larlet-fr-david/david/stream/2018/05/03/index.md

title: Worse place
lang: en

> **Harris:** A lot of people feel enormously regretful about how this has turned out. I mean, who wants to be part of the system that is sending the world in really dangerous directions? I wasn’t personally responsible for it — I called out the problem early. But everybody in the industry knows we need to do things differently. That kind of conscience is weighing on everybody. The reason I’m losing sleep is I’m worried that the fabric of society will fall apart if we don’t correct these things soon enough. We’re talking about people’s lives.
>
> **McComas:** I fundamentally believe that my time at Reddit made the world a worse place. That sucks. It sucks to have to say that about myself.
> 
> <cite>*[An Apology for the Internet](http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/04/an-apology-for-the-internet-from-the-people-who-built-it.html)* ([cache](/david/cache/40225ec48653555d1ea4df1d7abbe322/))</cite>

I wonder which proportion of developers is sharing that feeling. Knowing to work for the (dark) grey guys out there, implementing addictive algorithms, dark patterns, profiling and so on. Whatever the reasons, that should be hard to live with.

Is there something existing like *ethical burn out*?

*Answer from Karl in French: [Éthique](http://www.la-grange.net/2018/05/03/ethique) ([cache](/david/cache/ef6cc332f8705c300138141666192470/))*

*Answer from [Aurélien](https://mastodon.social/web/statuses/99969953205586545):*

> Technology is an answer to vulnerability. It hides some and create others. Being human/humane is all about the acknowledgment of vulnerability. Same path, opposite directions. First we need to understand how this paradox shapes our identities. Second, we need to move beyond this tragedy we are both actively and passively contributing to. #ethics #anthropology