be of interest to others concerning our discussion.

I talked a bit about how my ethics came from older figures in my life, primarily a musician who mentored me for many years. One of the things I learned from him is that contentedness is far more important than wealth. Ultimately, working for a company that pays well is not worth compromising your morals.

That said, everyone’s personal morals are different. Some of my classmates said they would love to work at companies such as Facebook or Google because they pay so well. Their personal morals allow them to look past these companies’ wrongs because they place so much value in the employment benefits.

One of the people I hold a great deal of respect for is Drew DeVault, the creator of my preferred software forge, SourceHut. He wrote a blog post back in 2020 titled We are complicit in our employer’s deeds. This idea resonated very deeply with me; what Big Tech™ is doing to society is despicable and morally reprehensible. I want absolutely no part of it and, to be quite honest, I don’t fully understand people who can ignore those issues.

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