Re:Don't Be Evil: Utopias, Frontiers, and Brogrammers
by michaelt on Thursday January 04, 2018 @08:13AM
(#16070073)
Consider the impact of the machine gun on warfare. Huge impact - and once it existed, armies either got them or lost to enemies who had them.
We could attribute that impact to:
1. Military leaders - but their hands were forced, their only choice was to deploy machine guns or see their troops mown down by them.
2. Gun inventors - but surely if Richard Gatling hadn't invented the Gatling Gun, someone else would have. It was an idea whose time has come.
3. "The system" - but isn't that an unsatisfying cop-out? Doesn't this let the above claim rewards for the upsides of their choices while disclaiming responsibility for the downsides, and by so doing creating perverse incentives?
We could attribute that impact to:
1. Military leaders - but their hands were forced, their only choice was to deploy machine guns or see their troops mown down by them.
2. Gun inventors - but surely if Richard Gatling hadn't invented the Gatling Gun, someone else would have. It was an idea whose time has come.
3. "The system" - but isn't that an unsatisfying cop-out? Doesn't this let the above claim rewards for the upsides of their choices while disclaiming responsibility for the downsides, and by so doing creating perverse incentives?