Search results for tag #morality
The story about Ibtihal Abu Alsaad, the Microsoft engineer who was fired for telling Microsoft not to use their software to aid #Israel in the Palestinian #genocide, is something I’ve feared all my career. Abu Alsaad said: “My biggest fear is waking up for my 9 to 5 and realising that my code has killed children today.”
I wrote this in 2018: “Software used to guide a missile has consequences. So does software used to profile applicants for potential jobs, or help people live a healthier life. Will you accept the moral consequences of your code? Will you accept both praise and blame for how your software is used?”
I’m always painfully aware of what the code I write can potentially do. There are bright red lines I will not cross, no matter the reward.
"A society that rewards anti-social behaviour is a worse society" is a great line.
Makes you wonder why in our current economic system so many jobs that pay well require you to check your morals at the door while jobs where you are of service to others (like teaching) you are expected to bear a lower salary because you get to feel good about yourself at the end of the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESdGShbsyYo
#morality #capitalism
What if the machine were 10x more complex? 100x more complex? What if part of the machine could misbehave in such a way that the person at the end isn't harmed with certainty, but only with some probability? What if the machine has 10 switches, all of which have to be flipped by 10 different individuals before the machine starts and harms the person; do you hold any of the individuals responsible for the harm?
#morality #ethics #TrolleyProblem
(*) Trolley problems are silly because they are decontexualized, and so are the proposed Rube Goldberg ones. I am satirizing them all, in part, though I do think if you're going to play around with thought experiments RG is a bit closer to modern lived reality than a runaway trolley.
"If you believe that teaching about God in public schools will improve peoples' morality, you first need to explain why it doesn't work in churches."
#politics #morality #schools #churches #theocracy #religion #WhiteChristians #WhiteNationalism #FreedomOfReligion #freedomFROMreligion
A stop-you-in-your-tracks moment in Omar El Akkad’s new book, “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This”
One of many!
#Book #Author #Soul #Morality #Israel
Alt...
There is an impulse in moments like this to appeal to self. interest. To say: These horrors you are allowing to happen, they will come to your doorstep one day; to repeat the famous | phrase about who they came for first and who they'll come | for next. But this appeal cannot, in matter of fact, work. If the people well served by a system that condones such butchery | ever truly believed the same butchery could one day be | inflicted on them, they'd tear the system down tomorrow. And | anyway, by the time such a thing happens, the rest of us will | already be dead. : No, there is no terrible thing coming for you in some distant | future, but know that a terrible thing is happening to you | now. You are being asked to kill off a part of you that would otherwise scream in opposition to injustice. You are being asked to dismantle the machinery of a functioning conscience. | Who cares if diplomatic expediency prefers you shrug away the sight of dismembered children? Who cares if great distance | from the bloodstained middle allows obliviousness. Forget pity, forget even the dead if you must, but at least fight against the | theft of your soul.
Alt...
Text over an image showing people looking at flames in a devastated area: one day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this. - omar el akkad
“When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.” —Shirley Chisholm #propheticwitness #christianity #morality #commongood #cloverdalebc #surreybc #unitedchurchofcanada #uccan
"Let humanity perish rather than the principle! This has been the motto of utopians and fanatics throughout the ages. Socialism, interpreted in this way, has become a religion […] which in the nineteenth century is the least revolutionary of all."
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, 1851, in "Idée générale de la Révolution au XIXe siècle"
#moralBeauty #moralGround #highGround #idealism #vertue #utopia #righteous #righteousness #justness #morals #morality #satisfaction #fulfilment #fulfillment #permeation #infusion #earnest #serious #vote #politics #SpotAndDiscard #ideology #revolution #Proudhon
It isn’t ethical. It’s corrupt.
#DonaldTrump #Ukraine #Russia #Refugees #UkraineRefugees #Politics #Ethics #Morality
Convo with a friend this morning. I don't intend this as a pile-on against religion; I have great love and respect for many religious people, both in my former faith and some others. But the individuals living the faith are a different situation from the faith itself. And yes, all Abrahamic religions have a history of god-sanctioned #genocide. How the faithful in these religions deal with that history has been pretty interesting to me, because different sects take very different approaches to it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I am not a fan of the "fuck yeah and we'll do it again!" approach.
#religion #abrahamic #christianity #judaism #islam #dilemma #morality #tradition
Alt...
Text message screenshot: A: Wow, god is a cold blooded Killer for some folks. Geeze. B: Fucking A. All of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) share some books of scriptures, accepted as the Word of God, describing divinely-mandated genocide.
“My parents always said… you are who you hang out with.
There comes a time when you have to decide who you are willing to align with. So long Tesla.
Money donated to @npr” ~ Cheryl Crow
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGEf88eBMVX/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
#BDS #Tesla #Musk #Fascism #CherylCrow #NPR #Action #Aligned #Morality
From the Quakers and Black Loyalists, Canada has repeatedly given safety and shelter to people being persecuted by American Fascism.
Canada will stand up again and help the innocent people being harmed by AmeriKKKa. Please come here safely, which means not walking across in winter.
Canadians are NOT AMERICAN and never will be.
#Refugee #SafeCountry #Morality #Humanity #Dignity #Hate #Fascism
Alt...
Canada: A History of Refuge What Does “Refugee” Mean? It is not as easy to define “refugee” as one might expect. In its simplest meaning, a refugee is a person who flees his or her home country because of fears of persecution or abuse, particularly by their own government. However, the meaning is affected by political change, public perception and history. According to Immigration, Refugees and...
Alt...
The Quakers Image: Quaker meeting (courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division/USZ62-5808).
Alt...
Painting: 1780- 1789 Black Loyalists with wagon
#cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman believes that humans don't perceive #reality
But rather, we are creating an illusion in our minds.
This differs to the usual understanding of illusions as "not real".
We operate by creating a mental model of reality, where the reinforcements loops are created when we gain PREDICTIVE powers.
Eg. "If I push this book off the table, it will fall".
So the prediction is the reward function.
Humans are resonators.
Continually running a reinforcement process to "align/sync" with perceived reality.
Understanding this, on an even intuitive level is enlightening.
It has been said that
"#Enlightenment is understanding nothing is real and it's just a representation in your head"
Knowing this, you can #hack your own mind.
As well as being vulnerable to others, indeed, you are under a constant barrage of other actors (corporate, political, other humans) who are trying to insert their ideas into your resonance/reinforcement loop.
What's your #information #firewall?
Is it your #religion? #morality? Personal #value system?
Being aware of how you feel and ideas/others make you feel is an important first step to critical evaluation of concepts/ideas/stimulus of any magnitude.
Remembering, one of the techniques of #propaganda is to evoke an emotional response.
To bypass your higher cognitive discriminators.
Coincidentally (or perhaps not) these reinforcing loops (attention) is one of the secret sauces that makes #ai #llms work.
"This is what it means to worship a state, to treat a state as an idol. It justifies itself no matter what it does. This is the moral catastrophe that has been unfolding slowly in Israel and in the American Jewish community simply has now reached a new kind of crescendo in which Israel, with America’s help, destroys an entire society and then says, well, the place is destroyed, so you’d better leave."
~ Peter Beinart
#AskingAutistics (although feel free to answer even if you're not autistic!)
What things are often considered 'sins' in conservative religious terms, but yet don't harm other people?
First thing I could think of was gay marriage, and other rights around loving who you wish (as long as it's consensual and they're not underage).
Then gender identity. Being trans in particular (that seems to raise religious ire!).
⬇️
#Religion #lgbtqia #womensrights #transgender #conservative #hate #morality
To explain:
I'm exploring the relationship between sins/wrongdoing (morality), and actual harm caused.
As I think the two seem to be only occasionally related.
To my #autistic brain, I think they should be entirely related.
(I suspect another factor that's been brought into the mix, sideways, is how much they threaten the status quo. Which is NOT the same thing as causing harm).
While Terror Trump tariffs are about to punch Canadians in the face today, some famous Canadians are going to help raise funds for the California wildfire victims (that Trump is further victimizing).
The not-always-easily-discerned cultural difference between Canadians and Americans are most profoundly evident during crisis.
Hold your head up today Canada, we are better and will come together to weather through this crisis as we have in the past.
#CdnPoli #Canada #Morality #Uspol
Alt...
Headline: Canada 'will stand up to a bully', says PM contender Carney over Trump tariffs Watch: Canada will stand up to 'a bully', says Mark Carney
Alt...
Joni Mitchell, Billie Eilish and Alanis Morissette to perform at FireAid, star-studded benefit concerts following California wildfires Jan. 30, 2025
Support for #ChristianNationalism isn’t just about racism or religiosity. Scholars reveal how moral values like loyalty, sanctity and liberty play a key role in shaping these beliefs. https://theconversation.com/attitudes-toward-christian-nationalism-dont-just-boil-down-to-views-on-race-religion-and-history-research-suggests-moral-foundations-play-a-critical-role-243328 #politics #religion #morality
As a woman, Jill Filipovic asks about the women who seem perfectly happy, even deliriously so, occupying Trump's "toxic orbit." They appear "totally fine celebrating the swearing-in of a man who has boasted about grabbing women’s genitals, was held liable for sexual battery and bragged about getting Roe v. Wade overturned"
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating #women
/9
https://www.thedailybeast.com/should-we-expect-the-women-in-trumps-toxic-orbit-to-know-better/
What are we to make of women choosing Trump's toxic orbit, she asks? Her conclusion:
"Participation is a choice. Celebrating this man is a choice. Those who make that choice fall into a few categories: villains, cowards, cynics, enablers. Some are all of the above. Trump and his team may not support gender equality, and are certainly working to undermine much of the progress women have made."
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating #women
/11
"But the women of Trumpworld have their own perverse claim to equality: when it comes to putting raw self-interest over decency or dignity or democracy itself, they can do it just as well as any man."
Let's not forget the many women who clamored to be part of Hitler's toxic orbit, who celebrated invitations to insider events, who volunteered to have blond, blue-eyed Aryan babies for the Fuhrer.
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating #women
/12
"Normalization rules the day."
~ Margaret Sullivan
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating
/7
https://margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/beware-the-sanewashing-ahead-on-trumps
“'Oh, he doesn’t mean it,' the voters said."
~ Greg Dworkin
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating
/8
"Trump voters at this point know what they are getting with Trump. He has spent the last decade constantly vomiting out racist, sexist bilge. He was convicted of 34 felonies. He was held liable for a violent sexual assault. He led a coup. ...
Many Americans, perhaps, listened to media telling them that Trump and Biden were equally corrupt, or that prosecution of Trump was all a partisan game."
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating
/2
"But they listened because they wanted to. And they wanted to because, like many Americans in the past, they found hatred congenial, exciting, fun, even sexy. They like being told they are entitled to hurt others; they like being told that they are part of a righteous mob. They fantasize about violence, murder, rage, revenge, cruelty, and fascism."
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating
/3
"I think there is often an impulse, though, to insist that the American voter is fundamentally decent. Voters, we like to imagine, can be fooled by bad actors, but are not bad actors themselves. If they call for pogroms, or demand cruelty, they are simply and tragically misled. The corollary is that we need to focus on the information environment, first and foremost."
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating
/4
"And we need to carefully calibrate our criticism of MAGA by, for example, insisting that though their policies are wrong, their grievances are reasonable. They are, we are constantly told, right to be angry; they just don’t know who to be angry at.
Certain kinds of not knowing, though, are culpable."
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating
/5
"The level of anticipatory obedience we’re seeing from business, universities and the media is unlike anything I've seen in my lifetime."
~ Brendan Nyhan
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating
/6
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/26/us/politics/trump-boundaries-presidency.html
"When people are fooled by transparent fascist nonsense, the failing is not (just) intellectual. It is moral. People listen to fascists because they want to; they believe fascist propaganda because they think doing so is advantageous, or because they want an excuse to embrace their worst selves."
~ Noah Berlatsky
#Trump #fascism #authoritarianism #morality #hate #cruelty #scapegoating
/1
https://www.everythingishorrible.net/p/fascism-is-a-moral-failing
Recently, there have been some clarifying moments. @JuliusGoat looks at two moments that were unmistakable to those who notice things.
"... debate over an indecent lie puts indecency and lies on the same level as decency and truth, while simply witnessing to truth leaves truth and decency on the table by itself..."
Nazi salutes and Christian sermons with a list of helpful things to think about at the end.
Read it, it's worth it.
As he reminds us that there's a long history in the US of religious leaders calling out presidents, John Nichols says,
"Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who stirred the wrath of Donald Trump and his conservative allies this week with a National Prayer Service homily that urged the newly inaugurated president “to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” speaks a reflective and compassionate language of faith.
#Trump #BishopBudde #mercy #morality
/11
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/mariann-budde-trump-sermon-reaction/
"I am not going to apologize for asking for mercy for others.
~ Mariann Budde
"In stark contrast to that shameless, transactional groveling [of rich men kissing Trump’s ass], I want to highlight three women who have courageously stood up to Trumpism and acted with moral clarity and unflinching resolve."
Jay Kuo then points to Mariann Budde, Tanya Chutkin, and Jennifer Rubin. He then notes the "hate and vitriol" that "a direct plea to Trump for mercy toward others" is eliciting among Trump supporters.
"Right-wing media launched an all-out assault on Budde that revealed exactly how power plans to deal with dissent in Trump's second term. …
All of this—the full machinery of right-wing outrage—deployed against a religious leader who simply asked for kindness toward vulnerable people. The disproportionate response tells us exactly what we're dealing with."
~ Parker Molloy
#Trump #BishopBudde #mercy #morality
/9
https://www.readtpa.com/p/the-price-of-speaking-up-in-trumps
"Remember this moment. Remember that asking for mercy toward scared children and immigrants was enough to trigger a full-scale campaign of intimidation from the highest levels of government and media. Remember that a sitting congressman suggested deporting an American citizen for the crime of asking the president to be kind."
Jennifer Rubin notes that a number of other US and world religious leaders have also spoken out about what Trump and the Republicans are doing, and concludes,
"Trump’s actions are not just lawless; they defy our deepest religious values."
https://contrarian.substack.com/p/trumps-actions-are-not-just-lawless
And John Pavolvitz calls on other religious leaders to defend Bishop Budde and speak out.
https://johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/dont-let-bishop-budde-stand-alone
Jessica Grose notes the compelling reasons many younger people are turning their backs on organized religion — she points, in particular, to the horror show of sexual abuse of minors and its coverup in the Catholic church.
But she laments the effects of this rejection of religious institutions for the following reasons:
#religion #morality #community #welcome #violence #cruelty
/3
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/opinion/religious-institutions-church.html
"As a secular, mildly observant Jew, I don’t feel strongly about whether other Americans attend religious services or believe in God. But I do care about the pervasive — and honestly, warranted — cynicism that young people have about religious institutions, because I think it is contributing to a more disconnected, careless and cruel society."
#religion #morality #community #welcome #violence #cruelty
/4
"Religious institutions are certainly not the only potential avenue for meaning, purpose and value in society. But we can’t underestimate the power of their reach, even in an increasingly secular world. When they have epic moral failures, it affects all of us, because it makes everyone more suspicious of potentially welcoming communities."
#religion #morality #community #welcome #violence #cruelty
/5
I agree with Jessica Grose. Religious bodies can exercise great cruelty and do horrific injustice. I know this personally as someone who has worked for church institutions and experienced deplorable discrimination in them.
Religious people have much to learn from non-religious and anti-religious people including atheists. One can be a profoundly moral person and have no religious faith at all.
#religion #morality #community #welcome #violence #cruelty
/6
Whether you're religious or anti-religious, if you want to convince me that you have something good to offer me and others, if you approach me with violence, aggression, hostility, and supercilious arrogance, I will tune you out.
Because the world is full of those things and those of us repulsed by them seek alternatives to them from anyone promising us good solutions, not echoes of them.
#religion #morality #community #welcome #violence #cruelty
/8