The choice is not between wanky surveillance defence jobs and going full hippie and living in the forest.
To address the ad hominem: my personal attitude is to use the money I get from software dev for philanthropy. We earn a lot and have a duty to help the world. Noblesse oblige at a smaller scale.
I don't work at FANG because I think advertising is evil. This is a fairly common viewpoint on HN and hardly unique.
I think that’s all very commendable of you. But what is the choice, then? And if there’s a line, then obviously there will be legitimate variation in that line from person to person. If there’s a line at all, it means the bar for passing judgement on others has to be very high and extremely clear cut. And it’s rarely so clear cut that passing judgement is a good idea. Most people are just trying to get by and feed their families. For example, all companies advertise, so not working for a FAANG company doesn’t really escape that one. Paying for advertising is just as bad as taking money for advertising. Paying is what actually perpetuates the system. Total aside, but only two of those companies are primarily driven by ad revenue, Apple, Netflix, and Amazon all make money from products.
Let's say that the lower bound is "working for a spyware company".
I get what you're saying but I think you're just playing devil's advocate.
Yeah, I actually do personally struggle with this. The vast majority of companies do, indeed, sell and produce shit we don't need, often to the detriment of society at large (they may temporarily benefit individuals).
I am concerned with the climate too. I consume products that have embodied CO2 emissions. Because it's literally impossible to not do so in the modern world. That doesn't mean just throwing my hands up and saying "lol fuck it, there is no moral high ground" and buying a Hummer, y'know?
I am free to pass judgement on people who do bad things, and I will continue to do so. I expect people to do the same of me. This is the process by which we evolve as a race. It's big girl time now, there are 7 billion of us and we've collectively attained demi-god status in terms of our ability to affect the fabric of the world around us.
We _need_ to learn a way to put the collective before the individual or we are going to comprehensively fuck ourselves.
I draw my line somewhere, so does everyone.
The choice is not between wanky surveillance defence jobs and going full hippie and living in the forest.
To address the ad hominem: my personal attitude is to use the money I get from software dev for philanthropy. We earn a lot and have a duty to help the world. Noblesse oblige at a smaller scale.
I don't work at FANG because I think advertising is evil. This is a fairly common viewpoint on HN and hardly unique.