> Engineers are not philosophers and should not be placed in this role. We do not have the tools to do it. As with any human we have a duty to consider first order effects - but even the most astute philosopher will have trouble anticipating second order effects. This burden should not be placed on those least qualified to perform it.

Here are two rebuttals to the above statement.

1. At the level of projects it's asking engineers to think a bit more broadly about solutions. For instance, when designing a user comment service for social media you can trade-off between designs that encourage informed debate vs. ranting flame wars. In many cases both designs have similar implementation costs and meet business requirements, so why not pick the one that is more socially responsible? As these choices become better understood they should just be part of user experience design.

2.) To develop the trade-offs we should address more research to social consequences of technology and take the results seriously. Great engineers are philosophers or at least more broad-minded about the interactions between technology and society than some of the current leaders in Silicon Valley. Andy Grove, David Hewlett, Bill Packard, and Bill Gates were/are not just problem solvers but examples of engineers who have thought about how to benefit society as a whole.