taylor@hplabsc.UUCP (Dave Taylor) (08/11/86)
This article is from pyramid!osiris!jcp (Jody Patilla) and was received on Mon Aug 11 09:25:46 1986 When I first started out in the computer field, I worked for DoD for a couple of years (mostly because it was available at the time and I was flat broke). I was more concerned at the time with the whole idea of spending taxpayer money on a big bureaucracy and incredible inefficiency than I was with the deeper moral issues involved. After some time I became unhappy with the restrictive, soul-deadening environment and took a job in academia. Over time, my awareness of a variety of issues, including allocation of resources, concern for the environment, and a search for Right Living, increased, and I decided to be more active in pursuing the things that were important to me. Now I am working for one of the best medical institutions in the world and have decided that I will no longer support the arms race with my services. There is considerable pride here in working for an institution that is universally well-respected, at which minor miracles take place every day, and which has played a major role in the history of medicine. We are all here (whether directly or not) to help people stay *alive and well* and I think that makes an enormous difference in one's attitude. It's a great feeling to pick up the paper and read about yet another amazing thing that has been accomplished here. Occassionally I get calls from headhunters, and when I explain that I won't work on defense contracts they think I am crazy. There is, after all, more money in killing people than there is in keeping them alive, and money is everything, right ? The unfortunate thing is that there are many people for whom money is on the top of the list, right above convenience. I think there will always be people, as there has always been, whose consciences never bother them with the implications of their work. Granted, there are soem people who actively believe that building bombs, etc, is the way to go, and so working for "defense" (it's never called *aggression* !) is their way of being good citizens. For me, not supporting killing technology is part of a world-view that includes strong environmental awareness and respect for the earth. "Defense" industries are among the worst of corporate polluters and defilers, as is the DoD itself. In my book, working for "defense" contractors is giving your tacit approval of the arms race, of war over peace, of bombs before people, of poisons before the environment. Count me out. The world may be going to hell in a handcart anyway, but not with my help.