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We are complicit in our employer’s deeds

(drewdevault.com)
215 points LaSombra | 3 comments | 05 May 20 13:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.629s | source
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spaced-out ◴[05 May 20 14:38 UTC] No.23080465[source]▶
We technologists like to pretend we're powerful, that we could bring these giant megacorps to their knees because those fancy suits need us, right?

No. They need an engineer, not any one specific engineer. Companies like Amazon reject many candidates that could probably do the job they applied for, but were rejected because they can afford to be picky. If anything changes at Amazon it not be because of the loss of that guy's engineering skills.

What would actually make the world a better place is if we recognized that we're really just well paid technicians, and that the true power in society is held by a relatively small number of people who hold a massive amount of capital. We need to give up the fantasy that we can change things with individual action, and start looking towards collective, society-level solutions to the problems today.

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lidHanteyk ◴[05 May 20 15:35 UTC] No.23081145[source]▶
What is an ocean, but a sea of drops? It starts with employees speaking up individually. Raise your voice and be heard. Upper management won't learn moral lessons on their own; they need to hear employees nagging them to be better people.
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1. spaced-out ◴[05 May 20 15:51 UTC] No.23081348[source]▶
Or, what if we passed a law that required companies to give a certain percentage of their board seats to elected employee representatives? Then, employees wouldn't just have to hope their voice is heard, they can make management listen.
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2. inetknght ◴[05 May 20 16:28 UTC] No.23081789[source]▶
> what if we passed a law that

You want to pass a law with the current pro-big-company politicians in power? Like the laws that companies ignore on a regular basis because the enforcement arm of has been dismembered? Even in cases where it hasn't been, the cost of complying with the law is often more expensive than breaking it and eating the fine.

Yeah passing a law sounds like it'll solve the problem real quick. /s

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3. ardy42 ◴[05 May 20 16:53 UTC] No.23082071[source]▶
>> what if we passed a law that

> You want to pass a law with the current pro-big-company politicians in power? Like the laws that companies ignore on a regular basis because the enforcement arm of has been dismembered? Even in cases where it hasn't been, the cost of complying with the law is often more expensive than breaking it and eating the fine.

There are a lot of problems to be solved, as your list shows. Cynicism-fueled paralysis isn't going to fix any of them. Neither will fixating on a few easy but known-ineffective methods of change (e.g. petitioning the local lord, er, company management to voluntarily do the right thing, even though the king, er, shareholders have other ideas).

The way hard problems are typically solved in a democracy is someone organizes a political movement that pushes for a platform of laws to solve them. Oftentimes those laws are more radical than what eventually gets passed, but that's bargaining.

You'll never get what you want if you make all your concessions even before you make your first offer.