awex@wxlvax.UUCP (Alan Wexelblat) (11/12/83)
For those who are tired of debating Objectivism, and all others, I want to get some response to the following. What I have is a personal dilemma. I make no excuses for its irrationality, logical flaws, or whatever. You are all welcome to point them out to me where you see them. I am interested in ALL reactions, both pro and con. You can send me mail, or post to the net. Thesis: I am a computer science major, who will soon graduate, and enter the world of full-time employment. For a variety of reasons (which I will enumerate if need be), I cannot be self-employed. Therefore, I must work for some company. Belief: I believe that in some way, through my learning and my abilities, I can make this world better. I have freely chosen this responsibility, and now plan to act on it. Secondarily to this, I believe that I can make a fair amount of money, thorugh what I have learned, and my abilities. This is desirable for a number of reasons, some selfish, some altruistic. I will enumerate these, if necessary. Belief: I oppose the extention of war. No, I am not a pacifist in the strictest sense. If you are trying to kill me, and the only way I can stop you is to kill you, then I will probably do so (extenuating circumstances excepted). I am especially opposed to the massive overkill megadeath war machine that America has constructed. In a world where a handful of submarines could wipe out civilization as we know it, our present nuclear arsenal is unthinkable. I support higher pay for soldiers, but I oppose construction of more aircraft carriers. I think that every senator who voted for nerve-gas production should be thrown out of office next election. I realize that this is a very subjective pick-and-choose thesis, but that's the way I feel. Fact: the vast majority of technical companies (and universities) are in some way connected with building this death machine. Fact: I do not want to work for such a company or university, because I do not want to participate in this collective insanity. Fact: For the reasons stated above, I want to get a job in the computer science area. WHAT AM I TO DO? --Alan Wexelblat (The vanishing Philosopher)
leff@smu.UUCP (11/15/83)
#R:wxlvax:-19400:smu:16200001:000:2002 smu!leff Nov 14 09:09:00 1983 Your questions remind me of questions I had when I was a LIbertarian about accepting government aid for college. Government money was stolen money and therefore I couldn't accept it. (I resolved that dilemma at that time by giving the money back to my father who was working and paid more in taxes than I got from the government.) The problem with that argument is that all money is eventual government taken. You may get it directly from the government, from someone who works for the government or from someone who works for a store who got some money who works for the government etc. In your case, eventually any money you receive will bepartially from people who got paid for building weopons that you did not like. There are some CS departments in University that receive no government grants from the defense related departments. However, some of your students will go into defense related industries. Some of them will be getting VA benefits of some kind or other, etc. etc. If you work for the phone company, government employees buy telephone services, all government agencies have at least some of their communications over regular telephone lines. IBM does government work and most computer companies do sell at least a few computers to the defense industries. Atari was asked to develop some video games for training soldiers! IN short, you can't escape the government defense work. I personally think you might consider going into teaching where at least you could say you helped give other people the opportunity to make the same choice you are undergoing now. It really is a matter of where do you draw the line as to how close you wish to avoid being. Probably, working for the defense department or for a direct contractor is too close to the line. Working as a technical support person for a computer store would probably be very far on the other side of the line. In short, 'related to the defense industry' is a fuzzy set when it comes to job opportunities.
ken@ihuxq.UUCP (11/15/83)
Alan has a problem: he wants to pursue a CS career yet not contribute (actively, anyway) to the war machine. The perception of contribution is important, as all of us who pay taxes contribute quite directly to the war toy chest. So, where do you draw the line? I work at Bell Labs. I do not work on military projects. I have the same reservations Alan does about so doing, yet I do not feel hypocritical just for working for an organization that does do military work elsewhere. My suggestion to Alan revolves around a Mr. Spock line, "There are always options." Viz: Start your own business (that's a singular or plural "your"), OR make yourself feel less squeemish about defense work you are not doing. You might also investigate a group called "Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility." No, you are not alone in your angst, but clearly, any problem with enough boundary conditions will have no solution. Or as the Beatles put it, "A working class hero is something to be." -- ken perlow ..ihnp4!ihuxq!ken bell labs @ naperville, IL
lkk@mit-eddie.UUCP (Larry Kolodney) (11/30/83)
Nice to hear from you again alan... Why don't you just work for one of the companies that DOESN'T do what you are opposed to. They do exist. There is an organization here in cambridge and elsewhere called High Technology Professionals for Peace which has an employment agency dedicated to that purpose. -- Larry Kolodney (The Devil's Advocate) (USE) ..decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!lkk (ARPA) lkk@mit-ml