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Widdershin / programmers-oath

An oath for programmers, comparable to the Hippocratic Oath
Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal
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I will not exploit human vulnerabilities with the software I build. #112

Open mihaisavezi opened 6 years ago

mihaisavezi commented 6 years ago

See gambling, social media engagement hooks, porn etc and the general process of addiction.

I've seen lives destroyed by these exploits in our human nature by profit seeking individuals and institutions. Obviously it's not only the technology's fault, but it sure as hell doesn't help.

For more details see Paul Graham's essay on the acceleration of addiction. http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html

pimmen commented 6 years ago

I think this is far too general. Stackoverflow would break this tenet since gamification and upvotes make people engaged on that site and I would argue that it’s been harnessed to a force for good.

In a lot of cases, I agree with you. I personally believe pay-to-win games are immoral for example but I think the way you frame this tenet includes a lot of benevolent software and I could not take an oath that does that.

mihaisavezi commented 6 years ago

Granted it needs rewording to make it clear. But "exploiting" already has a negative connotation. SO would not really fall into that category, because as you said it harnesses tech as a force for good.

pimmen commented 6 years ago

It has negative connotations but not an unabiguous negative meaning. See the ”exploration vs exploitation” for reinforcement learning algorithms.

If you however mention the harm you inflict in some way (could be hard since we want the oath short and concise) I would personally support it in a heartbeat.

pimmen commented 6 years ago

Alternatively, we could focus on the core values: I see my users as opportunities to help and not as victims I can entrap and exploit.

Maybe too broad?

mo-g commented 6 years ago

0, 7, 8 all have this concept pretty well covered. 0 explicitly proscribes exploitation already!

Also, hi everyone. Sorry, stuff was happening, have a bit more freedom now. 'Sup?