You can even generalize that statement to "If you don't think about the social impact of what you do then you're being irresponsible."
You can further generalize it to "If you don't think then you're not being responsible."
Yes, even better!
If you are a software developer and don't think about the social impact of what you do then you're being irresponsible.
That seems a bit egotistical.
If I'm trying to make some in-house enterprisey thing run twice as fast, chances are there isn't much in the way of societal impact for me to think about.
If I'm building a sub-sub-component of some new system, chances are I don't have enough information to even start guessing at the overall effects of the complete system as it will eventually end up being used.
I think you always have to consider the effect of what you do. There are many situations - like the ones you describe - where that might be as simple as thinking "huh, this doesn't affect anything" and getting to work. That's still a valuable exercise because it gets you in the habit of at least weighing it.
Yes and no. Libreboot in this instance seems have crap all to do with the issue, expect being used as leverage for one individual in the dustup.
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Personal attacks (sarcastically illustrative or not) are not OK on Hacker News. No matter what sort of discussion we find ourselves in, we have the responsibility to treat each other as members of a community—which we are. This is even more important on divisive or controversial issues.
...y'know, if you'd left off the gratuitous insults that would've been a good, insightful comment.
If you are a software developer and don't think about the social impact of what you do then you're being irresponsible.